In Resignation, Oklahoma Teacher Blows Whistle on Common Core

In a scathing resignation letter about the issue, Oklahoma City math teacher Juli Sylvan blasted the controversial Common Core standards and exposed numerous serious problems with the Obama-backed scheme — including the fact that it is being quietly implemented in apparent defiance of state law. Among the most troubling elements, according to Sylvan — a veteran teacher with more than two decades in the classroom — is the data-mining of children, which she said she is not willing to facilitate. However, the problems with the administration-promoted national school standards are much more wide ranging. From using ineffective teaching methods and imposing a one-size-fits-all education model to doing away with individualism and confusing students, the Common Core disaster is growing even in Oklahoma. Unable to protect her students from the scheme any longer, Sylvan said her only remaining option was to resign from the profession she loves. Lawmakers are aware of the resignation and looking into the matter.

Sylvan’s resignation letter, sent to school-board members and other education officials, represents a damning indictment of the standards and the forces behind them. “Common Core is not simply a new method of teaching,” she explained in the letter, a copy of which was obtained by The New American. “It is a complete takeover of WHAT is taught in the public school system. It takes away the individual’s freedom and joy of learning because of the one size fits all approach. All students don’t learn or express themselves in the same way. Common Core tends to do away with individualism — which is one of the attributes that makes America great. Diversity is one of our greatest resources, but Common Core erodes this great strength by taking parents, teachers, and elected officials out of the decision making process.” Similar warnings have been issued by experts and educators nationwide.

In fact, the outrage and disgust surrounding the standards — often ridiculed as “ObamaCore” by critics — was so intense in Oklahoma that lawmakers and the governor passed a law ending Common Core in the state. “We cannot ignore the widespread concern of citizens, parents, educators and legislators who have expressed fear that adopting Common Core gives up local control of Oklahoma’s public schools,” Governor Mary Fallin said in signing the anti-Common Core law, which passed overwhelmingly in both houses of the legislature. “The words ‘Common Core’ in Oklahoma are now so divisive that they have become a distraction that interferes with our mission of providing the best education possible for our children.... We are capable of developing our own Oklahoma academic standards that will be better than Common Core.”

Nevertheless, quietly and under the radar, education officials have been proceeding with the implementation of the standards in seeming violation of state law, Sylvan and others say. The implications are massive — especially for Oklahoma teachers, parents, students, taxpayers, and elected officials who sought to protect the state from Common Core by banning it last year. Despite her best efforts to resist, Sylvan said the system has essentially been rigged to force resistant teachers to implement the national standards or face serious consequences, up to and including dismissal. The popular teacher also noted that she and many others have been in meetings where it was openly stated that Common Core would be implemented, even if by “simply changing the name.”


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