Ditching Common Core

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_OKLAHOMA_NO_CHILD_LEFT_BEHIND?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT 

All around the nation, the U.S. Department of Education has been trying to get states to ditch their school standards. On August 29, the agency said that it was not political motives was behind the decision to deny Oklahoma the authority to decide how to spend the money it receives for federal education, but a focus on high academic standards. The amount of money Oklahoma receives for federal education is 29 million dollars, and the state doesn't get to decide what to do with this huge amount of money. Conservatives have been criticizing the Common Core because they believe it is a way for federal power to take control of education. The federal government is giving Oklahoma time to make a few adjustments to the program so it can follow the instructions the federal law set for the start of the 2015-2016 school year. Other states that have ditched Common Core are Indiana and South Carolina, both of which are Republican led.

In my personal opinion, the state of Oklahoma should be given the option to spend the money how they want to. It isn't fair that the government can do whatever they what with such a large amount of money as 29 million dollars without any consent from the state.

This article is related to our AP US Government and Politics class for a view reasons. First, it describes the different prospective of conservatives and the state of Oklahoma which has a republican government. It also discusses how Bobby Jindal, governor of Louisiana, filed a lawsuit. He accused the Obama administration of "illegally manipulating federal grant money to force states to adopt Common Core."

Child Immigration Crisis

http://www.truth-out.org/news/item/25778-the-united-states-continuing-border-crisis-the-real-story-behind-the-invasion-of-the-children

The child immigration crisis is referring to the sudden burst of Central American children who have no parents or legal guardians. The majority of these kids are from Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador. The main reason the children are fleeing there home country is because of an increased violence and crime rate in Central America. The murder of children alone has been going up a significant amount every month since January of this year. Other reasons are that kids are trying to cross the U.S. border is the lack of opportunity elsewhere and looking to rejoin their family in America.


My opinion of this crisis is that we should take more action in this situation. Both Democrats and Republicans have taken the "humanitarian" approach, yet neither are taking care of the real crises at hand. The U.S. Congress has been trying to reach an agreement to address this situation for five weeks, knowing that the Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency was due to run out of money in mid August.Obama had a meeting with the leaders of Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador; putting pressure on them to keep their people from crossing the border.

The article I have chosen is related to our class in the following ways. First, it discusses the different political views between various branches of government and political parties. Though all of these political heads agree something needs to be done, they cannot decide what. It also talks about immigration laws and how difficult it is to apply them in such an unusual circumstance as unaccompanied children crossing the border. Lastly, it talks about how our executive branch interacts with other governments.