A quiz on America’s core curriculum
(southmont.k12.in.us)
How much do you really know about the core curriculum that American students are taught? Exploring this is the following piece — along with a quiz — by Marion Brady, who was a classroom teacher for years, has written history and world culture textbooks (Prentice-Hall), professional books, numerous nationally distributed columns (many are available here), and courses of study. His 2011 book “What’s Worth Learning” asks and answer this question: What knowledge is absolutely essential for every learner? His course of study for secondary-level students, called Connections: Investigating Reality, is free for downloading here. Brady’s website is www.marionbrady.com.
By Marion Brady
It should be self-evident that a democracy can’t function without an educated citizenry. It follows, then, that when leaders of business and industry buy a particular theory about educating and sell it to the politicians who write education policy, responsible citizens will try to understand that theory well enough to make informed judgments about it.
To that end, I’ve put together a little quiz.
But first, a bit of background. The key word that drives the present corporate-influenced education reform movement is “rigor.” Its supporters assume that teacher