Glenn’s new book CONFORM: Exposing the Truth About Common Core and Public Education seeks to offer parents, teachers, and students the facts they need to take back the debate and help usher in a new era of education built around the common sense principles of choice, freedom, and accountability.
As Glenn has discussed, Common Core and the problems with the American education system is an issue that has united those on the left and right. Last month, Glenn welcomed former Florida educator and founder of ConversationED.com Kathleen Jasper to the program to discuss her experience in the public education system and the work she is now doing to fight back.
Jasper is a former high school teacher and assistant principle, who began to grow disenfranchised under the George W. Bush Administration because of the volume of testing programs like No Child Left Behind required. The implementation of the Common Core standards further exacerbated the problem, and though Jasper identifies herself as a liberal, she appreciates the solutions Glenn’s book CONFORM offers parents and teachers.
Glenn has since invited Jasper to join him, Michelle Malkin, David Barton, and others in Dallas on July 22 for the We Will Not Conform live Fathom event that seeks to offer clear, tangible solutions to some of the problems facing the education system today.
Learn more about We Will Not Conform HERE.
Over the weekend, Jasper penned a blog post for her website entitled “The Two Things Sarah Palin and I Agree On” announcing the invitation she received from Glenn and explaining why, “regardless of his views,” she will forever consider Glenn a friend.
“I want to start with a positive today… That is from a website called Conversation Ed, and it's by Kathleen Jasper… She is one of the real leaders on the anti-Common Core front in Florida and now around the country,” Glenn said on radio this morning. “She's somebody I think who has tremendous credibility and tremendous honor and courage, even though, again, we disagree with each other on very fundamental things.”
Below is an excerpt from the article:
In 2010 I saw an article in TIME Magazine by Sarah Palin about Glenn Beck. I grimaced, “This should be good.”
As I read, she gushed over Mr. Beck, “Glenn’s like the high school government teacher so many wish they’d had, charting and connecting ideas with chalk-dusted fingers — kicking it old school — instead of becoming just another talking-heads show host.”
[…]
4 years after I read Ms. Palin’s article, I received a call from Glenn Beck’s producer to do an interview with Mr. Beck on his show. I always knew I would be on a national news program talking about education. I just assumed it would be Rachel Maddow or Morning Joe – a safe haven for liberals like me. Not on a conservative network like the BLAZE.
But I’m open-minded and willing to talk to just about anyone who wants to help me push this education movement forward.
[…]
When I finally met Mr. Beck, right before we shot the TV segment, he was quiet and kind – holding both of my hands while he gave me a thoughtful handshake. He was not at all the crazy personality I thought he would be from the FOX News Network.
As we went live on his show, he gave me a microphone and a camera knowing I disagreed with him on most issues. He let me talk about what I wanted for over 15 minutes on two separate shows. After it was all over, he complemented me and gave me a hug. He told me we would work together again soon.
[…]
As soon as I could, without being rude, I checked Facebook and twitter. Messages were coming in like crazy. Then I checked the website and saw people were making donations to our cause. Right-winged, Tea-Party Christians, who knew I disagreed with them ideologically, were sending ConversationED money. I received email after email of kind words and even prayers.
[…]
Even more exciting, Glenn Beck has invited me back to Dallas to participate in a Fathom event on July 22 called We Will Not Conform. It is an event about solutions and how we can get people motivated and inspired to move this revolution forward. More importantly it’s about action. In fact, there will be a plan for people to access so they can immediately start taking the necessary steps to stop Common Core and high-stakes testing.
[…]
So I will stand proudly with Glenn Beck on this issue and be grateful he gave me the opportunity to have my voice and message heard. This man treated me with respect and dignity on his set and provided me the platform necessary to have my voice heard. I am a loyal girl; so regardless of his views I will forever be his friend.
Read the full post HERE.
While both Jasper and Glenn are quick to recognize their ideological differences, they are willing to overlook those things because the cause that unites them is greater than those that could divide them. It is this willingness to come together that Glenn believes is the future.
“This is where I think we're headed… I was thinking about the border and it really kind of fits into this story as well,” Glenn said. “We're not even talking about our citizenship in the United States. We're talking about our party affiliation. We don't even get up to our citizenship. We feel that our party is more important than our country, which is such a lie. I don't even know how we got there.”
“But we have two citizenships,” he continued. “One is for the United States of America. And the other one is an eternal citizenship. It's a citizenship that gives us access to the eternal. And too many times we're looking at our citizenship here in the country and we forget about our other citizenship.”
As we have moved away from a national identity to a more political, party-based identity, Glenn believes we have lost sight of the duty we have to one another. If we can begin to move past party and politics again, however, there is a chance to get back on track.
“The reason why I say this relates to Kathleen – and maybe Kathleen doesn't speak this kind of language at all. I don't know if she believes in God or not. If you don't believe in God, I guess you can say you have a citizenship in mankind, in the human race,” Glenn said. “But her friends, the people on ‘her side’… are the ones who are saying, ‘Don't even look at your citizenship as a country.’ That's the problem we have.”
“What do the parties mean in comparison to what's happening in the world? What loyalty do we have to the Democrats or the Republicans? What loyalty do they have to us? Tell me,” he continued. “African-Americans, what loyalty does the Democratic Party have to you… Detroit, is your life better because you've been under Democratic rule… All of these giant cities that are decaying and rotting and have no hope in the future because of their institutions that they have trusted and empowered. Is your life better because of that?”