I have to say I that I downloaded and read through the Common
Core Standards for 6-12 Graders and was shocked by what is now expected out of
not only our children but also our teachers. As I was reading the extremely vast
and extensive list, I was overwhelmed with the feelings of Déjà vu. (Yes,
this is the first time that I have read and looked at the complete list of Standards.)
Many of the items on the list amazed me. I’ll grant you that I have been in
college for a few years, however, many items on the list I learned in English
101 & 201. For instance, examining an article or historical document and
looking for the arguments, rhetoric, claims, fallacies, etc. (see following
links: http://www.corestandards.org/ELA-Literacy/RI/9-10/
or http://www.corestandards.org/ELA-Literacy/RI/11-12/
) What will be left to teach our youth in college if we are raising the bar
this high for them in high school? Are these tasks even reasonable if they are
expected and taught at college level?
I am an older student and I’m returning to college after a
twenty year absence. When I went to school, teachers (even the running start
ones) didn’t teach the tasks listed on the Common Core Standards list in any of
our community schools. I know my children didn’t learn those tasks either and
they just graduated in the past few years. Maybe that’s why the Powers-that-be
are revising and making these Standards…but if that’s the case, what will college
Professors teach? Will educators have to keep revising and reevaluating
everything on up the line so the tasks or increasingly more difficult? (I
shudder—Maybe English 459, Grammar For Teachers, will be the new 201.) Or have
we set impossible tasks for our children/educators that centers on the wrong
things at the wrong times in our children’s lives, thereby stifling their creativity.
Our nation has become so focused on testing and outcomes it has forgotten to
allow children/youth to enjoy learning.
We need to get back to teaching our children the joy of
reading because it takes us away into a story, into a completely new world. We
need to teach Math, Chemistry, and Science because they are ways our children
can be creative and see the world as different and new. Show our students how the
innovations we have today were only built because of someone just like them.
I’m reminded of a Mexican American Geometry teacher in a disadvantaged
school in one of my textbooks who took his students around the school to draw
shapes. Some of his students grew bored and wanted to return to class. When the
teacher asked why they stated they did not see the point of the exercise. He
asked them to look around at the people gathering the trash, cleaning the school,
repairing the broken lockers. Then he asked them to look around at the teachers,
the principal, and the administrators and so on. He never had to ask those
students again to do their work…One small lesson, such a large impact and a
great example!
Young minds need to read for fun More. They need
class time for fun reading because they won’t take it or get it at home. However,
if we give them twenty minutes in class they will be productive and read.
Do we need such an extensive, exhaustive list of Standards that
raises the bar to college level…I would like to focus on less on Testing and
more on teaching.
Thanks for reading!
L.Rowe
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