Category Archives: EDUCATION

Anyone who has dug into Common Core and complained it has its tentacles into everything and is dictating how teachers teach has been hit with the proponent’s main line “the Common Core is just a set of standards”.

That line is a lie. Any parent paying attention to the proliferation of the eerily similar examples of overly convoluted Common Core math assignments coming from every state who has adopted the Core can tell you that. I’ve had the lovely experience of watching my own child struggle with such an assignment. When attempting to show him the quick, accurate way of writing the algorithm instead of a diagram of some kind accompanied with a paragraph on ‘how they know this answer’, my child melted down and told me, “No mom, I can’t do it that way! It’s not the way we’re supposed to do it. I have to do it the way the teacher did it or it’s wrong.”

Even now my body tenses and my teeth set on edge recalling that exchange.

By the way, I told him he can do it the way that he finds is best for him. That way was the algorithm. He now does it his way first to get the right answer and then puts what Common Core wants on the paper in order to get marked correct. This isn’t customization or personalization of education, this is training kids to jump through specific hoops. It’s not teaching critical thinking, it’s teaching obedience. This isn’t rigorous, this is developmentally inappropriate and serves as a mental beat down for our youngest learners.

Returning to the talking point that the Core is just standards, consider this article in the Statesville Record & Landmark: Continue reading →