Common Core Commonalities

I am about to get myself in trouble with a bunch of my friends. Common Core is not the monster many people think it is. An article by the Associated Press posted on Fox News makes my point perfectly. Let me start by re-stating what I said in an earlier blog: Common Core is not a curriculum. The standards in Common Core simply state what things students should know at certain grade levels. How those things are taught and what materials are used remain at the discretion of the local school districts and even classroom teachers.

What the AP article says is typical of overblown criticism of Common Core by ignorant parents and educators who try to paint it as an effort to wrest local control or dictate what specifics must be taught. The truth is that the standards are not asking for more than what any reasonable parent or educator would want from a decent school program. It asks that the students be taught how to think, not what to think.

The AP article mentioned above says, "Adopted by 44 states, the Common Core is a set of English and math standards that spell out what students should know and when. The standards for elementary math emphasize that kids should not only be able to solve arithmetic problems using the tried-and-true methods their parents learned, but understand how numbers relate to each other." The article highlights the frustration of parents who cannot handle the concepts their children are being taught. I contend that this is not a problem with Common Core, but rather a problem with the parents' education.

For about a generation now, our schools have been teaching students the answers to the questions instead of teaching students how to think. Educators have finally realized that teaching pat answers won't be sufficient if the questions change (as they have). Suddenly, we realize that the ability to think creatively, critically is more important than knowing the "answer" to a prescribed question. Parents who have only been taught the "answers" are now complaining that they can't think alongside their students. Good.

I am regularly amazed (shocked) by the inability of my college students to think creatively. They come to me expecting to receive answers, not to think about the possibilities of answers. They want me to tell them what to think rather than how to think. They are utterly unprepared to read or hear on their own and make informed decisions about critical matters. If they have opinions, they are untried and unconsidered. If there was ever a fertile ground for mass indoctrination, this is it. 

Maybe this is how Hitler or Stalin or Idi Amin were able to accomplish their atrocities. Maybe they had a population that had been rendered helpless to think for themselves. I know the Common Core standards are not perfect. I know the implementation can be misguided. But if the main objection is that Common Core asks more of the next generation that of the last, is that really a bad thing? I mean, do we want Justin Bieber as our next President? After all, he's not even a citizen... but who cares... really? Aren't Christians supposed to be about tolerance and all that? Wouldn't Jesus and Justin be best buds? Really, dude.