Originally posted by ProfEmeritus
Agreed. The federal government is not requiring states adapt the Common Core curriculum. Instead, the state is presented with the Common Core and they
can take it or leave it. Not all states have made the switch, and some may choose not too.
reply to post by smyleegrl
Under those conditions, I believe there would be no problem. Of course, as I'm sure you know, unless the vast majority of the states were to accept
the common core, the inequality would still exist. It is a good start, but it remains to be seen how it will be accepted by the various states. There
is no question that the curricula of the schools need to improve, as it certainly has been "dumbed down", as the common folk like to assert. That
was obvious to me, as a Professor, who saw freshmen that came into my institution that could barely write a complete sentence, and were severely
deficient in in spelling, grammar, and original thought processes. It was very discouraging. Part of that problem, I believe was due to the emphasis
on grades, the pressure of parents on school boards to ensure that Johnny and Susie got decent grades, and the total lack by the parents on emphasis
on LEARNING rather than grades. It is a sad situation. I had one student that was a "straight A" student in high school, that turned in papers that
I wouldn't accept from a 5th grader. The grammar was non-existent, the spelling was atrocious, and again, the thought process consisted of her
"feelings", with no facts to back them up. Sad, Sad.
Improving the curriculum will help, but I believe getting parents involved is even more crucial. Where I teach, which is a low-income rural area,
parents simply aren't involved. Some of that is due to the fact that they are single parents and are working constantly to provide for their
children. But more often it seems to be apathy from the parents.
Another HUGE issue is social promotion. We have students who aren't ready to progress to the next grade. So what do we do? We say it hurts their
self esteem to be retained, we place them in the next grade, and they fall further behind. By the time they are in high school they are functionally
illiterate and have zero life skills.
When I was in high school, we had what was called the vocational track, the college track, and the regular track. For students who did not plan to
attend college, they could choose to study work skills such as mechanics, welding, agriculture, secretarial duties, etc in preparation for a job after
graduating. For those students who planned to attend college, they took the college track courses.
We've done away with the vocational track classes in my area. Everyone is pigeonholed into the college track. But not everyone can or should go to
college. They graduate high school with no real skills, and no real future.
I could go on and on about the education system in America, but I'll bring this to a close. Glad to know there are folks who understand the
underlying issues!