Common Core and similar programs are inhibiting the learning capacity of the American Population

The Common Core education system employed by the US government has employed radical changes to the American education system, including but not limited to extremely different methods for solving basic mathematic equations, far different novels required for reading by a student, and relying heavily on standardized tests. All of these have been in the name of improving the education system but in reality they are a detriment to American learning. Why is this? First of all, math problems are absolutely ridiculous. The following video can be viewed in the first citation, and it shows a teacher taking nearly a minute to solve a basic addition problem, 9+6. She puts in the claim that it shows children why 9+6=15 because it's the same as 10+5. This "nice numbers" technique has led to extreme bafflement among Common Core students when entering algebra and other more advanced math classes and has also led to children descending into stressed out crying over math homework that requires them to take nearly 5 minutes a problem. These children are in 2nd grade. For all their stress, this nice numbers technique will still do them no good and severely inhibit and likely prevent them from having much success in advanced math classes. "College and career ready" means it is preparing them for community college at best. Furthermore, a whopping 62% of parents have spoken out against Common Core, only for the school board to attempt to silence them through arrests. Two videos in the first link show cases of this. Common Core professionals have shown they don't intend to change at all and if someone speaks out, they will be arrested. This exemplifies the fear they show for people who realized what Common Core is doing. Why would one hurriedly arrest someone solely for speaking out against a program they are supposed to be "improving"? Another issue with common core is it is distributing novels with some of the heaviest sex content I've ever seen to 8th graders and below. Some of the novels, including "Make lemonade" by Virginia Euwer Wolff, almost exemplify sex as a pastime. Why on earth would we change from Shakespeare to Fifty Shades of Grey in the name of "education"? That's not how education is supposed to be and children are now being taught literary messages from the kinkiest possible books instead of cultured ones that will actually prepare them for modern literature. Furthermore, Common Core's ridiculous teaching tactics have parents distanced from their children. As parents try to help their kids who may be struggling on homework they try to help them in the normal and successful ways they were taught. This doesn't work for the kids because common core has put their insane methods in their heads. These kids stand alone against the corporate machine that is common core, and they are losing. Kids are less prepared for jobs, they don't succeed in algebra, they can't perform higher level critical thinking skills. Yet another issue with common core is some states are lowering their standards for it. Yes, we are making our education less advanced in the name of common core, completely contradictory to its entire "mission". Children are less educated under this system and are learning at a slower pace because states were forced into this atrocity. And last but certainly not least Common Core relies entirely on data collected from standardized tests. A quote from Albert Einstein pretty much summarizes this problem. "Everybody is a genius, but if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid". Standardized testing is the backbone of common core. Standardized tests pay no attention to any special circumstances such as special needs. A special needs child in common core is helpless and condemned to failure. They measure a student's ability to fit into the system and answer like a robot the best. They do not care for a student's individual strengths or weaknesses. They are common core. A student should be measured by intelligence, not ability to take a single test. Another quote from a political cartoon also summarized why this is an issue. A father asks what his son learned in school, to which the son replies "how to pass a standardized test to get the school more money". Standardized testing is used far more as simply a means to extort children for money, but that's the common core way isn't it? Common core does us no good. Common Core refuses to listen. Common core confuses our children. Common core helps them fail. This isn't what American education should be. We need to get rid of this atrocity and quickly. I eagerly await my opponent's response. Citations: . http://thefederalist.com... . http://nypost.com... I viewed the Einstein quote and political cartoon in a poster and the Atlanta Journal Constitution, respectively.