Teacher Reveals True Meaning of Common Core Education Standards – Truth!
Summary of eRumor:
A teacher named David Pook said he helped write the Common Core Education Standards because he wanted all kids to have the same opportunities to learn how to read that he had as a white male in society.
The Truth:
This one is true.
Dr. David Pook is a professor at Granite State College in New Hampshire and helped write the language arts portion of Common Core, the non-profit group Student Achievement Partners reports.
Toward the end of a two-hour debate on Common Core held on May 19, 2014, David Pook explained why he got involved with Common Core:
“The reason why I helped write the standards and the reason why I am here today is that as a white male in society I have been given a lot of privilege that I didn’t earn, and as a result I think it’s really important that all kids get an equal opportunity to learn how to read. I think I had certain advantages as a result of who I was … and when I walk into places like Roberto Clemente High School on the west side of Chicago, I think that it’s important that those kids have a chance to learn how to read just as well as I had the opportunity to learn how to read. And creating an equitable educational opportunity for all kids, I think this is actually the greatest lesson we could teach all our kids.”
People in the audience gasped, booed and laughed at the comment. The website Campus Reform posted a video of it in 2014, and it gained a lot of attention on the web. In March of 2015, blogs like Liberty News picked up the story again:
“Dr. David Pook, Granite State College professor and chair of the Derryfield School’s history department has publicly admitted that his involved in the development of common core was motivated by his desire to end ‘white privilege.’”
Many later versions of the eRumor quote David Pook as saying that he wants to “end white privilege,” but he didn’t actually say that in the video.