A recent initiative in education has pushed for equality among students, and a standard for evaluation and curriculum. This initiative, the Common Core Standards System, has caused much debate in the education community, and, in my mind, needs some serious revisiting.
The Common Core Standards System’s website states that these standards are, “Research and evidence based,… aligned with college and career expectations, based on rigorous content…,… and informed by other top-performing countries to prepare all students for success in our global economy and society,” (Read the Standards). These standards are further broken down into Mathematics Standards, and English, Language Arts/Literacy Standards. At its core, these standards make sense. They work toward creating an equal playing field for students nation wide, and should make comparison for college applications more fair.
However, many issues exist in the Common Core system. The first main problem is that these standards push teachers to “teach to the test,” and not focus on teaching their students to learn. These standards are evaluated through a series of standardized tests, which schools and teachers are then evaluated on based on their students’ performance. So, in order for the schools to have a good image in the government’s eye, it makes sense that they would encourage their students in any way they could to do well on these tests. However, this style of teaching hurts the students. What happens when they get to college, or out into the workforce, and not every question in life needs them to “Find x,” or discover what tone the author was portraying in the passage? Our children truly are the future, and our education systems should be focused on teaching our students the skills that they need to solve problems that do not yet exist. With the incredibly fast advancement of technology, and our world becoming more and more connected every day, our teaching should not focus on a standardized test that asks students a inconceivably small fraction of the material they will need to know in their everyday lives.
Also, these standards do not let students explore their interests at young ages. Children should be encouraged to try a variety of new things, whether it be math, sports, art, music, etc. and these standards are making it very difficult for them to do this. These national standards, by their very nature, must be a one-size-fits-all system that hopes to reach every student in America. Sadly, this can never truly be achieved. The students that are interested in art need to take time to make sure that they are proficient in mathematics, and those students interested in the sciences must now take the time to learn the vocabulary that they will be tested on. These standards put all students in a box, not treating each and every one of them as the individuals they are. As a college student, I have found that there are so many things I was interested in that I had no idea existed before coming to Penn State. Why was I unaware of these things in high school? Part of the issue is that high schools do not have the funds of a university like Penn State, but the bigger issue is that public education systems are more focused on meeting the needs of the Common Core than they are of their students. Education is about allowing students to explore THEIR interests, and while a strong foundation in many areas is key, it is not the end all be all. So many kids go to college without the slightest idea of what they want to do with their life, and spend valuable tuition dollars on classes that will not benefit them at all in the future. If they could have taken the time in high school to find what interests them as a career, this “wasted time” could be cut down, and allow students to flourish in the university academic setting.
While the initiative of the Common Core is grounded in great intentions – leveling the playing field, creating a strong working foundation for students to branch off of later in life – it fails to meet the main purpose of education (in my mind at least: to foster a student’s potential and interests to allow them to find a career that they will love doing for the rest of their life. For this reason, I think the Common Core needs to be seriously revisited to help students be the best they can possibly be.
http://www.corestandards.org/read-the-standards/
Common Core, while it may have some great intentions, has ultimately changed the education system of the United States forever. In the past few decades, emphasis on standardizing everything has dominated the education world. With yearly state tests, national tests, and college admission tests, adding more testing and creating curriculum around a test is just adding to the stress that the youth of America has to deal with now. I remember learning cursive using shaving cream or writing silly stories in 6th grade, while today I see my sister in 6th grade struggling on complex pre-algebra problems. I agree with your train of thought that standardizing everything prohibits kids to look for what interests them. The beauty of an education in my opinion is that it opens your up to possibilities and makes one a more well-rounded individual. However, it is hard to tell what the right thing is in handling this situation. Do we eliminate this system completely and start from scratch in creating a new system? If we did so, should we create a new system or would it lead back to the same issues as before? Or would administrative improvements and adjustments in curriculum make the difference? Definitely some questions to think about; however, great blog post! Until next time!
Connor,
Glad you brought this up because I couldn’t agree more with what you said. I have always had a very strong opinion on standardized tests like the SAT and ACT honestly because I think they are pointless and shouldn’t exist. Prior to taking the SATs, when I was studying, I couldn’t remember the last time I learned grammar in school or talked about the tone of an author. That’s not what I was learning, I was learning calculus, writing poetry, and doing physics problems. You’re right about saying what’s going to happen when kids go to college, or out into the workforce, and not every question in life will need them to “Find x,” or discover what tone the author was portraying in the passage. Now is not the time for our education systems to mess up. They need to focus on teaching decision making and the skills that we need to solve every day problems that actually matter in the world. Who cares about a couple of words in the dictionary, or where the coma belongs, or if the sentence is in the right order. That stuff is a waste of time. Education is taking a turn for the worst. The Common Core will destroy education and limit students to exploring their interests and finding a career. I’m curious to see what will happen. Great job!!!