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Friday, May 31, 2013

Missouri Education Watchdog: My Conversation with Glenn Beck on Data Retrieval. Just Remember The Wizard of Oz.

Missouri Education Watchdog: My Conversation with Glenn Beck on Data Retrieval. Just Remember The Wizard of Oz.:

My Conversation with Glenn Beck on Data Retrieval. Just Remember The Wizard of Oz.





I had a great time  yesterday meeting with others from around the nation and talking about how to halt the implementation of Common Core.  About thirty people met in Dallas at Glenn Beck's studio, brainstormed for several hours, and were guests/audience members on the television show following our meeting.   

The main topic was the data mining (and use of the data) done via Common Core.  An interesting question on the show came when Beck played Devil's Advocate and asked "whatever could be wrong with gathering data on your child?  We (the government) can help so much more if we have your child's information".  This was similar to the question Representative Margo McNeill asked me in the Missouri House hearing on SB210.  She asked,  "what is your worst case scenario with the data gathering?"

Aside from the fact that a government official makes the assumption that government has the right to take personal information from a citizen for its purposes, my response to her, and to Beck's question is very simple.  Look at the IRS scandal.  Certain groups/people were targeted by the IRS based on their data.  This data gathering identified certain groups/people for government inquiry and scrutiny.  Tax-exempt status was withheld for many of these groups/people because of their data. 

The same scenario is a real possibility for targeting specific groups of students (or individual students) for government reasons, whatever those reasons may be.   Whether you think these reasons are valid or not, the government has the power to grant or deny favored status to individuals/groups based on whatever it deems appropriate.  We've seen it happen in the IRS.  It's not just speculation. 

I was able to meet Beck after the show and chatted with him about how to answer his Devil's Advocate question.  (It was an honor meeting him and I am very appreciative of his efforts to help in the anti-CCSS effort).  It's a simple answer (in the form of a question) to those who ask why you would ever resist invasive data mining.  Based on your data set, you may be asked this "Glinda" question:





Are you a "good witch" or "bad witch"?