Only 53 percent of Americans have heard of Common Core standards and only 20 percent have heard a lot about them, according to a new Wall Street Journal/NBC poll.
When told about the standards, 59 percent are supportive, while 31 percent are not, notes Neal McCluskey on Cato@Liberty. But the description is so biased it’s amazing the support isn’t 99 percent. Pollsters said:
The Common Core standards are a new set of education standards for English and math that have been set to internationally competitive levels and would be used in every state for students in grades K through 12.
What’s not to like?
It’s “highly debatable that the Core is set to top international levels,” writes McCluskey. Furthermore, the description ignored the “massive federal role in pushing state adoption.”
It’s like failing to tell people pufferfish are poisonous, saying, “pufferfish are delicious and nutritious,” then asking, “would you like to eat some pufferfish?”
I don’t think Common Core standards are as dangerous as pufferfish, but I’d agree that the only useful information in the poll is that most Americans know little or nothing about the new standards.
Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal is trying to pull his state out of the Core, but it’s not clear he has the authority to do so.