July 25, 2016 11:39AM # New Math: Anti-Common Core = Anti-Hispanic? By [Neal McCluskey](https://www.cato.org/people/neal-mccluskey) --- SHARE In an act of extreme tangent tying, former New Mexico governor [Bill Richardson just penned](http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/op-ed-education-policy-represents-top-issue-latino-voters) an op-ed linking Donald Trump’s wall-building immigration stance to his attacks on the Common Core national curriculum standards. The message Richardson may be trying to send: bigots don’t want Hispanics in the country, or able to access “high academic standards” when they’re here. I’ll let others debate Trump’s motives, but I can speak for myself—and probably the vast majority of Core opponents—that none of my opposition to the Core is based on anti-Hispanic sentiment or a desire to keep anyone down. It is rooted only in the concerns I have [constantly expressed](https://object.cato.org/sites/cato.org/files/pubs/pdf/pa661.pdf): having a single, federally driven set of standards would stifle innovation; makes little sense considering that all children are unique individuals; and has no meaningful research backing. Others believe that the Core simply is [not a good enough set](https://www.nas.org/articles/reject_or_revise_the_common_cores_serious_flaws) of standards. Richardson offers no evidence to refute any of the highly substantive objections that have been made for years and have helped render the Core a largely bipartisan pariah. He just pronounces that the standards “equip students with the critical thinking and problem-solving skills that are essential to success in the 21st-century economy.” Then he attacks Trump again. Far too often Core defenders have ignored powerful, important objections—and dodged serious debate—in favor of [caricaturing Core opponents](https://www.cato.org/blog/stop-insulting-our-intelligence-tea-party-core-supporters). Awkwardly tying Core opposition to anti-Hispanic animus seems to be more of the same. ##### Related Tags [Education](https://www.cato.org/education), [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/).