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Cato's Neil McCluskey Bats Down the "All Common Core Opponents are Crazy" Canard

November, 2013

In an excellent column for the Florida Sun Sentinel, Neil McCluskey, Associate Director of the Cato Institute's Center for Educational Freedom, ably debunks that idea that anyone who opposes Common Core is crazy. The column, titled You Aren't a Total Kook if You Oppose Common Core, he lists the strong intellectual opposition to the Common Core from Tom Loveless of the Brookings Institute, Eric Hanushek of the Hoover Institution, education historian Diane Ravitch, as well as his own excellent research in response to the sneering mockery that has come from Jeb Bush, the Fordham Institute's Chester Finn and Michael Petrilli, and Florida's Senate President Don Gaetz.

McCluskey ends with this important admonition to those here in Florida that would dismiss the many substantive concerns about Common Core:

There is an extremely well-informed opposition to the Core, and dismissing opponents as loony does Florida's children no service. Indeed, as the Sunshine State struggles with how to move forward, ignoring crucial analysis and research puts them in serious danger.

Let us hope that Florida's leaders take heed.