Do you ever read a headline and at first think it must be a piece from The Onion? And then your heart sinks because you realize that it actually happened?
That’s the case here, with Alabama School Board member Betty Peters, who recently directed her ire towards the Common Core. Despite the fact that the Common Core “standards were drafted by experts and teachers from across the country and are designed to ensure students are prepared for today’s entry-level careers, freshman-level college courses, and workforce training programs,” Peters feels they are completely unacceptable. It is also important to mention that the Common Core’s purpose is to develop in our young children “critical-thinking, problem-solving, and analytical skills students will need to be successful.”
But putting logic aside for a second, some parents have had issues with how the Common Core math is taught to their children (mostly because they cannot understand it themselves). However, Peters takes her disdain for the Common Core to an entirely new level by making a series of wild claims.
CLAIM #1
Common Core is a plot by “radical, left, homosexualists to change our students’ perspective.“
(Sadly, that is a direct quote).
According to her, our nation has “gone past gay, lesbian and bi-sexual and we’re now into gender fluid spectrum.” Since this is offensive to her sensibilities, she is determined to fight it and get rid of Common Core.
CLAIM #2
The Southern Poverty Law Center, a civil rights organization that works to fight hate groups, is apparently behind much of this Common Core agenda.
Peters states in horror that coloring books meant to teach tolerance and acceptance for transgender individuals, are instead turning children into “little social activists for social justice, as they define it, or else transgender stuff.” Clearly, there is nothing worse than teaching children to be activists for social justice.
And though it is not clear what she means by “transgender stuff,” one assumes that Peters believes that teaching acceptance will suddenly cause kids to “become” transgendered. Additionally, she tries to support this claim by saying that she has never asked her spouse or son about their outfits (part of the original coloring assignment), and therefore “all this stuff is mainly written by whacky feminists.”
CLAIM #3
Common Core is teaching Islam over Christianity.
With absolutely zero proof to back up this claim, Peters is adamant that “We need to be teaching . . . Christian values, not Muslim values, not transgender values. We need to be teaching the old Biblical values.” Despite any factual evidence, Peters clearly believes that her opinion is more important than applying the First Amendment in public schools.
While one might appreciate the humor from these illogical claims, it is disturbing to hear them from a School Board member for a state that is ranked near the bottom in the country for education. Perhaps these students would be better served if Peters channeled that anger and energy into something much more productive.
Featured image via Pixabay available under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial license.
