Bobby Jindal’s Chosen Legacy

Bobby Jindal has finally defined what his political legacy will be as governor of this fine state by his recent announcement that he is sponsoring legislation that will remove the implementation of the Common Core Standards from Louisiana Public Schools.

Apparently, Jindal no longer wants to be remembered solely for his dismantling of medical care for the poor, mentally ill, elderly, and disabled, or the defunding of colleges and universities, hospital emergency rooms, hospice services, services for repair and maintenance of Louisiana’s infrastructure, coastal restoration, veterans affairs, libraries, and recreational parks.

 Bobby has instead chosen as his legacy the saving of our state from the federal government takeover of education, a complete falsehood lacking any credible evidence.   His solution is the reimplementation of the over a decade old Louisiana-designed LEAP education standards which resulted in the continued 48th and 50th rankings of Louisiana’s students in national reading and math achievement.

Since Jindal really couldn’t care less about whether or not the standards are a step towards educational reform, but instead, simply wants more media coverage, he has no viable proposals for true reform.

While I’m sure the anti-Common Core folks are elated by Jindal’s announcement, I hope they will take the time to explain to their children and grandchildren that they have failed them as responsible care takers for each is now destined to continue participating in a school system that ill prepares them for success in today’s world.

For the most part, the Common Core Standards are actually quite good.  Like any new paradigm some need tweaking, but not complete abandonment.  Where the problems arise is in the implementation of the standards, which is the state’s responsibility and has had nothing but roadblocks set in place by the highest ranking official and his cronies in this state. 

 Jindal wants them to fail to enhance his presidential ambitions.

Sadly, the school districts will once again return to teaching to the LEAP test, the LEAP test scores will continue to rise, but the students will continue to fail when competing nationally.  Just like the good old days.