April 29, 2014 10:16AM # The Common Core Walks into a Bar… By [Neal McCluskey](https://www.cato.org/people/neal-mccluskey) --- SHARE Defenders of the Common Core national curriculum standards have long employed [ridiculing Core opponents](https://www.cato.org/blog/only-little-people-oppose-common-core) as a [primary tactic](https://www.cato.org/publications/commentary/hoosiers-are-right-be-wary-about-common-core) to keep their effort from crumbling. Unlike, say, a [circus](http://www.nytimes.com/2014/04/18/opinion/brooks-when-the-circus-descends.html), the pro-Core assault hasn’t been very [entertaining or funny](https://www.cato.org/blog/saying-common-core-not-federal-joke-jokes-us), but it’s been there. Now, though, the humor tide may be turning, with actual funny people – professional comedians – taking on the Common Core. A first big laugh attack was launched a few weeks ago, when David-Letterman-in-waiting Stephen Colbert ripped into bizarre math questions stemming from the Common Core: Yesterday, another comedian went after the Core. Louis C.K., of the show *Louie,* tweeted what actually sounded like a kinda serious distress call about his children: [https://​twit​ter​.com/​l​o​u​i​s​c​k​/​s​t​a​t​u​s​/​4​6​0​7​6​5​4​6​9​7​4​6​9​29664](https://twitter.com/louisck/status/460765469746929664) Now, nobody should make policy based on the jibes of comedians, professional or otherwise. But that pop culture is starting to mock the Core is yet another bad sign for the national standards effort, an effort proponents once thought in the bag when, under federal pressure, 45 states quietly signed on to the Core. Funny thing is, Core stalwarts [don’t seem to be laughing](https://www.cato.org/blog/visual-aid-prevent-future-core-shock) anymore. ##### Related Tags [Education](https://www.cato.org/education), [General](https://www.cato.org/general), [Center for Educational Freedom](https://www.cato.org/center-educational-freedom) [![Creative Commons License](/build/cato_2020/images/creative-commons.svg)](http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/) This work is licensed under a [Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/).