Common Core Curriculum and Data Mining Your Kids

Sometimes I come across current events I find so appalling I can't help but crow about them on my little farm blog. inBloom is one of those things.

InBloom Inc. is a database funded in part by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foudation set up as part of the Common Core Curriculum. If you're not familiar with Common Core, just follow the dollar. As part of the stimulus package, The Administration set up the Race to the Top program which provided (bribed?) states with federal money for adopting federal eduation standards.

InBloom is a private non-profit organiztion set up to collect information on your kid. This data will then be available to the govenment and to vendors to supposedly help them customize educational materials.  The scariest part to me is that we aren't just talking test scores and report cards here. They will be tracking everything from healthcare histories, disciplinary record, family income range, family voting status, religious affiliation, and appreciation for diversity.

One of the things that kept me from sending my precious boys off to Kindergarten was the form I had to fill out that basically surrendered my parental rights to the school district. Among other things, the district wanted blanket permission to publish my kids' work, or post their work or pictures on the internet. Now it appears they want "functional magnetic resonance imaging" and "cameras to judge facial expressions" too.