Letter: Don’t turn ACCRS into ‘Alabama witch hunt’
Salem, Massachusetts is the most infamous, historical example of a witch hunt. During a 14 month span in 1692 and 1693, 20 people were executed in Salem for “practicing witchcraft”. The problems began when the 9 year old daughter and the 11 year old niece of a clergyman started experiencing hallucinations and convulsions. The sudden and mysterious symptoms of the young girls caused fear. Fear grew into paranoia. Paranoia led to injustice.
In 1702, 10 years after the Salem witch hunt, the trials that led to the executions were proclaimed unlawful by Massachusetts. In 1711, Massachusetts paid a small amount of restitution to the families of the wrongly executed. In 1976 a scientific study concluded that the abnormal symptoms of the girls were caused by a fungus named ergot that is found in contaminated grains such as rye.
The lesson to be learned is that a lack of understanding and fear can quickly lead to irrational beliefs and/or actions. Today, misconceptions of this nature are called conspiracy theories. While there are many conspiracy theories in our modern culture, I personally am not a conspiracy theorist. For instance, I think Elvis died at Graceland on August 16th of 1977. I have never watched an episode of “Finding Bigfoot”. However, when the show’s four “researchers” finally capture the beast, I will be sure to watch. Furthermore, until somebody shoots or runs over one, I am sticking with my belief that mountain lions do not reside in Alabama.
A dangerous conspiracy theory is threatening the future of Alabama’s 750,000 public school students. The Common Core conspiracy theory wants us to believe that the Alabama College and Career Ready Standards (ACCRS) are evil and will harm our children. Like other conspiracy theories, this one is born of fear and uncertainty. Unlike other theories, the Common Core conspiracy theory may well be politically motivated. Regardless of its origin of this theory, it is as wrong as the 20 executions that occurred in Salem, Massachusetts.
The ACCRS are researched based, academic standards designed to teach children how to think critically, problem solve, and communicate effectively. Adopted by the Alabama State Board of Education in 2010, these standards have been approved by 45 states. For three years Alabama’s school districts have invested thousands of hours and millions of dollars towards successfully transitioning to these more challenging Math, Language Arts, and Literacy Standards.
The conspiracy theorists, who have now introduced a bill in the legislature to abandon the ACCRS, want you to think that President Obama and the federal government are forcing these standards upon us. This is totally false. The work on the standards began while George W. Bush was president. Our nation’s governors and state superintendents of education were the two groups of citizens who initiated the call for more demanding academic standards. Neither the federal government nor the U.S. Department of Education originated or wrote these standards. Being a “seeing is believing” kind of guy, I encourage you to read the standards for yourself at www.corestandards.org
Please spend at least 10 minutes reading the FAQs.
Like the Salem witch hunt, our children are at the center of this controversy. Unlike the citizens of Salem, who were totally unaware of the cause of and solution to their children’s ailments, educators in Alabama are fully aware. We are aware that our students’ academic performances need improving and we are aware that the higher expectations of the ACCRS are vitally important towards achieving this improvement.
Please do not join the fearful and ill informed who are irrationally longing to execute the ACCRS. Please make the small effort necessary to become self-informed about the ACCRS. Then, please inform the 15 senate co-sponsors of SB 380 that, when it comes to the educational future of our children, Alabama will not tolerate a political witch hunt.
-Submitted by Demopolis City Schools Superintendent Al Griffin, as originally written by John Mullins, Superintendent of Arab City Schools