Holy crap there is a lot of misinformation in this thread.
I don't think a lot of people are really understanding what Common Core actually is. Common Core is essentially a universal set of educational standards that are set almost nationwide. Only a few states have yet to adopt these standards. Basically, these standards are developed through what is developmentally appropriate for children at a given age. For example addition and subtraction in first grade, multiplication in third grade, ect. Common Core aims to create consistency of the standards nationwide. For example, If Johnny moves from Washington State to California, he will continue learning the same material that was taught to him in Washington State. If he attends a school in a state that has not adopted the Common Core Standards, he could be learning God knows what.
What a lot of people's beef really should be with are with some of the teaching strategies that exist within Common Core (especially within math). A lot of traditional ways of doing math that a lot of us were taught aren't always taught as a strategy to get an answer. Supposedly, a lot of the new strategies taught will make learning upper level math more easy once kids get the hang of it. This is the part that I actually question because it is hard to prove, and my traditional ways of learning seem to be quicker and easier.
The main reason why academic achievement in America sucks is because we are the only country in the world that offers free education to EVERYONE regardless of race, nationality, language, culture, disability, mental health, cognitive abilities, familial circumstances, socio-economic status, ect. These are all barriers that limit access to education in other countries. Here in American, it doesn't matter, by law EVERYONE is provided with education, regardless of any barrier that exists. Everyone must be accommodated.
It also doesn't help when our [Bleeeeep!] parents are not as involved in our education as they used to be. Parental involvement in a child's education is the biggest indicator of academic success across the board. Make sure your kids have a book in their hands when you tuck them into bed tonight. You can play angry birds or another tablet game with them tomorrow after school. Just don't miss baseball practice.
Matt
Source: Myself (Child Mental Health Counselor) and wife (Special Education Instructor)
Common core is a joke to say the least. Those who support it are nothing more than clueless dimwits that failed simple math.
Math is like science - it is predictable, and consistent. To come up with this Bullchit nonsense that is now spewed across stupid schools (no longer public, education has gone stupid) the bar is as low as it has ever been.
congrats.
That's a whole lot of crap, Streamer, and Chuck is right.
I don't give a sh!t what it is - it isn't working. Perhaps we should come to grips with the fact that not every kid is going to be a physicist and stop making future physicists wait for future burger flippers in math class so we can spout some bullsh!t about everyone getting an opportunity. The opportunity they're getting is to receive a second-rate education so we can feel warm and fuzzy.
The results speak for themselves. Our kids do not measure up to the rest of the world, and using the excuse that we educate every kid as a reason is a cop-out full of cowardice and stupidity.
Somehow, I don't think a counselor and special education teacher are valid sources, either. If you do, perhaps it's because you place a higher value on warm and fuzzy than you do on real , measurable statistics...............and that is the problem right there.
I took college-level calculus and had to struggle with my kids' 4th and 5th grade math homework - explain that with your story about how we educate everyone and that's why our schools are failing. That ISN'T the reason. The reason is we've become too gutless to identify that the world is full of ditch-diggers AND scientists - and both can bring value to society - and we should stop treating them the same by using some garbage system called Common Core.
My kids are college-aged now, so I'm done doing battle with the local school district. It still angers me, though, that my tax dollars flow into a system administered by clowns that ask for more money to perform at such a low level. I posted the text below on another BB I post on - it's a perfect example of why our schools are junk and why our kids are the ones who suffer from it.
"When I was a Senior in high school, my school offed to pay me 5 bones a day to tutor a group of 6 freshman paste-eaters who were failing, instead of taking one of my early-outs.
I agreed because 25 bones a week paid for beer.
At the end of the first quarter, the little donkeys were ALL getting better than C's in their classes - an increase of 2 full grade points. It's because they weren't stupid, their teachers were just fuckheads that failed to get through to them.
One Friday afternoon, I let the them bail out 5 minutes early to get on their way. Some administrator jackass saw them going across campus, and the following Monday I was called to the office. They said that because I had let these kids out early, they'd have to terminate my employment. I laughed right at the counselor's face and asked if they thought it was any skin off my ass if these kids went back to failing all their classes in spite of the 25K a year the school district was spending to educate them - and failing - when I was doing a better job for 25 bucks a week.
I went back to taking 2 early-out and buying my own beer and those kids likely went back to failing.
Since then, I still vote for school levies, but know that schools are doomed to fail because the administrators that operate them are complete fucktards, and no matter how good the teachers are - and most of them aren't - the kids are not going to get a good education no matter how many dollars rain down on them.
Of course, the senior leadership at my company are all fucktards, too, but at least we don;t ask the public for more money every year to continue being shitheads. Every so often, the stockholders demand that the fucktards' heads roll, and we get a new group of fuckin' idiots who find new ways to kill sales and not get the job done..............but it's never public money we piss away.
And THAT is the difference. You want to piss money away? Then piss away your own fuckin' money. Why I still vote for levies is beyond me. Too much alcohol abuse, I imagine."
Frankly, I've had my fill of discussing this. Like I said, my kids are pretty much on their own now, and I'm not fighting this battle any longer
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