Common Core has recently been referred to by a friend of mine who is deeply in-the-know as "the most successful astroturf campaign in the history of this country." This friend is not prone to exaggeration.
The left has had a history of tip-toeing into, and taking over, those institutions most vital to defending freedom -- from our schools to our religious institutions, nothing is off-limits. Count the Illinois Catholic Church as having been bamboozled by Common Core. After reading the
laudatory press release the superintendents of the Catholic Dioceses in Illinois released August 19, it is right to conclude they've been compromised, as well. They write:
It is within the environment of the Common Core Catholic Identity Initiative that we maintain the integrity of our mission and to the expectations of those whom we serve. In themselves, Common Core State Standards are not a curriculum. They do not dictate our curriculum, instructional methodologies, sequence of topics or materials used. What the Common Core does establish are clear, measurable goals and outcomes for what our students should know, understand, or be able to do at the end of a grade or course of study.
Witness in this statement the dissolution of any perception that Catholic schools are protected from the educational war in which our children are the prize. Their statement is part of a larger movement of local dioceses signing onto a national "Common Core Catholic Identity Initiative," which you can
read more about here.
If you're like me -- or like I used to be -- your eyes are glossing over at the term, "Common Core." Snap out of it.