Radical Elements of Common Core Curriculum Rapidly Emerging in Louisiana

By Danette Clark

In Louisiana, the new Common Core State Standards for Math and English are just ramping up with the recent start of the new school year, and already many parents are outraged and speaking out about what their children are learning.

A group of parents in St. Tammany Parish voiced their concerns last week at a local school board meeting over lessons they describe as “left-wing” and “anti-American”.

Parents of several high school students and a few teachers have expressed their disgust to me over innapropriate books being used in the classrooms of their local schools.

In Ascension Parish, 5th grade ELA students are already delving into a “close reading” of the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

That particular lesson was originally created for New York City Public Schools by Expeditionary Learning, an organization I wrote about here to explain their close and long-time partnership with the Coalition of Essential Schools (CES). CES is the progressive indoctrination movement whose roots can be traced to President Obama.

The Expeditionary Learning/Common Core lesson refers to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights as an “informational text”, which confirms the fears of many — that the increase of informational texts at the expense of quality fictional literature would open the door to more political indoctrination.

As shown in the screen shot below, at least one Ascension Parish teacher is adhering to the lesson’s intended social justice/redistribution of wealth theme by teaching students that under Article 2 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, a person’s rights are violated (‘the promise is broken’) when the wealthy own more land than they do.

As more and more information like this surfaces, Arne Duncan’s recent condescending response to Common Core opposition — “It’s not a black helicopter ploy and we’re not trying to get inside people’s minds and brains.” — becomes all the more laughable and insulting.

To see an overview of the human rights lessons being taught in at least one Ascension Parish School (specifically referenced as Module 1) click here. A more detailed lesson within Module 1 can be viewed here.

With the first few weeks of the new school year in Louisiana already causing a Common Core uproar, many are concerned what the coming months will have in store.

According to this Grade 5 Year-at-a-Glance ELA Curriculum Sample from the Louisiana Department of Education, it appears that students in this largely conservative state can look forward to a false history of Christopher Columbus, a lesson on pluralism from Eboo Patel, a former Obama ‘faith’ advisor who recently compared Christians to Al Qaeda, and the video below titled, A Declaration of INTERdependence.

Still think Common Core is not a globalized curriculum influenced by the federal government?

Much of my previous research on Eboo Patel is no longer on the web, but I would encourage you to at least read this. The people involved in our children’s education are just as important as the content of the curriculum.

Thanks to Kathleen for alerting me to the Grade 5 Year-at-a-Glance sample and Declaration of Interdependence video.