Station:   KNUS, 710 AM

Show:      Peter Boyles Show

Guests:    Tancredo

Link:        http://peterboyles.podbean.com/

Date:       April 1, 2014

Topics:     21^st Century Jobs, Common Core, Indiana, Governor Mike Pince, School Choice, Curricula, Social Engineers, Educators, SAT, ACT, Bluest Eye, Toni Morrison, Academicians, U.S. Department of Education, Bureaucrats, Western Literature, Western Civilization,  Old Dead White Men, English Literacy, Math, Masturbation, Fallon, Oklahoma, Jeb Bush, American Exceptionalism, United States Constitution, Colorado Education Association (CEA), Teachers Union, Republic, National Governors’ Association (NGA), Hickenlooper, Voucher, John Hickenlooper

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GUEST HOST CHUCK BONNIWELL:  Tom, now the one thing, in a lot of states, there’s been an uproar over Common Core – not so much Colorado, but throughout the country there has been, certainly.  Forty-five states plus the District of Columbia adopted it, and then Indiana got rid of it a couple weeks ago, or a week ago, and Oklahoma is considering getting rid of it.  What’s your stand on Common Core?

FORMER CONGRESSMAN, FORMER & CURRENT GUBERNATORIAL CANDIDATE TOM TANCREDO:  Yeah, no, I would follow my old colleague [Governor] Mike Pince – his lead in Indiana.  I served with him for a long time in the Congress. He’s a great governor, and has led Indiana, I think, in the right direction, which is away from Common Core.  I certainly would try to do the same thing.  We need a — we need some legislative support in that endeavor.  But what we need more, Chuck, more than that, is we need choice.  We need greater choice for people, for parents in the system.  And if we can provide that, you begin to actually solve these other sort of dilemmas that you face, where curricula is developed by entities that really and truly do not have – it’s my point of view, anyway – the best interest of kids at heart.  They are social engineers first, educators way down this list, someplace.  And, but, with choice you begin to develop a marketplace where — in which things like Common Core will not be accepted; they will not be picked; they will not be opted for by parents, because most parents, I think, want something different for their children.  They want them to be able to be numerate, and literate, when they exit the system.  They want them to have a pretty good understanding of what it means to live in this republic.  And that, of course, is not part of Common Core, or any of these other faddish type of curricula.

BONNIWELL:  [What’s bad is that SAT and ACT are reformed to follow Common Core State Standards.  So if you haven’t read Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison, you’re not college material.]

TANCREDO:  Yeah, exactly.  And everybody gets into this for – I mean, I’m sure that, you know, you had all these governors who were, you know, participating and I do not believe that every one of them thought, you know, “Now, how — what are we going to do here to really screw the system up a little better than we’ve done – a little more so.”  You know, I think they were all – came to it with different opinions, different ideas, but generally these things are pushed by academicians and by people inside, for instance, the U.S. Department of Education and others that are education bureaucrats.  Again, many of them with – quote, good intentions.  But many of them with a completely different idea about what education should be and is – should be for our kids.  And, so, the – you’ve got this sort of combination of efforts that all evolved into something pretty ugly.  And I think that is what Common Core is all about.  And –.

BONNIWELL:  [Governors didn’t ask the critical questions.  They had all the funding taken care of by Gates]  They had already approved it before they knew what it was. No one knew what it was!

TANCREDO:  I think that’s probably true.  I think it was – a lot of folks thought it was something that should be done — It sounded good, on your resume, as a governor.

BONNIWELL:  Yeah. Sounds great!   Yeah.  Yeah.

TANCREDO:  I was   — I participated in developing a Common Core for all of our kids that will help them in the – you know, blah blah blah.

BONNIWELL:  Yeah!  — to compete for the 21^st century jobs.  Yeah.

TANCREDO:  You can paint it in as rosy terms as you want.  It’s all junk.

BONNIWELL:  Right. Right.

TANCREDO:  It’s junk science that goes into the development of it, and it’s certainly, –when you start talking about civic education, it is – well, it’s laughable.   You know, the idea, first of all, that kids have to stop reading nonfiction and concentrate more – excuse me!

BONNIWELL:  You lost it.  Yeah.

TANCREDO:  — and start reading more non-fiction –

TANCREDO:  BONNIWELL:  Right.

–scientific journals, or whatever, —

BONNIWELL:  Yeah, yeah.

TANCREDO:  –because it gets you away, then, from some of the classics in Western Literature and Western Civilization.

BONNIWELL:  [mockingly sarcastic]:  Oh!  Dead white men wrote those!  Old dead white men wrote them!

TANCREDO:  Yeah, old dead white men.   And, you know, this — there are motivations behind this that are certainly not pure.  And they are designed to change the way kids think about this country, their place — their role in it, and the role of America in the world.

BONNIWELL:  And their own sexuality, and everything else!  I mean, —

TANCREDO:  Sure!

BONNIWELL:  –they sold it saying, “Oh, this is just English – the English literacy and math.”  And all of a sudden, you get these books, that [inaudible], “Okay. Masturbation:  this is how you do it.”  And as Peter said, “No one had to teach them!”  This wasn’t part of the curriculum!  But all of a sudden, they just, “Oh, English – yeah!  English, Arts,– yeah, yeah, sexuality, and BOOM!  Then you’re there!  I just, — and these idiot governors, um, honestly, there’s some of them who keep on backing it, “Oh, no! It’s a great idea, a great idea!”  And they have no idea what they’re talking about! None!  Fallon, in Oklahoma–.

TANCREDO:  Jeb Bush.

BONNIWELL:  Oh, Jeb Bush.

TANCREDO:  Jeb bush says, “Man, this is great!  We’re going to continue to push it!”  But –.

BONNIWELL:  Wow!

TANCREDO:  You know, that is why, Chuck, one thing that I absolutely want to do when — and if I am governor,  is push for a standard.  And you know, we presently have a Republican majority on the State Board of Education.  Now it has not flexed its muscles very much, but we actually have a majority that I hope stays that way on the Board, and I hope we can work with to develop a new standard that has to be in place.  And it is, simply stated, that every child graduating from school in this state, must be able to articulate an appreciation for Western Civilization, for American Exceptionalism, and for the Constitution of the United States.

BONNIWELL:  Oh, wow!  That would be different from the one they’re developing over at Common Core.

TANCREDO:  That’s for sure! And what a great debate to have over the implementation of that.  I just – I relish the opportunity to debate that issue with the governor, or with the CEA, the teachers union, and all the people that are opposed to such an idea.  “What?” you know, they say.  “What?  Are you some sort of chauvinist,–“

BONNIWELL:  Racist pig.

TANCREDO:  “– suggesting that America is actually a better place to be than anywhere else?” Yes! The answer to that is, “Yes!”  And it’s empirically prove-able. This is not subjective. You have—you have – when – as I remember my old boss Bill Bennett used to say, “When you open the gates, all over the world, people only run one way, and that is a pretty good indicator that there is something better they’re going to. People don’t leave hearth, home, kith, or kin to go to something as good or worse.  They only leave all of that for something better.  We have it.  We have to — We have to maintain it.  Because if you do not teach children what is good about this country, instead of all of the stuff that they read constantly about, you know, how – about the negative things.  And I don’t mean to whitewash this.  I don’t mean that children should not be told about the problems we have had.  But, you know what?  In comparison to what we’ve accomplished, in comparison to what we have provided for so many millions, that — you know, those problems pale in comparison to the great things America has done, and the idea of a republic, and what those founders did, how they put it together.  Yeah, I want to debate this, whether or not kids should be taught that, and taught to actually appreciate it.  That’s the important part.

BONNIWELL:  That would be – that would be a great debate with Hickenlooper, who is the head of the NGA [National Governors’ Association] – he’s head of the NGA this year, and I assume is a Common Core supporter.  That would be a great – a great debate.

TANCREDO:  It certainly would, and I intend to make it a very important part of our agenda and of our campaign.  I mean, there—even – because, for one thing, it is a responsibility of the state.  You know, so many things really aren’t, and yet the government gets involved.  But, this one is.  I mean, the Constitution talks about providing a free, thorough, and uniform system of education.  And that doesn’t mean, however, you have to own the system.  It doesn’t mean that you have to build the buildings, hire the teachers, and determine the curriculum.  You know.  And so, yes, you can provide choice.   And here is another thing I want to debate.  I want to debate whether or not Hickenlooper agrees that if you are a child who is from a family that is below the poverty line, or locked in[to] a school that is failing, that you should you be forced to stay there because you’re too poor to make any other choice.  I want to just go ahead and debate that — why we can’t at least give kids in those circumstances, a key to that door – called a voucher.  Tell me, why it is so important to keep them locked into a government school system. Well, we know why they want to.  They want to determine how those kids view the world, as we just got done explaining.

BONNIWELL:  You know, Tom, if the Republicans are going to have a chance this election to take the governor’s office, it will be based on the fact that there is a debate, and John Hickenlooper hits the floor.  And that’s why I’m kind of backing you. […]