Nationally-known speaker, professor talks about the dangers of Common Core

BY BRYCE KELLY

Mt. Pleasant News

For Dr. Duke Pesta, shattering myths about Common Core and warning Americans of what he says are the program?s dangers is what he feels called to do.

A college English professor for over 25 years, Pesta says he has seen the lack of college and career preparedness Common Core has pressed upon on a generation of Americans, and says it?s up to parents to decide how they want their children educated. Outside of teaching, Pesta takes to the road to travel the country giving informative talks on Common Core and speaking to various state legislatures. Most recently, however, he held a lecture at the Heatilator Performing Arts Center, in Mt. Pleasant, on Saturday afternoon.

Local parent Theresa Jensen, who attended Pesta?s lecture on Saturday, says she has become concerned with what children are being taught in America?s school systems.

?My main irk is that our children are being programmed to believe lies that will prevent them from ever accepting truly beautiful truths in this life. How can they ever claim God?s promises once they are trained to accept that God is a liar?? said Jensen. ??These are our children.  They accept the authority of their teachers completely, and the parents aren?t given the option to protect them when they are not informed as to what is being taught.?

An expert on Common Core, as well as the No Child Left Behind program for many years, Pesta says despite a general dislike of Common Core by the American public, it is an unchangeable governmental program that has been forced upon public schools as a way for the government to keep tabs on American children. In fact, according to polls taken by the Washington Post, overall public support for Common Core dropped from 65 percent in 2013, to 53 percent in 2014.

?Our country?s fundamental values are at stake because of Common Core,? Pesta said. ?The way I try to teach people this is simply by showing them the facts. Listen to the people who created Common Core, read the documentation about Common Core and it?s not hard to see it?s a faulty program.?

In addition, research conducted by FreedomWorks shows grants and research associated with Common Core violates privacy by ?data mining? information about public school students. Common Core also tracks student information on religious practices, political beliefs and sex behaviors and attitudes.

?Common Core is designed around this one size fits all idea for our 60 million school children. It?s based on the idea that all kids must reach the same educational goals, but not because it?s good for all students, but because it?s fair. Now, that sounds great, but what you end up having is a massive lowering of standards that everyone can reach, which completely ignores the students that can excel past these low standards,? he said.

Furthermore, Pesta asserts that because Common Core is not adaptable to each student due to laws that protect it from being changed, schools must adhere to its federal regulations and teaching practices, thereby putting the majority of power in public education with the federal government ?not in local school boards and parents.

?We have lost more gifted and talented education programs in this country in the last two years than in the last 50 years combined (because of Common Core),? Pesta cited. ?In fact, according to the actual designer of Common Core?s math program, Common Core will not and cannot make students ready for STEM college courses because it was not designed with the educational research needed to make it effective in that way.?

And with the Washington State Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction estimating that Common Core will cost their state $300 million, and the California Department of Education estimating that it will cost $759 million to fully run and implement the nationalized standards, it?s easy to question why Common Core was ever initiated in the first place.

?Common Core was designed because our federal government wanted to create kids who can?t provide their own wealth, who can?t be entrepreneurial, and who can?t look after themselves because then they will depend on the government for everything,? Pesta says. ?They want to create Americans who vote for big government control and protection.?

So, what can Americans do who don?t support the teachings of Common Core? According to Pesta, the most effective ways it to advocate against it.

?Call your local legislatures and talk to them, tell them your concerns,? he said.

In addition, Pesta, an advocate for homeschooling and private schooling, says even if public schooling is a parent?s preferred choice, standing up for the rights of parents to home school or send their children to a private school is important.

?Most importantly, though, is to educate yourself,? he said. ?There is nothing I talk about with regard to Common Core that isn?t backed up with facts. All the information is out there, you just have to want to find it.?