Shelby: ‘I would be very wary of Common Core’

(Above: Sen. Shelby shares his thoughts on Common Core)

Yellowhammer News CEO Cliff Sims sat down with U.S. Senator Richard Shelby in his Tuscaloosa office earlier this week to film the latest episode of The Exchange, a weekly interview series that runs on Yellowhammer on Sunday mornings.

Their conversation touched on a wide range of topics, including the upcoming mid-term elections, what it would mean for Alabama if Republicans retake the Senate, and Sen. Shelby’s thoughts on some of the key leaders on the national political scene.

But in one of the most interesting portions of the interview, Sims asked Shelby to share his thoughts on Common Core, the national education standards that have become a hot-button issue across the country this year, especially in Republican-controlled states.

“I would be very wary of Common Core for the simple reason (that) sooner or later you’re going to have a federal mandate, probably enforced through the Department of Education all across the country,” Shelby said. “You don’t know what it’ll lead to.”

Alabama’s senior U.S. senator said that the promises made by Common Core advocates may sound good in theory. However, he believes that when put into practice, Common Core’s centralized, one-size-fits-all approach runs against two centuries of precedent with regard to how America’s education system was meant to be structured.

“It sounds good, you know, in an abstract way — we’ve got to have the basic courses for everybody in America,” said Shelby. “But in America, we’ve run our schools overall for 200 years locally and statewide. At the end of the day our children will compete with all of them. If they’re in New Hampshire or if they’re in California or in Alabama, they have to compete. But I believe the local people ought to decide.”

What do you think about Sen. Shelby’s thoughts on Common Core? Let us know in the comment section below or by tweeting @YHPolitics. Check back Sunday morning for the full interview with Sen. Shelby. For past episodes of The Exchange, click over to Yellowhammer TV.