Common Core and White Privilege: The Claim With a Long Internet Life
As recent polling about misperceptions surrounding the Common Core State Standards has revealed, there's a lot of heated rhetoric on offer in the discussion about the standards, as there is about many public policy issues. An illustrative example of the extent to which debate about the standards has become part of the country's broader political debate is how remarks by one of the common core's authors, David Pook, have been interpreted, and spread, and then spread again around the Internet.
Last year, at an event hosted by the New Hampshire Institute of Politics, Pook, a teacher at the private Derryfield School in Manchester, N.H., discussed his motivations for helping to write the common core's English/language arts standards. Here is what he said (Pook's remarks begin at about the 30-second mark):
In case the video doesn't work for you, here's the key portion of what Pook said: "The reason why I helped write the standards and the reason why I am here today is that, as a white male in society, I'm given a lot of privilege that I didn't earn. I think it's really important that all kids get an equal opportunity to learn how to read. And I think I had decided advantages as a result of of who I was."
After the first sentence, there were several negative exclamations from the audience.
Pook went on to stress the importance of creating equal educational opportunities for all students, and that he was reminded of this idea when he visited Roberto Clemente Community Academy High School in Chicago, an International Baccalaureate school that is 24 percent black and 73 percent Hispanic.
Life Cycle of a Common-Core Headline
The video was posted on YouTube on May 22, 2014 by Campus Reform, an organization that says it exposes "bias and abuse" in U.S. higher education, and often highlights what it perceives as liberal bias at colleges and universities. As of March 20, it had been viewed roughly 278,000 times on YouTube.
The same day the video was posted, Fox News picked up the video and an accompanying blurb by Common Core and White Privilege: The Claim With a Long Internet Life - State EdWatch - Education Week:
