Mrvaudrey

Common Core Will Not Eat Your Babies

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mrvaudrey

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Let me tell you a story.

I’ve taught next door, across the building, and across campus from some really bad teachers.

unhelpful teacher

I have sat in staff meeting at the same table asB teachers who give printed notes to students to copy down into their notebook,B and that is theirB sole class activity for the year.

As a teacher, my profession is cheapened if badB teachers aren’t held accountable.B That’s why we have standards; so that there is a minimum expectation to guide teachers and students.

I have a daughter (and a son on the way). In a few years when I send her to school, I expect the school to do a good job training her in skills she’ll need to be successful. Some things will come easily to her, some will be more difficult, and some will sit in darkness until a special teacher shines a light on them.

When I send my child to school, I’m giving my acceptance that school will do a good job. If I don’t like it, I can pull her out and home-schoolB or private-school her.

my-child-is-not-common-ap

Of course, your child isn’t common. No child is.

Schools do the best that weB can with the diverse, unique students that are sent through our doors every day.

Therein lies my problem with the advocates against the Common Core;

If you don’t like it, you can leave.

Otherwise, you’re justB the kid who goes to a birthday party and complains about the flavor of cake.

(Parents Against Chocolate Fudge)
(Concerned Parents Against Chocolate Fudge)

~Matt “Not afraid of Common Core, but a little afraid of the trolls this post will attract” Vaudrey

Comments

3 responses to “Common Core Will Not Eat Your Babies”

  1. suevanhattum Avatar
    suevanhattum

    Hi Matt, I hope I’m not a troll. ;^)

    Your analogy with a birthday party doesn’t work. Public schools are public institutions, not events we get invited to. And if a public institution isn’t working, we need to come together in our communities and make it better. (If the federal government were encouraging things I like, I wouldn’t mind their involvement. I am not like the protesters whose images you feature.)

    My main worry with common core is the connection to testing and to the big publishers. I am also concerned about some things not being developmentally appropriate. Like most math folks, I like the 8 mathematical practice standards. But I’m not sure about the bigger package they come with.

    Common core comes out of this obsession with testing. That is not going to help bring better teachers into the profession. If you look at Finland, they have taken almost an opposite direction, and if my son were in public school, that’s where I’d want to be. (I chose alternative schools mainly because I don’t like all the testing. I’m lucky that I can afford that. Not everyone can.)

    Reply
    1. Matt Vaudrey Avatar
      Matt Vaudrey

      Sue, I share your distaste about the testing obsession in the US. It bums me out to see that Common Core and High-stakes Testing are often used as synonyms. Fawn has some good points on that issue.

      Reply
  2. mrdardy Avatar
    mrdardy

    It seems that the biggest problem with the protesters is that they do not come off as particularly knowledgeable about what they think they are protesting here.

    Reply

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