Give us a view from the right from someone who has something to tell us. That person is clearly not Julie McDonald. I’m glad you publish a variety of views on important subjects, but don’t waste my time with empty expressions of attitude. McDonald merely rants against Common Core (“The Right View: Back to a disturbing future with Common Core”). I know nothing more about Common Core or what is wrong with it now than before I read the column. All I learned is that the writer dislikes it and that the Department of Education is unconstitutional (though she does not say why).

If the writer has an objection to Planned Parenthood, as McDonald obviously has, tell it so that a reader knows what it is. Alternatively, skip the offhand remark and move on.

It would have been nice if McDonald had explained in some detail why Common Core is inappropriate. I would have liked to have heard a developed discussion of Piaget’s ideas on cognitive development, and maybe those of others, along with their implications for Common Core. In the absence of an explanation, I will suspect that the writer does not know, but is passing along someone else’s opinion as if she knew.

Similarly, I would like to know about the elimination of “historically based education,” which McDonald seems to say our children used to be taught and no longer are taught. To be honest, I never saw much evidence of historical knowledge or understanding from the first-year students who appeared at university when I taught there for 35 years. But if she knows something, tell us.

Frank Carner
Falmouth

Copy the Story Link