My Third-Grader, the Common Core and How It Came to This

Why would a third grader ask her mother to use the computer and assemble the above image?  The question is not an easy one to answer. 

First, let me try to explain the picture above as I see it.  My third grader loves frogs.  In pre-K, her teacher sent a letter home, telling me that we all but had to adopt some class frogs given my daughter's level of interest.  (I had conveniently ignored the first note sent to all parents, but I could not ignore this personalized one).  Apparently, my daughter had been transfixed by the transformation from tadpole to frog.  With two frogs safely situated in our house, her love has grown by leaps and bounds. 

In the image above, she seems to equate one of her favorite things, frogs, with a sound education.  She must have asked herself what, if anything, might terrorize a beloved frog.  She settled upon a snake, located an image of a snake swallowing a frog and, thus, the snake was instantly equated with the dreaded Common Core and all its attendant testing.  The picture indicates to me that she seems to understand something about pressures and threats to adopt the Common Core.

My third grader may not fully understand all the ramifications of the current misguided policies aimed at educational deformity, but she seems to understand enough and, more importantly, she seems to want to do something about it.  She knows she will be opted out of her Common Core state tests.  And, she knows she will play the role of a conscientious objector.  And, to tell you the truth, she seems psyched. In the heyday of the Civil Rights movement, my Mom carried my oldest brother, then a baby, along to protest Southern segregated lunch counters outside a Woolworth's up north.  I couldn't be more proud.  And, I hope that I am setting the best example that I can for my children, using whatever time and talent I can muster.  Maybe someday, my third grader will tell her children how she protested the Common Core and, I'm hoping her children will ask her, "Mommy, what's a Common Core?"