Tweet

() Comments

Report

On 7/03/14, Huner wrote:
> It's not whether it is new or not,
> its the fact of the matter that there
> are some serious flaws in today's
> education system. To justify the fact
> that standardization from the Common
> core is more so beneficial than a
> modem of personalized education is
> absurd. Please explain how you
> justify that model, I'm really
> curious as about your reasons that
> back it up.

The Common Core Standards (and the Next Generation Science
Standards and the National Curriculum Standards for Social
Studies) are just that - STANDARDS. They are not curricula.

I support national standards because I believe that every
child that attends public school in our country should have the
same access and same opportunity to engage in content that will
prepare them well for post-secondary success; whether it be
college, technical school, military service, or the workforce.

I also believe that every student should have access to quality
instruction (including curricula and instructional materials),
quality teachers, and quality facilities. That's a different
conversation.

I understand that not all students are college-bound. However
where they live and go to school should not be the main determiner
of their options. The kids living in the colonias along the
border, in rural and isolated west Texas, in the inner cities, in
Alamo Heights and Highland Park, anywhere should have the same
opportunity to learn the content that will serve them in any
future. Extrapolate that to a national level and it's the same.

Without standards, students in the poorest areas historically have
not had access to the same content as middle and upper class
students.

I'm only talking about opportunity here, nothing else. All
students in public school deserve equal access. Whether or not
they choose to take advantage of the opportunity is a different
problem.

The problem becomes complicated when people confuse standards with
curriculum and instruction. I do not support a national
curriculum. Furthermore the Elementary and Secondary Education Act
of 1965 – reauthorized as NCLB in 2001 forbids the establishment
of one.

Poorly written materials, seriously misguided implementation,
injudicious testing, political posturing, profiteering, all
contribute to confound the situation.

If schools and teachers are allowed to decide on the materials,
techniques, strategies, whatever, that works best for their
students, in their situations, as long as most of the kids are
mastering the common standards, then –IMHO- we would see some
well-prepared students.

Of course, there would have to be some measure of most kids
mastering standards, and that brings up the testing problem. I
think this is solvable also, but not as long as education is a
political plaything.

Posts on this thread, including this one