Letter To the New Hampshire State Board of Education:
Good afternoon. I write to you today in opposition to the proposed implementation of the "ONE" curriculum in the New Hampshire public school system.
While poverty in Africa is certainly a global issue/problem deserving of attention from the citizens of the United States, I have grave concerns that adding to the curriculum would again, reduce the amount of time students spend on academic content. One cannot expect to add anything to the curriculum without subtracting from another area.
I’m also concerned as to how this information would be given to students. This is a highly political issue and like any other political issue, one can certainly sway children into a political ideology adding biased information or by leaving out critical facts.
Too often our classrooms are becoming an atmosphere of political indoctrination. This has real ramifications on student achievement.
The article I read today referred to giving students a global competitive edge by exposing them to the "ONE" curriculum. I beg to differ. What gives students a competitive edge in the global economy is academic knowledge.
Right now New Hampshire has some of the poorest math and science standards in the country, noted in a report by the Thomas B. Fordham Institute.
Our current Secretary of Education is looking to implement "Common Standards" to make up for this glaring deficiency in our public school system. He’s been quoted in the Chicago Tribune as saying:
"In too many places, including Illinois, we are lying to children now. [When] we tell a child they are meeting the state standards, the logical implication is that child’s on track to be successful. In too many places, including Illinois, if you are meeting state standards you are barely qualified to graduate from high school and you are totally unqualified to go to a university and graduate."
This is the time for the NH School Board to look for ways to bring academic excellence to the classroom, not a political agenda. This is a time to go back and look to the best international standards and duplicate those instead of looking to form our students into a political mindset.
I have to ask, how does this curriculum make a student a better Scientist, Engineer, or Mathematician? How does this curriculum improve the academic knowledge of our students?
While those who proposed this may have the best intentions, parents are craving academic content in their schools to help their children develop competitive academic skills. How many more parents have to pull their children out of the public schools and either home school them or send them to private schools, where the focus is on academic content instead of on political or special interest indoctrination, before we listen and respond to those requirements?
I encourage you to read over some of the attached articles/ links and shift the focus from non-academics to academic excellence.
Sincerely,
Ann Marie Banfield
Education Liaison for Cornerstone Policy Research
www.nhcornerstone.org
NH Coalition for World Class Math
- Associated Press, "Colleges spend billions re-teaching the basics," Sept. 15, 2008
- Chronicle for Higher Education, "Most Students in Remedial Classes in College Had Solid Grades in High School, Survey Finds", Sept. 15, 2008
- CNN Headline News, Sept. 15, 2008
- CNN Situation Room, Sept. 15, 2008
- Washington Times editorial, "An urgent message," Sept. 16, 2008
- Former Missouri Gov. Bob Holden op-ed, Kansas City Star, Sept. 16, 2008
- Daily Texan, "Study finds average high school skills not sufficient", Sept. 17, 2008
- Press of Atlantic City, EDITORIAL: New high-school requirements, Sept. 17, 2008
- Roanoke Times, "OPINION: Schools need to prepare students," Sept. 16, 2008
- National Review Online, Unprepared: The problem of high-school graduates, Sept. 17, 2008
