Conform: Exposing the Truth About Common Core and Public Education

The book is about more than just the national controversy over Common Core; the bigger issue addressed is the insidious goal of increased control over the education of our nation’s children, and ultimate loss of freedoms. Glenn Beck exposes the problem with Common Core standards themselves, then expands his target to government-controlled public schools in general. He follows the money behind a drive for national standards, asking ‘who benefits?’ Teachers’ unions, federal government officials in the unions’ pockets, low-quality teachers all win from the status quo; the losers are the students themselves, whose sub-par education has become a national shame. Common Core frequently lowers standards but benefits the curriculum providers who make the materials (textbooks, tests, etc.) who support it. It also opens a backdoor to a national database of all sorts of sensitive information on all students in public education. Well-written and easy to read, Conform has carefully reasoned arguments that refute point-by-point those who support increased government control. Beck (mostly) avoids inflammatory rhetoric, and acknowledges when his opponents have valid points. Anyone wondering what the controversy is about will be well served to read this side of the conversation.