Core problem

Published May 29, 2014

by Gary Pearce, Talking About Politics, May 28, 2014.

California Governor Jerry Brown put his finger on the syndrome in 2012: “Everybody went to school, so everybody thinks they know how to teach, or they think they know something about education.”

 

Especially politicians. So, every couple of years, a new education reform takes hold in politics. And the politicians dictate a new set of hoops for teachers, principals and educators to jump through.

 

This all started with the 1983 report of President Reagan’s National Commission on Excellence on Education, which seized headlines with its voice of doom: “The educational foundations of our society are presently being eroded by a rising tide of mediocrity that threatens our very future as a Nation and a people. If an unfriendly foreign power had attempted to impose on America the mediocre educational performance that exists today, we might well have viewed it as an act of war.”

 

That launched a series of reform fads – some good, some bad – but all based on the premise that America’s schools were going to hell in a handbasket, taking our economy, our competitiveness and our very future with them.  We got standards, assessments, teacher evaluations, ending tenure, charter schools, vouchers – 30 years of successive waves of reform.

 

Now we get Common Core, the latest silver bullet to solve the Great Education Crisis.

 

Teachers I talk to praise the goals and intentions of Common Care. But they say that, like every reform, it’s being pushed through on the excitement plan, with little thought for how hard it is to implement sweeping changes overnight. As Stephen Colbert said, Common Care “prepares students for what they’ll face as adults – pointless stress and confusion.”

 

So now you have critics on the left and right – teachers and Tea Party – in an unlikely alliance against Common Core.

 

But is there even a crisis? Education analyst Diane Ravitch ravaged that argument when she spoke to NCSU’s Emerging Issues Forum in February. Her criticism of Republican education “reforms” in North Carolina got the headlines, but she made a deeper and more biting point: If the public schools have been failing us for 30 years, why does the United States remain the most innovative, productive and powerful economic engine in the world.?

 

Is it just possible that, beyond all the scare headlines and political posturing and do-good reforms, teachers are somehow managing to teach students what they need to know?

 

What a concept.

 

To finish Jerry Brown’s thought: “I’m putting my faith in the teachers.”

 

 

Read More NC SPIN >>

May 29, 2014 at 4:26 pm
Bill Morris says:

"(W)hy does the United States remain the most innovative, productive and powerful economic engine in the world?" Because of our economic system, Gary. Capitalism. Whether this Administration and Democrats like it or not, capitalism is still the only economic system that rewards and encourages innovation and productivity. Thirty years ago our students ranked number one in almost every educational category. Now, we aren't even in the Top 10. Our education system isn't "going to Hell in a handbasket". It's already there.

May 29, 2014 at 11:50 pm
Tom Hauck says:

Thank you for an interesting column but when 68% of all North Carolina children fail their reading and math End-of-Grade tests in 2012-13 there is a problem.

One of the reasons the US has, so far, stayed at a high level as an innovative country is that companies have imported brainy labor or sent the development work overseas. The middle class is becoming smaller as the newly educated are not able to fill the required jobs. I understand we are missing about 80,000 college graduates in STEM and computer subjects each year and the jobs are going overseas -- to China, India and Eastern Europe.

Many complain about economic inequality and our schools do not equip the graduates to compete for well paying jobs.

May 30, 2014 at 10:34 am
Norm Kelly says:

'Is it just possible that ... teachers are somehow managing to teach students what they need to know?'

Yes. Despite government mandates, the ingenuity, creativity, intelligence of the American populace overcomes the ridiculous. Common Core MAY have it's roots in trying to improve our education system. The implementation is THE PROBLEM. Instead of a set of goals, Common Core HAS BECOME a curriculum or at least a curriculum guideline. Setting a goal and allowing teachers to prepare lesson plans to achieve that goal is admirable. Setting a goal and having politicians and disinterested third parties come up with curriculum is foolish and defeats the goal.

Trying to teach simple math by making it MORE DIFFICULT does the student absolutely NO GOOD! How does a simple math problem like '14+4' become complicated? By laying out a 14 step process, plus sub-steps. This is not algebra or trig! This is simple math. Something that can be done using fingers to count. This is NOT a 14 step/substep process. Attempting to teach kids a stupid process encourages kids to give up before they even start. How many kids are going to accept a long, convoluted, confusing, useless multi-step process to do simple addition, and then conclude they want to take algebra or trig in high school. The average student is going to assume that if adding 2 numbers is 14 steps, then 'y=mx+b' is going to take about 4 sheets of paper and 3 days to solve! This is discouraging to kids not encouraging, not teaching critical thinking skills.

Having the goal of improving the educational OUTCOMES, by actually teaching kids to be able to think critically and logically, is an admirable goal. The implementation of Common Core does not seem to be ANY KIND of answer toward this goal.

Vouchers, private school, charter schools, PARENTAL choice is a better answer. But libs won't accept this because it takes power away from politicians, libs, unions, democRAT voters. Ask any lib why they oppose competition in education and they will almost all give you the same bogus answer: it's about money. This is only true because money equals power/control. But what libs are missing is that it's not about the money this time. It's ABOUT THE KIDS! Where does innovation happen most/best? In large institutions or in small organizations? Where does change take place easier and quicker, large/overwhelming or small and manageable? How easily does anything change in government? Compare the inability to change in government institutions with the incredible ability to change in the private sector. When was the last time you saw ACTUAL change in government? Don't use the postal service as an example. They don't change! DMV? Be serious! The last change was at the IRS. Remember, the IRS was used as a tool to intimidate political opponents. For the first time in our history, the federal government used it's power to silence political opposition. Show me how unchanging government is better to do anything when compared to private sector institutions that provide choice and flexibility. Big education can only be brought in line when true, actual competition exists. Innovation will return to education when competition FORCES the education establishment to change. Common core is a roadblock to future growth and improvement. Supported by the central planners.