Ben Swann – by Annabelle Bamforth
Colorado Springs, CO- Colorado Springs English teacher Pauline Hawkins is resigning from teaching at Liberty High School, and she posted her resignation letter publicly on her blog. Hawkins blasted Common Core standards as the main motivator for leaving her position.
In her letter, posted at paulinehawkins.com, she wrote about why she will no longer be teaching. Hawkins did not mince words in pointing out the effects that Common Core is having on teachers.
“I can no longer be a part of a system that continues to do the exact opposite of what I am supposed to do as a teacher–I am supposed to help them think for themselves, help them find solutions to problems, help them become productive members of society.”
Hawkins has been a teacher for 11 years. She began her career as No Child Left Behind was in full swing. Since then, she wrote that her students have become “hesitant to think for themselves because they have been programmed to believe that there is one right answer.”
In a poll of 1,500 Colorado Education Association teachers, it was found that they spend over 30% of their instruction time testing students and preparing them for assessments.
Hawkins did not express frustration with the school where she had been teaching. “The problem in education today is a government problem,” she said in an interview. “It is way overstepping boundaries.” In her letter, Hawkins encouraged school administrators to think critically about whether or not Common Core standards are in the best interest of students.
Hawkins is moving to New Hampshire with her 9-year-old son, and hopes to find a job tutoring.
Read more: http://benswann.com/colorado-springs-teacher-denounces-common-core-in-resignation-letter/#ixzz2yytP3ITV
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Hopefully she will be home schooling her son when she moves.
Good for her! Wish more teachers would have the guts to do the same. What teachers should do is get together with the parents in order to get the principal and administration to get rid of the Common Core system or they should have the administration removed from office.
The truth is, teachers functioned just fine without administrators. Look back to the days of the one-room school houses. Teachers took unruly children out back of the school and whipped sense into them with a switch…often cut from a tree by the child, himself/herself. The students learned all that the teacher could impart. Eighth-graders helped first-graders, and the teacher maintained respect for elders.