With permission to post from a Pittsfield mother…..(this was sent to Sen. Shaheen, however Dawn was encouraged to send it to her state level legislators too)
Dear Senator,
Congratulations on your win last night.
I am contacting you to ask, no to beg you to help get rid of Common Core in NH before it is fully rolled out. CCSS is nothing short of child abuse.
Let me tell you about MY Child. Nicholas is 9 (almost 10) Nicholas is a sweet, compassionate intelligent little boy. A boy who was reading at 3 1/2, He wrote a story at 4. Sure it was only about 10 sentences, but it was something he did. He knew his ABC’s at , He could count to 100 at 3, and could count by 2’s 5’s and 10’s before he was in Kindergarten. He was reading at a 1st grade level entering school. He has always love to read and do math. Until Now!
Every afternoon getting homework done is a struggle, there are tears, and frustration. Math that should take seconds to complete now takes several minutes. The other night 20 simple multiplication facts took over an hour to complete.Breaking down numbers? How do you make 10 when adding 5+8? How about word problems that are written to confuse as enough information is not given to solve the problem. Points taken off because how an answer is come to isn’t good enough. REALLY? Much of it is inappropriate, cognitively and developmentally.
It breaks my heart to see my smart little boy breakdown and cry over math that should be simple. People like Arne Duncan think it’s fine, But he lives in a state that does not use CC. Bill Gates, his kids go to a private charter school. So it’s good enough for my child but not their’s? Well, as Sec Duncan called us, I am one very angry “White Suburban Mom.”
Please consider this and do whatever you can to be rid of this because, “It is easier to build strong children than to repair broken men.”
Dawn Mistler
Pittsfield Parent
Be sure to read our prior articles on the FRAUD IN PITTSFIELD HERE:
Pittsfield Listens: How to Lower Academic Achievement In the School