The Common Core is basically the ideas that all states have the same standard on education. For instance, if the student moves from California to Oregon, the student will not feel behind and will continue to learn the same concepts. Some people believe that we should continue to use the Common Core, and that the Common Core is helpful for the United States. Those people believe that the Common Core creates high standards, and also can make great influences on all the students. From the debate we watched in class, one person mentioned about Bill Gates saying that the new generation has low quality, and it is hard to hire them. Additionally, the person said that what skills the students need to have is the main focus of the Common Core. On the other hand, some people believe that the Common Core has such a negative impact on our society. From this perspective, those people believe that the Common Core will not increase students’ scores, and will not help them improve as well. “There is no evidence that imposing a uniform education system on the country will, in itself, result in a more educated citizenry” (TEP Student Action, 2016). However, I believe that the Common Core should not be the standard for education in the United States.
I believe that the Common Core should not be the standard for education in the United States is because of the states. In order to be the standard, all states need to be on the same page. As you may know, there are few states that have not adopted the Common Core, such as Texas, Alaska, Oklahoma, Nebraska, and few other states (Common Core State Standards Initiative, 2016). Another reason that provides the same insight is the standards. The Common Core has such a high standard, and those standards will not do any good for students. I believe teaching is a work of heart, and that it involves professionalism. Students are different and unique. We should not use the same standards for all the students, and every student learn differently.
Let’s take first grade for example, “reasoning about attributes of, and composing and decomposing geometric shapes” (Oregon Department of Education, 1998-2016). We can see how high the standard is from the Common Core, and people expect the first grader to do reasoning. While I was in high school, I was a cadet teacher. I have worked with preschoolers up to fifth graders. Even fifth graders have problem with reasoning, and some even struggle a lot. Another resource is the Smarter Balanced Test. From the example we did in class, the tenth grade English, the test contains a lot of techniques. I will say that it is more challenging than SAT, and I do not think it really reflect the knowledge of the students. Unfortunately, I was trying to do grade three math, but it did not work for some reasons. I tried it in multiple locations, such as WOU library, writing center, and my house. I will keep trying because I am really curious about how the test is going to look like.
Finally, the Common Core should not be the standard for education in the United States. It does not help the students in any ways, and that it is not helpful. The experiences I had from high school helped me see that each child is unique, and educators should maintain professionalism for all their students.
michaelchung125 