A new undercover video caught public school teachers and a textbook saleswoman saying some pretty disparaging things about the Common Core standards.
The video, which was produced by James O’Keefe’s media activist group Project Veritas, mixes undercover footage with an explanation of the criticisms against the federal standards.
“I hate kids,” said Diane Barrow, West Coast Accounts Manager for textbook publishing company, Houghton-Mifflin Harcourt. “I’m in it to sell books, don’t even kid yourself for a heartbeat.”
“You don’t think that the educational publishing companies are in it for education do you? No,” she said. “They’re in it for the money. The fact that they have to align the educational standards is what they have to do to sell the books.”
She went on to criticize homeschool parents later in the video.
“Homeschoolers, I’m sorry, did you go to school to become a teacher? Then don’t teach your kids you know?” she said.
Since the video was published Tuesday morning, Barrow has been fired from her job, the Daily Mail reported.
“It’s all a money game,” said Jodi Cohen, who is identified in the video as a teacher in Brooklyn, New York.
This isn’t the first time the K-12 educational standards have come under fire. It has long been criticized as a get-rich-quick scheme for textbook publishers that won’t improve a child’s educational outcomes in the 42 states (and Washington D.C.) which have adopted the federal standards. Common Core math homework is notoriously difficult and confusing, spurring many befuddled parents to take their frustrations to social media.
You can watch the entire undercover video here.
