Trump slams America's schools in a rally: 'Some countries you’ve never even heard of are ahead of the USA'
Thomson Reuters
Donald Trump took a hit at what he described as America's failing education system in a rally on Friday.
"Common Core is out! It's out," he proclaimed, in a riff on the state of American education that was followed by loud applause.
"You have Norway, Sweden, Denmark, China, you have lots of places. You have some countries you’ve never even heard of are ahead of the USA," he said, before vowing to improve American education.
Since it was adopted in 2010, the Common Core has been attacked by some opponents who say it imposes a one-size-fits-all approach to education in the US. The goal of the Common Core was to raise education standards across the country.
Trump's position against the standards isn't surprising, as there is near universal opposition to the Common Core among Republican politicians.
Last year saw even bolder rhetoric against the Common Core, with backlash against the standards on both sides of the aisle. Former Republican proponents of the Common Core, including Gov. Chris Christie of New Jersey (who just endorsed Trump) and Gov. Bobby Jindal of Louisiana, flipped their stance and condemned the standards.
Thomson ReutersAnd in New York state, parents banded together in 2015 to boycott the standardized tests linked to the Common Core, succeeding in a 20% opt-out rate. That has given pause to once staunch supporters of the Common Core like Gov. Andrew Cuomo of New York, who is a Democrat.
Vitriol for the Common Core has become so high that some states have even rebranded the standards.
Trump's statement on Friday also echoed past criticism he's had for the nationwide standards. In a video he uploaded to Facebook in January, Trump vowed to end Common Core.
"Common Core's a total disaster," he said. "We're going to end Common Core."
In the video, Trump also took a swipe at American public schools, saying the US was rated "28 in the world" in terms of education and that it lags behind what he called "third-world countries."
NOW WATCH: Watch Tina Fey take on Sarah Palin's Trump endorsement speech on SNL