Why Do We Care About Common Core?

The following is a transcript of the remarks shared by Connor Boyack at this week’s anti-Common Core rally at the Utah Capitol.

We care because we support parental stewardship in education — the ultimate local control.

Michael Novak, a prolific cultural commentator, once wrote: “Between the omnipotent state and the naked individual looms the first line of resistance against totalitarianism: the economically and politically independent family, protecting the space within which free and independent individuals may receive the necessary years of nurture.”

Our organization fights for life, liberty, and property in Utah. Because we are concerned about liberty, we are concerned about preserving the ability for families to raise free and independent individuals. Education, of course, is central to this process. Dictators throughout history have recognized this and used compulsory education to propagandize the rising generation. One of the more popular of these dictators once said, “He… who owns the youth, gains the future.”

I don’t want the government to regulate or indoctrinate my children, let alone own them—they are mine. God gave them to me.

So what does Common Core have to do with any of this? This latest educational initiative is a power play—a strategic advance by the “omnipotent state” to gain ground and diminish the influence of that “first line of resistance,” the family. Common Core centralizes education policy within small spheres of influence. It homogenizes our children, suppressing individuality. It reduces the input and involvement of the family.

At its core, then, Common Core is anti-family. And while we would argue that an “economically and politically independent family” should shoulder the burden of educating their children outside of a government system, we believe that while such a system exists, its power should be devolved to local levels to maximize freedom and diversity. In short, Utah should reject Common Core.