(As in “Ow, that smarts!”)
We’ve had some time to digest the results of Common Core–years, in fact–and now we know: it’s been a spectacular success! By now at least half our college-bound high school seniors can pass this test.
You don’t hear much about Common Core lately. “Gender-Affirming Care” has been grabbing all the headlines. But whatever’s occupying center state, we know we can rely on our national teachers’ unions to finish the job!
While I understand that there are reasons to have standards, the question of who sets those standards is crucial. If you go back to the postwar years into which I was born, the US was pretty much a Christian nation. Even those who claimed no religious beliefs tended to have an outlook at least favorable to a Judeo-Christian ethic. There were obvious exceptions, but the preponderant viewpoint was at least favorable to the Judeo-Christian ethic.
This is no longer the case, and viewpoints are all over the map, these days. If I were asked to set the standards for the core of a basic education, I would place reading at the top, because reading allows one to learn other subjects. Mathematical skills would come next, because I see these as essential to functioning in the real world. Writing, as in handwriting would be #3 on my list, followed by a factual consideration of history. (No heroes, no villains, no commentary; just the facts.) Beyond that, I look back on health, and science as having been valuable.
In the spirit of full disclosure, I will state that reading came naturally to me and I was reading years beyond my grade level, by the end of 1st grade. Likewise, basic math was easy for me, but my overall math skills are all over the map. I’m not impressed with how algebra is most commonly taught, and feel that current methods favor passing as many students as possible, and are not necessarily effective at imparting true understanding. When it comes to writing, I do poorly, being essentially dysgraphic. Nonetheless, I think that at least attempting to write by hand is an essential skill, even if some of us are never good at it.
We had music classes in grade school, and these were highly valuable. Early on, it was mostly singing, but as the years went on, some music reading and even a bit of theory were introduced. While I wasn’t always attentive to these, towards the end of grade school I started guitar lessons and became an A student in those classes. As I progressed in learning the guitar, much of this independently, I seemed to have an almost instinctive grasp of music theory, which I credit mainly those theory sessions I all but ignored in my grade school days. Thank you, Mrs. LaVonne.
The problem, these days, is that the standards have become politically motivated and the transmission of factual, useful information is hindered by this. They can plan all they want, but so long as school exists as a political tool, it won’t matter.
In my childhood, our house was chock-full of books and we didn’t need much encouragement to read. All; the adults pitched in. I have a found memory of sitting on my Uncle Bernie’s lap as he read to me from books on dinosaurs. I realize now that wasn’t as easy for him as it looked.
Likewise, books were everywhere in my parent’s home. My parents read to me when I was small, and as soon as I learned to read, I read frequently. I received books as gifts, and all but wore out any books on aviation, automobiles, motorcycles, etc. in our school library.
And don’t forget “No Child Left Behind.” When I was in the College of Education after retiring from 35 years with Whirlpool, it was Common Core standards that convinced me to be a substitute teacher instead of getting my license. I thought, let the teacher teach, but they would have none of that.
Government has no business in education.