Friday, December 7, 2012

Missouri Education Watchdog: Process vs. Content - Finding The Perfect Balance

Missouri Education Watchdog: Process vs. Content - Finding The Perfect Balance:


Process vs. Content - Finding The Perfect Balance

I think in the big picture of life, I tend to believe Buddha got it right. Balance is the key or, as Franklin said, all things in moderation. Education, the process of passing present knowledge on to the next generation, is looking for this balance between teaching process and teaching content. The scales had been tipped towards content but, in the name of reform, they are now tipping more heavily toward process with Common Core. In the American tradition of, if a little is good a lot is great, we are moving almost exclusively towards process. This puts us out of balance which causes problems both now and later.

One teacher explained, "Instead of focusing on teaching facts, we teach students how to gather, articulate, and make inferences from facts in order to create arguments and conclusions."

In Fairfield Connecticut, where they are already working towards Common Core Standards and Assessments,