National Academic Standards – Turning Public Education into McSchools
America is obsessed with standardization.
Let’s make everything the same – neat and uniform.
It’s ironic coming from a country that’s always been so proud of its rugged individualism.
But look almost anywhere in the US of A, and you’ll see a strip mall with almost all of the same stores and fast food restaurants selling the same crusty burgers and fries left waiting for the consumer under a heat lamp.
Somehow this has become THE model for public education, as well. Corporations have convinced our lawmakers that the disposable franchise business schematic is perfect to increase student learning.
That’s where we got the idea for Common Core. All schools should teach the same things at the same times in the same ways.
It’s been a horrendous failure.
But this article isn’t about the Common Core per se. It isn’t about how the Core isunpopular, expensive, developmentally inappropriate, created by non-experts orillegal. It’s about the very idea of national academic standards. After all, if the Core is flawed, one might suggest we simply fix those flaws and institute a better set of national standards. I contend that this would be a failure, too.
The problem with standardization is that it forces us to make uniform choices. In situation A, we always do THIS. In Situation B, we always do THAT. There are some areas where this is a good thing, but education is not one of them.
For instance, we can all agree that children need to read books, but what kind of books? Should they read mostly fiction or nonfiction? Should books be limited by National Academic Standards – Turning Public Education into McSchools | gadflyonthewallblog:
