August 22, 2019
| Redeemer Classical Christian | Common Core |
| The time-tested, proven model | The latest fad in education |
| Christ-centered education | Man-centered education |
| Truth is objective, knowable and absolute | Moral relativism, Secular Humanism, Progressive Philosophical Indoctrination |
| Emphasis on truth, goodness and beauty | Emphasis on what is politically correct |
| Education for formation | Education for information |
| The aim is to form the whole person according to timeless, intrinsic values | The aim is to train a whole people to conform to a contemporary set of uniform standards |
| Lifts the minds of all students to the highest aspirations of man, encompassing a student’s capacity for imaginative and emotional appreciation of reality, as well as for analytic and scientific habits of mind, toward the formation of Godly character | Shrinks learning into a one-size-fits all centralized set of information designed to achieve success by narrowing the focus of human learning to basic facts for measurable recall |
| Based upon time tested methods | Based upon unproven fads/theories |
| Teacher serves as authority figure, sets the plan for the class, direct instruction | Teacher serves as facilitator |
| English- Emphasis on phonics, cursive hand writing, explicit grammar instruction, (parts of speech, sentence structure) | |
| Writing – expositor, persuasive, research with empirical evidence to support assertations | Emphasis on technical writing – government documents and technical manuals |
| Integrated Humanities that emphasizes classic literature, poetry and drama – Students study the history, literature, culture, musica and art of each period | 60% of classic literature, poetry and drama have been stripped from the standards – addition of sexually explicit reading material |
| Appreciation of Western Civilization – American heritage and exceptionalism, national sovereignty, Founding documents (Declaration of Independence, The Constitution, The bill of Rights) | Critique of Western Civilization– emphasis on multiculturalism, revisionist history, United Nations documents |
| Traditional math taught in mastery fashion – presents math concepts one at a time with each concept building on the previous one – drill and skill | Math standards – no longer drill multiplication tables – many additional steps of confusing algorithms – eliminates need for Geometry proofs – rejects drills and memorization of math facts |
| Austrian Economics – Classical Economics – Free Market Capitalism– espouses the idea that collectively the invdividuals in society, each acting in his or her own self-interest, manage to produce and purchase the goods and services that they as a society require, thereby creating the greatest good for the greatest number of people, by generating economic growth | Keynesian Economics – favors using the government’s powers to spend, tax, and borrow to keep the economy stable and growing – resulting in big government, Federal control – taxpayer bailouts of private companies too big to fail |
| Formal and Informal Logic – teaches students how to think, not what to think | Emphasizes subjectivity, feelings, emotions, conformity to political correctness and social engineering |
| Development of critical thinking – “Why?” | Development for correct procedures – “How?” |
| Reject state/federal funding to remain independent of government control and remain faithful to Biblical principles | Dependent upon federal funding – funding linked to adoption of federal standards and mandates – penalties and rewards created by national government |
| Respect for student and family privacy | Data mining of personal information that will be shared with State/Federal government, as well as special interests/private businesses associated with development of Common Core curriculum/testing/software |
