How Many People Does it Take?

How many people should be responsible for writing the standards that millions of children will be expected to learn? What kinds of credentials should they have?

A mere TWO people wrote the language arts standards of the new Common Core. There was a third person that was consulted. The content that millions of teachers are now required to teach and that even more students are required to learn rests on two (and a half) individuals. But it's ok, because those two individuals are probably highly qualified, right?

David Coleman is perhaps the more notorious creator of the Common Core language arts standards. After graduating from Yale, he studied English literature at Oxford University and classical philosophy at Cambridge University. Not too shabby. Then, he applied for a high school teaching position in New York.... and was turned down. Instead, he began work with a large consulting firm, advising urban school districts. He has never been a teacher and has no educational training whatsoever. But wait, advising urban schools must count for something, right? Sure, but that is the business/administration side of schools and has little to do with instruction.

Anyone writing an educational standard should have some sort of education training and/or experience. Understanding how kids learn is important to creating standards. Incidentally, I left public education due to my interest in neuroscience. We have made leaps and bounds in brain research in the last 30 years but this amazing stuff has been ignored by public education. It is so incredibly frustrating to see schools doing the opposite of what research proves to be effective. Perhaps if the people who wrote the standards had some knowledge of teaching and how kids learn, their standards wouldn't ignore proven research.

Alternative Schooling and Parenting

I'm not a parent yet but greatly look forward to that day. My husband and I have agreed that if we fully subscribe to the libertarian non-aggression principal as we do, that needs to also apply to parenting. So lately I have been reading blogs about what are mostly known as "alternative parenting" styles such as Attachment Parenting and Peaceful Parenting.

Most of these blogs mention how difficult it can be to deviate from mainstream ways and opinions. In fact, these parenting styles go beyond deviation to flat out rebellion against common mainstream parenting. I completely understand how tough it must be when other parents on the playground expect you to go over to your kid and respond a certain way to whatever issue has arisen. When you don't, there are looks of pity, of surprise, of frustration and even anger. But one thing these blogs agree on is to keep the child at the center of the response, for it is about their growth and not what these lollygags think.

I believe this mindset is similar to that of public school, which is the primary (mainstream) way we do things in the US. Because public school is the mainstream, people raise their eyebrows when an alternative such as homeschooling or unschooling is mentioned. One reaction is that public school is something kids just have to get through-- after all "I did it," many adults lament.

As a teacher and avid reader of educational blogs and research, I can't subscribe to public school. It goes against what we fundamentally know to be true about how children learn. I recently started reading a fascinating book on neuroplasticity, The Woman Who Changed Her Brain, about a woman diagnosed with severe learning disabilities who developed brain exercises to rewire her brain. As a child, she struggled tremendously in public school. The thing that got her through was her impeccable memory, which she used to regurgitate information on tests while not understanding it at all. For her sake, I am glad she was able to do this. But any school system that allows children to pass without understanding the material in the slightest is obviously doing a disservice to those children and to society as a whole.

Neuroplasticity and even the entire field of neuroscience is largely ignored in public schools. On a positive note, the bridge between education and neuroscience is finally being bridged via a new masters degree known at Harvard as Mind, Brain, and Education. It will certainly take time for this information and these degrees to be applied to education reform but at least we're finally bridging this gap!

The Cantankerous Common Core Monster

I had a three-hour Common Core training that left me so completely disheartened and frustrated by our public education system. Since discovering unschooling a year ago, I can't believe how counter-intuitive so much of what we do in public school actually is. I am adamantly opposed to the Common Core, which has been adopted by 46 states due to federal funding pressure. The Common Core, it turns out, was designed primarily by Pearson, the biggest education company in the US. While schools are laying off vice principals, school counselors, librarians, and running at minimum staff, education companies are making millions. Today the middle school SPED department asked the middle school team if we have any extra supplies. They are scrounging for pencils, pens, paper, expo markers, and other basic supplies. They've been using scrap paper because they have nothing else. To be clear, it's not Pearson that is at fault; rather, our system is backwards and Pearson happens to be the one profiting.

For me, standards go against my fundamental belief that students learn at different paces. Standards go against so much of what the research says and so much of what I know to be true!

Standardized testing takes up so much time. My school uses a system to test the kids four to five times a year to see where they're at. Kids are so tired of bubble sheets. I have articles galore on standardized testing, almost all of them viewing it unfavorably. I have articles on brain research which somehow never get applied to education.

Thankfully, there is a new degree that combines neuroscience with education. Finally! I hope to get my master's in that cross-field one day.