It is easy to fall into the trap of arguing the merits of Common Core lessons, worrying about who wrote them, or questioning the validity of the tests that accompany them. While each of these concerns are real, they mask the basic flaw of these standards, and that is that they are standards applied to human children who are not and never can be standard. It is okay to apply standards to inputs like class size, facilities, resources, and safety. These things CAN be controlled and we should be accountable for them. On the other hand, each child is absolutely unique in what they bring to the learning process and any attempt to standardize learning or learning processes is doomed to failure, and at the expense of the child. Setting attainable goals for learning for each child in concert with the childs parents is appropriate pedagogy. Mandating standards that must be met by every child is not only stupid but abusive to the children who have no way to attain the standard. It is close to criminal, given what is known about cognitive development and human learning, to label children as failures simply because they cannot pass an inappropriate test given at their grade level.
Posted on: Wed, 21 Jan 2015 18:57:30 +0000
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