So, it’s the second blog and I’m already off on the wrong foot. In case anyone noticed, it’s a Tuesday, and this blog is supposed to be on Monday. I could make up a lame excuse about it being president’s day yesterday, but that would be a crock of s**t. I forgot, okay? Sorry. I’ll try to be more punctual, but it’s more like “Monday (give or take a day)–Politics with Aardvarki.” Anyhoo…
Today’s topic: Nationalizing Standards for Education
Today’s article: Randi Weingarten, The Case for National Standards.
This article is actually an editorial, so I’m not going to summarize it, because there is no use summarizing opinion when I’m going to be giving an opinion that is similar to the opinion given in the article. There are, however, one or two statistics I’ll pepper in.
With all the hum-drum about the new president, the economy, the failing war, and all the other crap that’s floating around in the big ‘ole toilet bowl we dub “America,” the little soiled piece of toilet tissue settling at the bottom named “education” sometimes get lost in the quagmire. (I took that metaphor way too far, didn’t I? Anyhoo…) And because of this, it is depressing, but not really surprising to realize that we have some of the lowest nationalized test scores in the developed world, especially when compared to certain European countries and Japan. And this really is pathetic, when you think about it: the “land of opportunity” isn’t even giving the average child the opportunity of receiving a decent education. Now, there may be parts of the US that are doing OK. Take, for example, Massachusetts. Children in the state recently scored fifth in the world in an international mathematics assessment – but only after adopting rigorous standards in mathematics and science. And this shows that it’s not “kids these days” that are at fault, but state standards when it comes to learning. And when individual states fail to rise to the occasion, there is a call for a national standard: and NCLB doesn’t cut it. Now, I wouldn’t go as far as to propose a locked curriculum—or even standards for every subject (creating standards for electives, such as physical education and computers, or advanced classes that only a small percentage of a school takes, or classes not common in most schools, would be time-consuming, costly, and not significantly beneficial). Teachers would be still able to tailor lessons to their particular styles, but there still should be concepts that are taught across the board. And hopefully, if we have rigorous nationalized educational standards, we will be able to compete on a global scale, give our children the education they deserve, and keep states from slacking on standards.
