29 Sep What is the “Common Core” Curriculum?
La Canada, CA is one city that has recently adopted the Common Core Curriculum.
With so many kids wanting to attend College after High School, State Education Chiefs and Governors came together to create a set of clear college-and career ready standards for K-12th grade in English language arts/literacy and math. These standards are said to be designed to ensure that students graduating from High School are prepared to take either take credit bearing courses in a two-or four year college or to enter the workforce.
Is this all true? Well, who knows at this point. This is a new theory and it certainly has its opponents who say that it will actually lower our children’s exposure to Algebra I, Geometry and Algebra II as well as any of the higher -level math courses. It has also been said that this new “Core’ program decreases the capacity for analytical thinking and weakens the base of literary and cultural knowledge.
What are we to do as parents? Some of you have already lived through “No Child Left Behind” and “Race to the Top.” So it seems that this is our latest challenge.
I’m not sure what choices we have before us. A lot of us work either full time or part time and we rely heavily on our school system to make sure our kids are being taught everything that they need to become knowledgeable and active members of society and the workplace.
I think at the end of they day, we have no choice but to step in as parents and give our children what they need to grow and flourish. If our schools take out the classics from literature, then we need to bring them back in the home. Whatever may now be missing from their education needs to be replaced.We have to do all we can to help our kids succeed in life. I’m not sure if “Common Core” or any other school measuring incentives will ever go away and if they do, they most certainly will be replaced by something else. It’s up to us to make up those differences, to fill any gaps that we can see need filling.
I know that a lot of people will disagree with this, but I stopped and wondered what other choices are there? Private School? Home School? Those are both great options, but those aren’t going to be options that fit within everyone’s lifestyle or schedule. I would love to hear more opinions on this hotly debated topic. And wherever you are with these new issues, I wish you all the success and patience in the world!
