"What the wisest parents want for their children, that must we want for all children." J. Dewey |
Touting the
CCSS version of standardized education with lots of rigor and fidelity as a
cure-all for what ails American public education is a charade! More
and better standardized educational experience (rigor) that will be controlled
and measured with high stakes standardized test scores (fidelity)? Really?
Standardized educational experience and in particular, CCSS will do nothing to
improve children's learning experiences in American classrooms. The elements
for improving educational experience for all American children are still not in
place: Personal time and attention from teachers through smaller class sizes,
stable home lives, reduction of food insecurity, regular experiences in fine
arts education and opportunities for student's self determination of
educational experience. These factors are critical for improving American
education, but alas...what children got instead after the Wall Street Crash of
2007-2008? More standardized testing. The idea that you can improve children's
educational experiences by ignoring their physiological and psycho-emotional
needs and imposing authoritarian, no excuses, get tough policies on them and
their teachers is anathema to improving the human condition and human
potential. What you will end up with is a mono-culture that perpetuates the
standardization of the human mind. What children will learn is that the CCSS
are nothing more than more of the same old, same old non-consensual learning
experience driven by radical behaviorism. Children will remain outside the decision
making processes central to the learning experiences they must participate in,
and teachers will be forced to teach to the test.
STANDARDIZED! |