Writer: Common Core Amounts To Federal Takeover

Jim Stergios criticizes the Common Core standards at the Boston (MA) Globe (11/21) "Rock the Schoolhouse" blog drawing a parallel between the Administration and the practices of "Cardinal Richelieu. Armand-Jean du Plessis, later known to us as Cardinal Richelieu was responsible for expanding the reach of weak-willed King Louis XIII." Stergios continues to describe Richelieu as cruel and devious, and argues that his strict control of French institutions was a power play more than any attempt to regularize knowledge. He dismisses as "myth" the notion that under the Common Core, "states are free to define their own curricula based on the Common Core," adding that "Arne Duncan has done a Richelieu-esque job of masking the real impacts. I don't really believe that the impacts will be very positive as regards student achievement; there are many reasons for that, but you could summarize my feelings with the simple assertion of a fact: US DOE has oversight responsibility for the Washington DC schools."