Letters to the Editor: Common Core

Here is a letter to the editor from a concerned Caputo's Corner reader:

http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2014/03/24/youve-just-got-to-see-what-a-frustrated-parent-wrote-on-their-childs-common-core-math-assignment/

do you guys have to use this crap? or do you get a pass cuz youre a private school ... 

Thank you!

This is an important question.  Here was my reply.

The short answer is yes we do use that crap, and we have had our fair share of "frustrated parents."  We could get a pass, but the Archdiocese is adamant that we implement best practices.

2 things, 1-I understand this dude's plight.  It's not how they learned it in school.  And he's absolutely right, simplification over complication works in the real world.  So when he's trying to help his kid with his homework, he's using methods that he learned in grade school, which may or may not compute with his kids.  

2-Common Core's (stated) purpose is (in essence) to get kids to really understand what it is in fact they are doing mathematically.  Thus the skip counting, which really is it's most prominent feature, is designed to really have kids understand the operation, as opposed to simply doing it by rote.  It makes sense if what you're trying to do is encourage all kids to think critically and become "college and career ready" as the administrators are advertising.  

However, the fundamental problem with Common Core is the same as what No Child Left Behind was.  It attempts to pigeonhole student learning into one model that can be universally applied to all students.  That doesn't work though because as I'm sure you know, all kids learn at different paces.  Some kids just get it quick, and it's not fair to them to waste time learning how to skip count a subtraction problem if they just get it by doing it the old fashioned way.  On the other hand, the skip counting could be a great way for a slower learner to pick up the subtraction if the older algorithm makes no senses.  The problem is universal application.  Sorry, not everyone is supposed to be an electrical engineer, or a doctor for that matter.  Some people are, and they get the math.  Challenges for those kids are just not the same.  

That was the end of my reply to the reader's question, but something else that Common Core and NCLB have in common is the emphasis on high stakes testing.  The powers that be insist that standardized assessment is the best way to ensure that everyone is on the same playing field.  Unfortunately, what that does to teachers is forces them to teach to the test, since the test is the more important thing.  No teacher takes the job to just teach to the test, and I have heard more than my fair share of burnout stories for just that reason.  Teachers want to enlighten students, make them think, and make them become life-long learners (count me in that crowd).  If all we were meant to do was prepare kids for tests that are the ultimate judgement of college and career readiness, then we would all be replaced by robots...and nobody wants that...right?