To the editor:

There was a time when America was the shining star of the world. Industry was booming. Most had jobs. The American dream was alive!

America was on top in education. Why? Because teachers were allowed to teach creatively and openly to whatever the current situation required as far as what was best for the student.

School boards were set up locally to ensure teaching could be done according to demographics. Every town knew the board members and the board members knew everyone. Board members would listen to parents’ concerns and make appropriate changes that were best for the majority of students therefore fostering a well-rounded education.

Sadly, those days are gone.

Enter the corporate machine — numerous foundations, federal intrusion and state fear of losing funding.  There is one thing decaying the education system in the United States. Money.

Corporate entities have produced a set of standards called Common Core.  Common Core is a curriculum which falsely proclaims to give children a better start and a leg-up when it comes to education on a national level. Nothing could be farther from the truth.

One way to “test” the system is just that. High stakes testing. Enter PARCC (Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers).

Teachers and parents are not allowed to know what the tests contain. Teachers and administrators are under a gag order not to disclose their feelings about the tests for fear of losing their jobs. State and local authorities have been told they will lose funding if there is not a 95% participation rate. This is a scare tactic told to superintendents to pressure parents not to refuse the test.

Test scores will not be announced until next year and no one knows how they will be scored or what will be considered “proficient” until the test results are calculated by the corporate entities to maximize profits.

The same group that wrote the Common Core curriculum, publishes the related textbooks, (more profit) and wrote the PARCC tests (even more profit) will also be monitoring your child’s social media to ensure nothing related to the testing is relayed to the public. This is not a conspiracy theory. It is public knowledge.

That same group will also be collecting data on your child that will be with them throughout their college years and beyond. This is all done in the name of education.

They will be data-mining our children for profit! Our children are not a test score. They are students.

There is one way to put a stop to the machine.

Refuse the tests! It is your legal right and there is not state or federal law requiring your children to be used as a pawn in a colossal social engineering project propagated by the federal government.

There are several Facebook groups where you can get information regarding the Common Core curriculum and PARCC testing. Stop Common Core in Rhode Island is a great place to start. We also have a local group called Collapse the Core (Bristol-Warren).  I urge all parents to get involved.

The only thing George Orwell got wrong was the date.

Stephen St. Angelo

Bristol