A 13-year-old boy named Christian attended last week’s Orange County Board of Education meeting and elegantly smacked down the federal takeover of local education standards, telling the board, “You are not educating my generation.”
Instead Christian said, “There needs to be more of us being taught rich, content based curriculum. Being taught how to think, not what to think.”
During the three minutes allotted to him at the board meeting the articulate young man accused the board of “selling us via our information to big data businesses, keeping track of our every mistake.” He also said said the board looks the other way when students and parents are bullied by teachers and administrators. “You are not protecting us.”
David Whitley, a parent who has been at the forefront of the battle against Common Core in Orange County, told PJ Media this week, “Students that opted out [of Common Core tests] in some districts have been treated very badly.” He said some have had senior privileges, like parking, revoked when they’ve opted out, while students who take the tests are rewarded with raffle tickets. “Why are principles punishing or rewarding kids based on the tests?” he asked.
Christian went on to say in the video, “If the Orange County Board of Education — a supposedly conservative board — is not willing to protect the next generation, then who will?”
“The philosophy of the school room in one generation will be the philosophy of government in the next,” he said, quoting Abraham Lincoln. “The architects of Common Core know exactly what they’re doing. America is not just another country on the globe. She is and should be proud of being the greatest and the brightest, so people have hope when looking at her.”
“I implore you to be part of the solution, not part of the problem. How about some real social justice? You are supposed to leave us a country better than you received it. This is not what you are doing,” Christian said. “Stand up for us and our country. Too many leaders in this country aren’t leading and are throwing away our future.”
Christian ended with a quote from Dietrich Bonhoeffer: “Silence in the face of evil is itself evil. God will not hold us guiltless. Not to speak is to speak. Not to act is to act.”
Join the conversation as a VIP Member