This morning's edition of the Wall Street Journal contained a review of "Common Core: National Education Standards and the Threat to Democracy", a book by Nicholas Tampio, which opposes the application of national standards to the problem of educational reform. Tampio's main objection to a federally controlled curriculum rests less on the problems with the actual structure of Common Core than it does on the fact that the authority to develop an educational system that meets the needs of all its users rests in the hands of a small group rather than being subject to input from a variety of sources. His argument is based on the founding fathers' fears of an overly powerful central government that resembled the one they were trying to avoid.
As a nation, we rank far behind other nations academically, a factor which Tampio partly attributes to racial and socioeconomic differences within the country, which create significant gaps in students' academic abilities. Students for whom English is not their native language or who come from economically disadvantaged backgrounds do not have the edge that their more affluent or culturally socialized peers do. To this I add that students with learning disabilities face an additional obstacle in adapting to the methodology of the Common Core. Common Core involves providing an explanation for how students arrived at a solution rather than simply providing a numerical answer. Even if English is their first language LD (learning disability) students still struggle with deficits in comprehension and processing skills so they cannot articulate their reasoning process clearly. Tony Attwood, an autism researcher interviewed in a November 11, 2015 article in the Washington Post says that students with autism seem to have a special facility for math but struggle when they attempt to explain their answers, which can “mystify teachers and lead to problems with tests when the person with Asperger’s syndrome is unable to explain his or her methods on the test or exam paper.”
Tampio claims that uniform curricular standards restrict creativity and individualism, as it does in China. However, innovation cannot occur without first achieving competence in the fundamentals of a given field. Architects, builders, bakers, surgeons, accountants and individuals in many professions have the ability to employ creative solutions to problems in their work only because they have already mastered the basics. This is one of the problems that English teacher D’Lee Pollock-Moore at Warren County High School in Georgia has flagged in the design of the ELA standards of Common Core. She says, "While the Common Core does integrate reading and writing, it does not ask students to learn how to write by first imitating someone else’s style before inventing their own."
Tampio also says the problem with the English Language Arts curriculum is that it is primarily focused on a logical approach that requires evidentiary support to analyze literature rather than an approach that allows students to respond to what they are reading. Yes it is important to learn how to substantiate a claim with relevant evidence. But part of a well rounded curriculum goes beyond logic into emotion. Moore contends that the background of the author also influences style and voice by incorporating their life experience into the narrative, which is missing in the current format of the Common Core. She further explains that the reading standards for 8th grade include identification of literary themes but not an understanding of how they apply to literature. She cites Henry David Thoreau's "On Walden Pond" as an example of a work that changes readers internally, getting them to think and feel and sympathize with the author's perspective. From that combination comes the impetus for change and the desire to make the world a better place. Given the turmoil and the increased polarization in the nation, we need changemakers who can restore a sense of balance and perspective and a respect for the virtues that made this country great in the past. But they cannot do that if they lack the skills and the Common Core does a poor job of training the current generation in the acquisition of those skills.
No comments:
Post a Comment