WHAT’S THE POINT?
Common Core State Standards for public education will not be the ruin of public education, as critics fear, but is a step needed for educating a new generation in modern times.
One frustration of public service is witnessing an apathetic citizenry waking up to matters of important public policy only after the debate and decision-making creates for them a target.
A recent local example was last week’s ballot-box rejection of the ambulance fee in Benton County (no, this isn’t another editorial about that). County leaders could barely get the public to pay attention until they passed a new fee/tax to fund ambulance service to rural areas. Then, and only then, there was enough support to call for a referendum on what county leaders had done. It’s easier to rally the public against an idea than to get involved in working out the answers.
But hey, that’s why we elect representatives to our government bodies, right? Let them do the work and the rest of us will just let them know when they’ve wandered too far off the reservation.
For some Arkansans, that’s the story of the Common Core State Standards.
What is Common Core? Is it a state-led effort “to provide a clear and consistent framework to prepare our students for college and the workforce”? Or is it an egregious “progressive takeover of American schools,” as Common Core critic Glenn Beck calls it?
The Arkansas State Board of Education adopted the Standards in 2010, a move most other states have also taken. Local school districts have been busy retooling their programs of study to instruct students toward a conceptual understanding of problem-solving, pushing education to a new level for the 21st century.
Critics, like Arkansan Karen Lamoureux, say that new level is down, not up. She and others concerned about the direction of education formed Arkansans Against Common Core, and they’re pressing to kill its implementation in Arkansas schools.
Her group has a willing co-crusader in first-term state Rep. Randy Alexander of Springdale, whose District 88 represents part of Washington County. With the General Assembly in a fiscal session in Little Rock, Alexander filed a resolution asking his fellow lawmakers for permission to file a bill that would delay implementation of Common Core. He needs their permission because the biennial fiscal session is for budgetary matters only unless the lawmakers take a special vote to add something else So far, Alexander’s bill remains in the House Rules Committee. We suspect it will not be considered in this session.
We will not suggest Common Core is the panacea of public education, but it’s not an evil takeover by the liberals in the federal government, either. Alexander wants to immediately stop all funding for Common Core and turn back the clocks on public education. That would be a mistake.
Common Core isn’t perfect, just as education initiatives more related to the federal government, such as Goals 2000 or No Child Left Behind, fell short of perfection. It’s getting the same old criticism that any coordination among states or governments is usurping local control of education and hijacking schools for the promotion of political correctness, sex education, the gay agenda, etc.
Of course, if it was usurping local control for the advocacy of protecting the unborn, preserving traditional marriage and promoting public prayer, that would be a different story, right?
Critics have awakened and know what they’re against. Welcome to the world of public policy. But Common Core deserves an opportunity to ensure today’s children are getting the kind of education that will give them the ability to think and solve problems in the decades ahead.
Based on how the adults of today are running things, we think they’ll need those skills.