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Common Core and What I Believe: An Open Letter to Our Education Department from a White Suburban Mom

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Politicians are excellent at saying deeply stupid things. Recently, US Secretary of Education Arne Duncan was defending the much-hated Common Core when he said, "It’s fascinating to me that some of the pushback is coming from, sort of, white suburban moms who-- all of a sudden-- their child isn’t as brilliant as they thought they were and their school isn’t quite as good as they thought they were, and that’s pretty scary." Hi, Arne. Thought I'd give you a little educating of your own. When I was pregnant with my daughter, I prayed what lots of people might consider a strange prayer: "Please let her be smart, but not too smart." I was on the verge of "too smart" in early elementary school. I was the smartest in my class most of the time, and I did feel isolated and different. I didn't want that for her. Now let me tell you what I got: a child who is far more gifted than I ever was. She asked me to teach her to read when she was 2 and to