Comment Re:Common core changes history (Score 1) 113
I think national standards are the entire problem. We shouldn't have national standards. For one, we're a nation of some 300-plus million people distributed across 50 states, with varying geography, cultures, industries, and so forth. Why would anyone think one size should fit all? It's funny how there is so much talk about "diversity" all the time and how great it is, but heaven forbid there should be diversity in education in this country. The federal government has no business in education. But apart from all that, centralization in a country like this poses another problem. It gives a single pressure point for every kind of political or ideological fad or bent. Anyone with an axe to grind, a chip on his or her shoulder, or just a run-of-the-mill "I know better than thou" complex has but a single pressure point to grab hold of to bend the country to his or her will. Today you may like who is behind this push for a de facto national curriculum. But tomorrow you may not be. What happens then?
I'm for competition, diversity, innovation, and freedom. The Common Core is antithetical to all that.
I'm all for that. So my schools can hold up to the 'standard' that kids exiting 6th grade should be able to add/subtract/multiply/divide numbers, and have basic English skills - and your schools, well, if your state/city/town doesn't think that's important then so be it, your kids can graduate HS thinking "smart peepul are loosers, who kares what 12% of 100 is, heck, 12/100 is what them calcoolaters are fer, if yah really needed too y'no. I have mah freedum."
We'll see who's kids do better with the real-world job competition and diversity, and who can innovate.