The Michigan State Board of Education, the Michigan Department of Education and Governor Snyder have announced the new goal of making Michigan’s Education System “Top 10 in 10 Years”. Like “Clean Water” and “Clean Air”, who could possibly oppose this goal? Surely everyone can rally around a slogan, “Michigan Education – Top 10 in 10 Years”.
The SBE and MDE’s first major action in support of this goal was…Hmmm…Let’s see….
- Was it eliminating the unproven Common Core? No.
- Was it replacing Common Core with standards and assessments from a state that
already is Top 10? No.
- Was it boosting teacher development to improve teaching of reading and math? No.
- Was it eliminating the excessive testing using unproven assessments? No.
- Was it embracing parents as equal partners in the education of their children? No.
It was to announce guidelines for schools to eliminate the arcane and discriminatory tradition of gender based access to bathrooms and locker rooms. It was to announce guidelines that permit students to dress in attire appropriate to whatever gender they feel like, to be called by a name other than the one they enrolled with and to restrict school employees from telling the students’ parents. These guidelines, they claim, “will provide access to quality educational opportunities to meet the needs of all students”. Just wondering, do they really mean the educational opportunities found in bathrooms and locker rooms are those that will make Michigan’s education system “Top 10 in 10”?
This is but one of the absurd assertions made as part of a document that claims to be a “framework of a vision of the goals and strategies needed to propel Michigan to be a ‘Top 10 in 10 Years’ state”. The #1 ABSURD Strategic Goal is to make sure every single child’s personal information is put into a data base available to business, industry and education, covering P-20, meaning Pre-natal! Has anyone ever seen evidence that children can learn to read, write and do math because their personal information is in a data base? Absurd.
Don’t worry, parents. #5 (of 7) Strategic Goal is to ensure that you are engaged and supported partners. This is in the spirit of the Federal HHS directive to consider parents equal partners in the development and education of their children. Clearly, Strategic Goal #5 is NOT in the spirit of Michigan Law:
Michigan – THE REVISED SCHOOL CODE (EXCERPT) Act 451 of 1976 380.10
Rights of parents and legal guardians; duties of public schools. [M.S.A. 15.4010 ] Sec. 10. It is the natural, fundamental right of parents and legal guardians to determine and direct the care, teaching, and education of their children. The public schools of this state serve the needs of the pupils by cooperating with the pupil’s parents and legal guardians to develop the pupil’s intellectual capabilities and vocational skills in a safe and positive environment. HistoryAdd. 1995, Act 289, Eff. July 1, 1996
No wonder Michigan’s student achievement is dismal. Yes, our public education system is broken. SBE, MDE and Governor Snyder continue to demonstrate they have no clue.
This post was written by Melanie Kurdys, Co-founder Stop Common Core in Michigan, Inc.