State Assemblyman Edward Ra (R-Franklin Square) makes a fair and well intentioned case for a hard look at the Common Core curriculum.
So what is the Common Core? Essentially, it is the standard and expectation of what students, at any grade level, should and must know in order to be successful at university and during their working careers.
For example, the early childhood math core focuses on number and spatial relationships (geometry) while the English core focuses on reading comprehension, writing coherence and speaking/listening competence.
Following a 69 percent failure rate on the recent New York state standardized tests, Assemblyman Ra makes the following assertions: “students and teachers will have to live with the sting of failure,” also, “Students… will suffer as a result of this added pressure,” and, “those teachers and students react negatively to failure.” Perhaps, but perhaps not.
A timeworn cliché insists that when the going gets tough, the tough get going.
Failure is a powerful motivator, both Abraham Lincoln’s and Winston Churchill’s early careers being testament to that reality.
The truth is quite simple. Peter, Jamal, Danielle and Suzy are competing not only with their friends in the classroom, they are competing with students in Hong Kong, Singapore, Korea, Japan, Prague, Berlin, Tel Aviv and dozens more, for the careers of the future.
Predictably, most of the math core is derivative of standards that have been in place among the Pacific Rim nations for decades. Recent international test results for the U.S. in mathematics continue to be alarming given the increasing technological nature of work and the workplace.
In grade four, we rank 12th of 26 nations while in grade eight, we rank 28th of 41 and in grade 12, we rank 19th of 21.
Further, when these rankings are adjusted for educational spending per nation, on a per capita basis, we sink to the bottom in each category, a truly embarrassing condition.
Assemblyman Ra’s concern about the impact of failure on student self-esteem has merit.
Nevertheless the danger is that we will be seduced by the politically correct canard that testing is not worth it because it can harm the psyche of young people – an extremely dubious and pernicious nostrum that does no favors to students of any age category.
The marketplace is a ruthless sorter of relative talent, a punisher of failure and cannot be ignored. Giving students a false sense of achievement and superiority sets them up for even greater failure in their future.
At the very least, the education establishment owes parents and their children the truth. Any nation that invests in education as heavily as we do, in order to maintain our competitive advantage over the long term, should want to know also.
Tom Coffey
Herricks
