EducationNews.org - Robert Holland: Obama is bribing states to accept national curriculum

EducationNews.org - Robert Holland: Obama is bribing states to accept national curriculum


1.22.10 - Alongside the attempted federalization of health care in Washington, with details being hashed out behind closed doors, a parallel bid to nationalize K-12 education is going forward more subtly but just as surely.
Robert Holland: Obama is bribing states to accept national curriculum

Alongside the attempted federalization of health care in Washington, with details being hashed out behind closed doors, a parallel bid to nationalize K-12 education is going forward more subtly but just as surely.

“Sight unseen” is the mode of operation in both cases.
Members of Congress have had to vote on complex health-care-overhaul details they have not studied and sometimes not even seen. Similarly, states seeking to win juicy shares of the $4.35 billion in one-time education grants dangled before them by the Obama administration must agree to adopt a set of national education standards and a national test.
State and local school systems had until this past Tuesday to have their so-called Race to the Top (RttT) applications filed with U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan. His office has stated clearly, in writing, that states will have no real shot at this slush fund unless they have agreed to adopt “common standards” and “common assessments.”