Matt,

I apologize if I came across as a dick - like I do sometimes.

I understand what Common Core is - it's common. I'm not interested in commonalities, and schools shouldn't be, either. IMO, they should identify high achievers early on, and segregate them to learn at the pace they are equipped to learn at.

I'm not saying there shouldn't be a base of knowledge required for anyone to meet graduation requirements, what I'm saying is simply that future Nobel Laureates should not be doing the same things in school as future welders, salesmen, and truck drivers.

This is the Common Core view of math, and it sounds just like the corporate crap-lingo I hear at work every day, floated by senior management dillholes who think neato terms like "leverage our synergies" are more important than heads-down-getting-work-done work. They probably had 17 meetings, too, to decide "leverage our synergies" is what they should say.

Mathematics
The mathematics standards mandate the teaching of eight specific principles:[4]

Make sense of problems and persevere in solving them
Reason abstractly and quantitatively
Construct viable arguments and critique the reasoning of others
Model with mathematics
Use appropriate tools strategically
Attend to precision
Look for and make use of structure
Look for and express regularity in repeated reasoning

This is not the way to have the US regain its strength in education, IMO. Cutting through crap like this and facing the reality that we've been too busy playing grabass to provide kids with quality education. Teachers don't call parents to the carpet for not making sure homework gets done, poor teachers aren't shown the door and their salaries used to increase the pay of good teachers - the education system is just a huge, dysfunctional mess and Common Core isn't going to change it.

I hate to be such a pessimist, but it comes from many years IN school and many years of having kids in school.

If we jump in a boat and go fishing, I'd rather NOT talk schools and Common Core because it bums me out. You'll find I'm not nearly such a dick when I just fish, and leave subjects like this out of it.

I wish you and your wife luck in your endeavors, I just wish the folks the run the operation made it easier on both of you. You have my respect and admiration for what you guys do - I hope your jobs don't turn you into a cynical pessimist - like me.