Educational Reform
By living in the United States
One of the ways that the
issues have tried to be fixed is what is called the “Common Core.” It was
created by privately funded groups in Washington
D.C.
By labeling a successful
student by what they’ve scored on a test, the common core ignores the many
qualities of a human being that cannot be tested. Standardized learning targets
lead to standardized testing, which leads to standardized learning. As a junior
in high school, I’ve taken more than my fair share of standardized tests. If
the goal of a classroom turns into passing a test, that’s just not the way that
it should be. You can learn a test all you want, but that isn’t all that a
child should get out of their public education. I feel like this concept
creates an unhealthy benchmark for both teachers and parents.
Before anyone tries to
argue about the fact that this is not required by the federal government, and
that you can’t call it an encroachment on state’s rights I need to say that I
agree with you. Without looking at the situation and everything that comes with
the program, you can say that if there were so many problems with it that it
shouldn’t be implemented in the first place. Saying any of these things are
just excuses to ignore what this system is doing to the children that live here
and are put into the schools that try to validate these policies.
The federal government is
not putting these standards into law. Instead, Race To The Top funds have been
created by the U.S. Department of Education. These grants offer money to the
states that are willing to abide by their standards. Any state that cares about
the education of their students is going to want, and need the money that would
be provided by such grants. It is said in the requirements that by complying
with such requirements they will be granted the money. One of the first listed
says “Adopting standards and assessments that prepare students to succeed in
college and the workplace and to compete in the global economy.” Sounds
familiar, right? Contrary to my own opinion, with all of the technicalities and
loopholes included, these actions do not violate the constitution. Basically,
if you disagree and don’t do what the government is strongly encouraging you to
do, you don’t get money that could be used to improve the resources and
materials that are already being used to teach students the way that they
already are being taught. I am in no way “against” students being provided with
the education that will get them into college and succeed in the professional
world, but I don’t feel that this initiative will have a positive effect on
that.
One of the members of the
committee that was to validate Common Core is Sandra Stotsky, a professor at
the University of
Arkansas
I’ve been thinking about
teaching when I get older. If I can make a positive impact on anyone,
especially younger people, then I would do whatever it takes. With the common
core, the organic nature of a classroom is taken away. The teaching style of a
teacher who has been successful in his or her ways for 30 years has to make a
change that has the possibility to lower his or her scores. A teacher’s focus
changes to the stress of getting his or her students to certain bench marks in
the way that these policies say that they should. Teachers have less mobility
in that they lose the flexibility that they had to cater individually to
students who might be struggling. It’s almost like they are giving out shirts
that are “one-size-fits-all” to every child in America
Not directly related to
the Common Core, but affected, is the increasing appeal of private schools. The
documentary “Waiting for Superman”, released in 2010, follows the stories of
parents fighting to get their kids a quality education. Those who are born into
the areas that aren’t as wealthy as others often are left in the districts with
the lowest ranked schools. These are the families that don’t have the funds to
send their kids to better schools. They are forced to gamble their child’s
education on the luck of a drawing, raffle or lottery to be able to afford tuition
to a charter or private school.
A remarkable person who
influences much of the debate in educational reform is Ken Robinson. I really
enjoy listening to his TED talks and just feeling the passion that he has for
kids and their future. My favorite TED talk of his is called “How to escape
Education’s Death Valley .” He compares the
fight for education to Death Valley . While it
is constantly dry and looks as if it has no possibility of ever showing life,
it rained almost 7 inches one time. Because of that, it was filled with flowers
in the spring. People thought that it was impossible for life to come out of
such a dark place. Successful educational reform IS possible. Even when something
looks as dead as it possibly could be, you can change the conditions and make
life possible in he darkest of times.
Works Cited
Speech/Lecture
Ken Robinson- “How to escape
Education’s Death Valley ”
Documentary
“Waiting for ‘Superman” 2010
Internet Sources
Race To The Top Federal
Grants
A transcript of the testimony
from Sandra Stotsky on the Common Core
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