Did Bill Gates admit the real purpose of Common Core?

On radio this morning, Glenn played audio dating all the way back to 2009 National Conference of State Legislators, where Common Core funder and supporter Bill Gates spoke candidly about the education system’s goals. In the wake of a growing number of alarming stories about Common Core – including the Maryland dad who was arrested for raising concerns about the system and the various textbooks that have been found to contain questionable information – Gates’ remarks take on a frightening new meaning.

GATES: Fortunately, the state-led Common Core State Standards Initiative is developing clear, rigorous common standards that match the best in the world. Last month, 46 Governors and Chief State School Officers made a public commitment to embrace these common standards.

This is encouraging—but identifying common standards is not enough. We’ll know we’ve succeeded when the curriculum and the tests are aligned to these standards.

Secretary Arne Duncan recently announced that $350 million of the stimulus package will be used --

“Think of that. $350 million from stimulus,” Pat said. “$200 million now from Gates. I don't know how much from Yahoo [and Google]. But we're easily close to 700 million right now. We might be close to a billion dollars.”

“No, it is stunning,” Glenn said. “And, by the way, what Bill Gates is announcing – the White House has in past said ‘That's not true. We're not doing any of that stuff.’ I mean everything he's talking about…

“He spills it all here,” Pat interjected.

GATES: -- to create just these kinds of tests—next-generation assessments aligned to the common core. When the tests are aligned to the common standards, the curriculum will line up as well—and that will unleash powerful market forces in the service of better teaching.

“Stop. Wait a minute. It will unleash a powerful market for people looking to learn how to teach the children,” Glenn asked. “And so what they're saying here is Bill Gates is developing software that will be used in this. That's why he's investing all of this money because Microsoft will be able to own and sell all of the software for this particular system. So they've really invested in it. Let's get this system through because look how much money – we have a ‘powerful’ new market.”

“Now, can you imagine saying that about anything else,” Glenn continued. “Imagine if McDonald's [or Coca-Cola or Pepsi] said, ‘If we can just get this through, our charitable arm of Coca‑Cola has put in all of this stuff in lunch rooms because it will be good for the kids and healthy, but it also will provide us a powerful new market.’ It’s amazing.”

“This is an amazing moment of honesty from Gates because normally he would sell this, I would think, in that, ‘Umm, I really believe in this because our kids will grow up to be better employees and they will be able to work at Microsoft and we'll have more skilled, trained employees in the future,’” Pat said. “That's the way I'd be selling it if I were investing $200 million.”

One of the aspects of Common Core that hasn’t been discussed at any great length is the idea of creating a new generation, a new work force that has been educated in a specific way.

"Could we, could we just look at that, though, for a second because on the surface, that does sound good. That, oh, they're going to train for a job. Okay. You've got a corporation training people not by choice,” Glenn said. “Let's say the Glenn Beck School of Broadcast. If you want to come to the Glenn Beck School of Broadcast, you can come to the Glenn Beck School of Broadcast and I'll teach your kids about history and everything else, all the way up because it will provide great new reporters for TheBlaze, great new filmmakers for TheBlaze. That's great. That would be your choice.”

“But if Glenn Beck was putting in all of this money and dumping it in because I say ‘I'm going to have all these new trained workers and I'm going to help design the curriculum and everything else,’ if I and a group of other industrialists were all getting together and saying, ‘Let's do this because this is going to be good for us,’ that's evil,” he continued.

“That's one of the aspects of this Common Core thing we haven't really talked about much is that part of this plan is to pigeonhole the kids into a certain line of work. And they are going to decide, by the time they are in junior high or something, middle school. The plan is to know whether they are going to be a technician, a mechanic or a doctor. And then you funnel them through that system.”

GATES: For the first time, there will be a large uniform base of customers eager to buy products that can help every kid learn and every teacher get better.

“So let's just translate. So this is great because it's going to help kids learn. But, listen to me. There are going to be a long line of customers. Uniform customers,” Glenn said. “I just have to make one product because nobody's going to get out of that product line… He starts in the beginning talking about how this is a state run, state run, state run. No, it's not. Why is the U.N. involved in this? It's state‑run. The governors have been convinced, ‘Oh, they came up with this. No, they didn't. Don't you see, you governors, you've been played. Now, an honest governor will come out in an honest moment and reflect and say, ‘Gosh, was I played? Wait a minute. What?’ These governors are all taking ownership of this and they didn't have anything to do with it. And they want to believe that they are changing everything for the better, and they are not.”

“We are dealing with evil. And if you want to look at it just from the standpoint of not manipulating our children with their data and everything else, just look at it. Leftists, just look at it as gigantic corporations going in and controlling your children's future. Don't you want your child to be able to say, ‘No, there's more to me than an employee of Microsoft.’ ‘There's more to me than an employee of GE or an employee of Google,’” Glenn continued. “Maybe my kid wants to put Google and Microsoft out of business. There's more to me than just a worker for somebody else. I mean, it's incredible how we are enslaving ourselves and doing it so clearly.”

The West is dying—Will we let enemies write our ending?

Harvey Meston / Staff | Getty Images

The blood of martyrs, prophets, poets, and soldiers built our civilization. Their sacrifice demands courage in the present to preserve it.

Lamentations asks, “Is it nothing to you, all ye that pass by?”

That question has been weighing on me heavily. Not just as a broadcaster, but as a citizen, a father, a husband, a believer. It is a question that every person who cares about this nation, this culture, and this civilization must confront: Is all of this worth saving?

We have squandered this inheritance. We forgot who we were — and our enemies are eager to write our ending.

Western civilization — a project born in Judea, refined in Athens, tested in Rome, reawakened in Wittenberg, and baptized again on the shores of Plymouth Rock — is a gift. We didn’t earn it. We didn’t purchase it. We were handed it. And now, we must ask ourselves: Do we even want it?

Across Europe, streets are restless. Not merely with protests, but with ancient, festering hatred — the kind that once marched under swastikas and fueled ovens. Today, it marches under banners of peace while chanting calls for genocide. Violence and division crack societies open. Here in America, it’s left against right, flesh against spirit, neighbor against neighbor.

Truth struggles to find a home. Even the church is slumbering — or worse, collaborating.

Our society tells us that everything must be reset: tradition, marriage, gender, faith, even love. The only sin left is believing in absolute truth. Screens replace Scripture. Entertainment replaces education. Pleasure replaces purpose. Our children are confused, medicated, addicted, fatherless, suicidal. Universities mock virtue. Congress is indifferent. Media programs rather than informs. Schools recondition rather than educate.

Is this worth saving? If not, we should stop fighting and throw up our hands. But if it is, then we must act — and we must act now.

The West: An idea worth saving

What is the West? It’s not a location, race, flag, or a particular constitution. The West is an idea — an idea that man is made in the image of God, that liberty comes from responsibility, not government; that truth exists; that evil exists; and that courage is required every day. The West teaches that education, reason, and revelation walk hand in hand. Beauty matters. Kindness matters. Empathy matters. Sacrifice is holy. Justice is blind. Mercy is near.

We have squandered this inheritance. We forgot who we were — and our enemies are eager to write our ending.

If not now, when? If not us, who? If this is worth saving, we must know why. Western civilization is worth dying for, worth living for, worth defending. It was built on the blood of martyrs, prophets, poets, pilgrims, moms, dads, and soldiers. They did not die for markets, pronouns, surveillance, or currency. They died for something higher, something bigger.

MATTHIEU RONDEL/AFP via Getty Images | Getty Images

Yet hope remains. Resurrection is real — not only in the tomb outside Jerusalem, but in the bones of any individual or group that returns to truth, honor, and God. It is never too late to return to family, community, accountability, and responsibility.

Pick up your torch

We were chosen for this time. We were made for a moment like this. The events unfolding in Europe and South Korea, the unrest and moral collapse, will all come down to us. Somewhere inside, we know we were called to carry this fire.

We are not called to win. We are called to stand. To hold the torch. To ask ourselves, every day: Is it worth standing? Is it worth saving?

The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. Pick up your torch. If you choose to carry it, buckle up. The work is only beginning.

This article originally appeared on TheBlaze.com.

Stop coasting: How self-education can save America’s future

Joe Raedle / Staff | Getty Images

Coasting through life is no longer an option. Charlie Kirk’s pursuit of knowledge challenges all of us to learn, act, and grow every day.

Last year, my wife and I made a commitment: to stop coasting, to learn something new every day, and to grow — not just spiritually, but intellectually. Charlie Kirk’s tragic death crystallized that resolve. It forced a hard look in the mirror, revealing how much I had coasted in both my spiritual and educational life. Coasting implies going downhill. You can’t coast uphill.

Last night, my wife and I re-engaged. We enrolled in Hillsdale College’s free online courses, inspired by the fact that Charlie had done the same. He had quietly completed around 30 courses before I even knew, mastering the classics, civics, and the foundations of liberty. Watching his relentless pursuit of knowledge reminded me that growth never stops, no matter your age.

The path forward must be reclaiming education, agency, and the power to shape our minds and futures.

This lesson is particularly urgent for two groups: young adults stepping into the world and those who may have settled into complacency. Learning is life. Stop learning, and you start dying. To young adults, especially, the college promise has become a trap. Twelve years of K-12 education now leave graduates unprepared for life. Only 35% of seniors are proficient in reading, and just 22% in math. They are asked to bet $100,000 or more for four years of college that will often leave them underemployed and deeply indebted.

Degrees in many “new” fields now carry negative returns. Parents who have already sacrificed for public education find themselves on the hook again, paying for a system that often fails to deliver.

This is one of the reasons why Charlie often described college as a “scam.” Debt accumulates, wages are not what students were promised, doors remain closed, and many are tempted to throw more time and money after a system that won’t yield results. Graduate school, in many cases, compounds the problem. The education system has become a factory of despair, teaching cynicism rather than knowledge and virtue.

Reclaiming educational agency

Yet the solution is not radical revolt against education — it is empowerment to reclaim agency over one’s education. Independent learning, self-guided study, and disciplined curiosity are the modern “Napster moment.” Just as Napster broke the old record industry by digitizing music, the internet has placed knowledge directly in the hands of the individual. Artists like Taylor Swift now thrive outside traditional gatekeepers. Likewise, students and lifelong learners can reclaim intellectual freedom outside of the ivory towers.

Each individual possesses the ability to think, create, and act. This is the power God grants to every human being. Knowledge, faith, and personal responsibility are inseparable. Learning is not a commodity to buy with tuition; it is a birthright to claim with effort.

David Butow / Contributor | Getty Images

Charlie Kirk’s life reminds us that self-education is an act of defiance and empowerment. In his pursuit of knowledge, in his engagement with civics and philosophy, he exemplified the principle that liberty depends on informed, capable citizens. We honor him best by taking up that mantle — by learning relentlessly, thinking critically, and refusing to surrender our minds to a system that profits from ignorance.

The path forward must be reclaiming education, agency, and the power to shape our minds and futures. Every day, seek to grow, create, and act. Charlie showed the way. It is now our responsibility to follow.

This article originally appeared on TheBlaze.com.

Glenn Beck joins TPUSA tour to honor Charlie Kirk

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If they thought the murder of Charlie Kirk would scare us into silence, they were wrong!

If anything, Turning Point will hit the road louder than ever. On Monday, September 22, less than two weeks after the assassination, Charlie's friends united under the Turning Point USA banner to carry his torch and honor his legacy by doing what he did best: bringing honest and truthful debate to Universities across the nation.

Naturally, Glenn has rallied to the cause and has accepted an invitation to join the TPUSA tour at the University of North Dakota on October 9th.

Want to join Glenn at the University of North Dakota to honor Charlie Kirk and keep his mission alive? Click HERE to sign up or find more information.

Glenn's daughter honors Charlie Kirk with emotional tribute song

MELISSA MAJCHRZAK / Contributor | Getty Images

On September 17th, Glenn commemorated his late friend Charlie Kirk by hosting The Charlie Kirk Show Podcast, where he celebrated and remembered the life of a remarkable young man.

During the broadcast, Glenn shared an emotional new song performed by his daughter, Cheyenne, who was standing only feet away from Charlie when he was assassinated. The song, titled "We Are One," has been dedicated to Charlie Kirk as a tribute and was written and co-performed by David Osmond, son of Alan Osmond, founding member of The Osmonds.

Glenn first asked David Osmond to write "We Are One" in 2018, as he predicted that dark days were on the horizon, but he never imagined that it would be sung by his daughter in honor of Charlie Kirk. The Lord works in mysterious ways; could there have been a more fitting song to honor such a brave man?

"We Are One" is available for download or listening on Spotify HERE