When I study or teach a topic I like to make sure I also study something contrary to it. For example, when I teach the Declaration of Independence I also like to touch on the Communist Manifesto. While I am not equating Common Core with the Communist Manifesto, before I started looking into these standards I disliked them almost as much as this document. I still don’t agree with them for many reasons but I am able to be more specific when I talk about the subject, thereby (hopefully) being more credible to my audience.
Most people I know that complain about Common Core say that it has taken all logic out of math. They don’t understand how their child can get a problem wrong if they got the right answer. To be honest, I can’t either, even after reading the standards. Maybe I didn’t find all the specifics about HOW the standards were to be assessed. It doesn’t say anything about how a student is to be taught the subject within the standard. My conclusion is that people are getting the standards and the way the districts/publishers/etc. are applying the standards confused. I agree with the premise of Common Core – that all children should have the opportunity to the same level of education. I just don’t agree with how this is being done.
The Common Core Standards are a Band-Aid on a broken, out-of-date system and the way the standards are being applied, it is exacerbating the problem. Our students need to learn mastery of topics and to have room to be creative. They don’t need to be forced into more “boxes” that define all the “how’s” that are acceptable. Let them learn math in a way that makes sense to them, not to some textbook publisher.
I recently read Salman Khan’s book, The One World Schoolhouse. I was very inspired by how he wants (and is) revolutionizing schooling today. He has shown the benefits to mastery teaching and in his book he shares documentation that this way of learning has been used effectively before. It was just hard on the teachers and administrators to get used to so they stopped. With his Khan Academy, Sal is changing that. It is easy to implement. He advocates a flipped classroom where students can move forward at their own pace, never having to leave a topic because the teacher needs to move on. The teacher can see where everyone is in the curriculum, giving students that are floundering additional help. Students receive more one on one time and teachers get to give their students the ultimate in personalized education.
Khan Academy covers the Common Core Standards. I’ve had to correct people when they have disparaged it for that reason. It isn’t the standards that are the problem. It is the system. Things won’t change until the educational system in this country is brought into the 21st century. Our current system was designed by the Prussians in order to create better, more complacent citizens and soldiers. During the Industrial Revolution, the factory owners thought that something similar would be good for their businesses. The problem is that our children need more today to be successful in a world that is changing daily. Complacency won’t get them jobs. In the bigger picture, complacency won’t help our society. We need creative, independent thinkers to solve the problems of today. Not sheep who follow mindlessly. I’m planning on helping Salman Khan with his mission to revolutionize education. Want to join me?
This is fabulous, Heidi. Love where you are going with your ideas.