As you are reading this, many of New York’s children have just taken the high-stakes tests connected with the Common Core standards. Our educational landscape has become the unlikely battleground of democracy and personal rights. In the end, the cause is worthy; a sound public-education system for our children is one of the most important responsibilities of the state and our society.

New York’s implementation of the Common Core standards was flawed and destined to create more challenges and struggles than the ones it was meant to resolve. The failure on the part of the New York State Education Department (NYSED) to engage affected and interested parties during the development of the curriculum was the catalyst that caused the issues we are currently facing — stressed children, frustrated parents, undervalued educators, and school administrative systems that are trying to keep all the parts together for the sake of our kids.

Common Core’s failure is the fault of the state, not our students, parents, teachers, or administrators. Our educational system, led by faceless bureaucrats who make up the Board of Regents and the NYSED, refused to listen to the people. Simply put, New York’s educational system needs reform and transparency.

I commend the many parents, teachers, administrators, and students who have been advocating for reform. From opting out of testing for your own children to contacting the governor and other elected officials, you have been doing your part, raising your voices for change.

I too have taken steps toward reform. I first held a hearing when former NYSED Commissioner John King refused to listen to you. As a result of 14 hearings held throughout the state, my Republican Assembly colleagues and I crafted an educational reform package known as the Achieving Pupil Preparedness and Launching Excellence (APPLE) Plan. The APPLE Plan would engage our teachers, parents, and administrators; ensure fairer funding for upstate schools, especially those in rural areas; and put an end to stressful Common Core testing. In addition to the APPLE Plan, I have also signed on to legislation that re-enforces a parent’s right to opt their child out of Common Core testing and prohibits the schools, teachers, and children from being punitively affected by their choice to refuse the tests.

I firmly believe in having rigorous educational standards for our children, but they must be developmentally appropriate for each child and be flexible enough to accommodate children with developmental challenges. I believe each child deserves an education tailored to their gifts and skills.        

Marc W. Butler (R,C,I–Newport) is a New York State Assemblyman for the 118th District, which encompasses parts of Oneida, Herkimer, and St. Lawrence counties, as well as all of Hamilton and Fulton counties. Contact him at butlerm@assembly.state.ny.us

Prince Charles, you forgot something. Britain’s Prince Charles visited us recently. His parting message was a strong criticism of capitalism. It is an economic system with enormous shortcomings, he told us.

Some commentators quickly came to capitalism’s defense. No other system has ever brought prosperity as capitalism has, they reminded us. “It is the profit motive that has pulled us out of man’s natural state of poverty,” one editorial stated. It has its faults. All systems do. But compare its results to those of Marxism and planned economies. Ask a billion Chinese which system lifted them from wretched poverty, etc.

I will let them praise capitalism’s virtues, which are many. At the same time, I wish to remind the prince that he perhaps overlooks something: He is one of the world’s major capitalists.

First, a definition of capitalists. They who invest capital — money — to get a return. From rents, maybe. Dividends from stock. Interest from bonds. Profits when they sell assets for more than they paid.

Prince Charles is the Duke of Cornwall. He is, in effect, the CEO of the Duchy of Cornwall. The Duchy operates as a large company. It owns and manages properties galore — and collects millions in rent from them. Some are farms. Some are homes. Some are commercial buildings, shops, and offices.

The Duchy owns a big warehouse for supermarkets. It owns a Holiday Inn. It is active in a wide range of businesses. This is capitalism, of course. In fact, it is crony capitalism. Because the Duchy pays no taxes. It competes against businesses that must.

The Duchy has $1.5 billion invested. It pays out a profit of more than $30 million per year. To the Prince, to live off.

He also benefits from The Crown Estate. The whole Royal Family does. The Crown Estate is one of the largest capitalist operations in Britain. It owns shopping malls, properties of all types. It owns pipeline operations and windmill businesses.

It owns huge chunks of London’s famous Regent Street. And fun parks, cable companies, aquaculture businesses, farms, and forestry ventures.

Like fellow capitalist businesses, the Crown Estate borrows capital. It makes bets on property — buying and selling. Last year, it bought and sold assets worth hundreds of millions of dollars. It climbs into bed with developers and other capitalists in joint ventures.

The Crown Estate has investments worth about $15 billion. It is proud to report that last year it generated nearly $400 million in profits.

Now the company’s propaganda is filled with terms like “responsible stewardship” and “socially conscious development.” Well, so is the propaganda from ExxonMobil. Meanwhile, the Crown Estate proclaims its number one goal is maximum profit and growth.

You might like to read its annual report. You can find it through Google. In the report it boasts of its “market beating” results.

Meanwhile, Prince Charles boasts about how his Duchy is utterly responsible toward the environment. He makes it sound like a benevolent charity. But if he won’t face reality, we can. It is a business, a capitalist operation. It invests for profits and gains and dividends and rents. So does the Crown Estate.

The Prince also boasts about how green is his Duchy. He warns us we are destroying life on earth with our use of fossil fuels. Yet he leaves a larger carbon footprint in one day of jetting and helicoptering around than you will leave in a decade.

The Prince got a superb education, I know. But I have to wonder what he was taught about capitalism. And capitalists. Like the one he sees in his mirror.

From Tom…as in Morgan.        

Tom Morgan writes about political, financial, and other subjects from his home near Oneonta, in addition to his radio shows and TV show. Contact him at tomasinmorgan@yahoo.com