RMT Sunday: Superbowl CCSS??!!

Your Riddle for This Sunday:

As seen above, WHY should we care about Common Core on Superbowl Sunday?! P3s (Public, private partnerships) are a great start..BUT there are other reasons that are noteworthy, too. While I’m sure this will not be a very popular perspective, it is one worth considering..especially when our future athletes, business people, leaders, and other community members (aka: our children) have so much up for grabs.

Why I Won’t Watch the Big Game:

Sponsors have paid big money to feed the fervor of the fans. Many ads will be aired frought with fun, but I can’t help but imagine, many social messages will be passed along as well. Maybe even ones that have to do with education. It certainly has surfaced in the past Superbowl Games. For example, there are big companies out there studying the commercials which air. There are many lesson plans built around using the Big Game as a teaching tool. Coincidence? Maybe…but then, maybe not. Read on to see where I’m going with this, if you will.

Kellogg’s At It Again:

You, as a Common Core Warrior, may know by now that the Gates Foundation is almost always linked to the Standards. But, did you know the Kellogg Foundation has a love affair with CCSS, too?! Yes, indeed. Just try an internet search with the following words and you’ll get plenty of evidence that the ties between Kellogg and CCSS are there. (use, “Kellogg Foundation Common Core”). I got over 120, 000 results in less than one minute. Then, just for verification, I went to the main website for the Foundation. Below is a screen shot of just ONE of many efforts Kellogg’s has supported CCSS. Want more involvement proof? (see: https://www.wkkf.org/search/site?q=common+core+standards)

Okay, so WHAT does THIS have to do with the Super Bowl? 

I’m so glad you asked me!! One of the most prestigious groups studying the ads from other P3s involved in US education/global citizens?? None other than the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University!! Are the Kelloggs who support CCSS via the Foundation the SAME ones who support the Management School?? Let’s see what the School’s history page on their website states, shall we? “With a name like Kellogg, questions about a connection with the Kellogg Company of Battle Creek, Mich., are inevitable. John L. Kellogg was the son of the Kellogg Company’s founder and worked for the family firm for many years, ultimately becoming its president. He subsequently left the firm and settled in Chicago, where he became a successful entrepreneur in the food industry. He died in 1950 at the age of 67. In 1979, the John L. and Helen Kellogg Foundation gave $10 million to Northwestern, and the school was named the Kellogg Graduate School of Management.” The School’s Centennial Celebration was held back in 2009. If you look at their world-wide celebration, you’ll find the Ford Foundation (another huge CCSS grant maker) is involved WITH Kellogg. How?? See for yourselves, below:

“The Kellogg School is home to a renowned, research-based faculty that generates cutting-edge research on all aspects of management and business. Faculty members showcase their findings on Kellogg Insight at insight.kellogg.northwestern.edu. The school also hosts more than 20 research centers that focus on topics from ethics to banking. The newest are the Ford Motor Company Center for Global Citizenship and the Levy Institute for Entrepreneurial Practice, both founded in 2003. Several scholarly journals are edited at Kellogg, two of which — the Journal of Economics and Management Strategy and Games and Economic Behavior — were created here as well.”  Wait!! What about the Levy Foundation, are they CCSS grant givers as well? Yes, they are housed at the SAME Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University! 

(see: http://www.kellogg.northwestern.edu/research/levy.aspx) for the Levy Institute
(see: http://www.kellogg.northwestern.edu/research/ford-center.aspx) for the Ford Global Citizens
(see: http://centennial.kellogg.northwestern.edu/docs/Centennial_Brochure.pdf) for what else the Kelloggs celebrated in 2009

So, I Still Don’t Get the Connection:

Simply put the Kelloggs, along with the Levys, and the Fords have a very sweet spot when it comes to not only financing so much educational bunk, BUT influencing economic growth, as well as leadership! Stop and think about this from a CCSS aligned ‘global perspective’ for a moment. Then, let it all sink in! Kellogg’s funding CCSS outright via the states, Levy’s covering the business end of things, all the while Ford’s crafting global citizens! Now, ADD to that the other facts about CCSS you already know! It’s a HUGE pass at aligning our children from every angle.

What the Kelloggs Study with the Superbowl Ads:

Just looking at HOW they study the ads is almost scary when you consider HOW the CCSS is modeled. Take a look below:

Keep in mind, all this in done through the guise of academic activity. Or, as the School words it, ” marketing students will apply rigorous, research-based criteria to determine what separates the Super Bowl advertising winners from the losers.”
(see: http://www.kellogg.northwestern.edu/news-events/superbowl/)

Other P3s in the Superbowl/CCSS mix:

While Kellogg’s involvement will mostly be heard and not seen, I wondered which other P3s are into the Big Game AND stand for CCSS?
Here’s what I found:
Apollo Education Group, Inc. (creators of the University of Phoenix, which is very CCSS aligned, see: http://www.apollo.edu/) U of P is a for profit school, NOT a public school for higher education. Apollo is also tied to the Carnegies. Many anti CCSS warriors have written about the alignment of education via the Carnegie way. (for just one of the CCSS courses you can take at the University of Phoenix, see: http://www.phoenix.edu/courses/ccss500.html ) Oh, their Superbowl moment of ‘community goodness’? Forty-nine scholarships (full ones, at that) for the Univ. of Phoenix.

Next? The Arizona Commerce Authority. (see: http://www.azcommerce.com/business-first/skilled-available-workforce) How? Those “Career Pathways”, that’s how. (see: http://www.azcommerce.com/news-events/press-releases/governor-jan-brewer-proclaims-october-arizona-manufacturers-month)

Next up? Verizon, the stadium’s sponsor. By searching the Internet for “Verizon Common Core”, I got back over 800,000 results. (My article from “Prevent Common Core” was the 3rd result, called “A Cup of Coffee Can Now Data Mine”). Look at this link straight from Verizon on CCSS, http://appchallenge.tsaweb.org/CCSS_NGSS
See the screen shot, too:

The STEM Winners at the Superbowl:

Yep, I knew it. At some point in the game, don’t be surprised if you hear about “STEM Superhero Awards”. Yes, I know, I’ve caught so much flack for connecting STEM to CCSS, but hey, when you have the U.S. Government reports as evidence.. (see: https://www.commoncorediva.com/2014/09/02/from-the-files-pcast-stem-and-common-core/) To see the aligned winners in the STEM/CCSS agenda, https://azsuperbowl.com/community/stemsuperheroes/

Those Corporate Ads:

Forbes, Inc. has provided you with a few of the commercials for the game. Their goal? To help vote on the best/worst…after all so much money is riding on your vote.
See: http://www.forbes.com/sites/jenniferrooney/2015/01/31/watch-the-2015-super-bowl-commercials-and-vote-for-your-fave/
However, what if we used that same intense approach in regards to fighting the CCSS..what difference would we make then? Sure, have fun with the game, but as you watch, note the level of slickness when it comes to selling (aka skewing) education. We, the anti CCSS warrior have seen these same slick tactics in the classroom, at the school board meetings, and other places. (think about the last time you went to the store and saw a CCSS aligned product). When are we going to deflate the ball of CCSS as it sails over the field of education?! How can we block that punt?!

Related resource:

While researching for this article, I found this paper published in 1977, you may want to explore. Given what we know about the involvement of P3s in education today, I think this is well worth a look at. Why? Here’s an excerpt, “The signs of the emergent cooperative phase are already visible. Getting a vice president of the Bank of America to teach a course in banking is illustrative of a new interest in adjunct professors. The use of paraprofessionals is indicative of a desire to spread educational responsibility into the broader community. The rapid growth of peer counseling and peer tutoring programs gives formal recognition to the notion that students help educate fellow students.” See the rest: 1977researchpaper