Here is part of a fourth-grade report card revised to incorporate Common Core Standards:
SUCCESSFUL PRACTICES
- Grit/Perseverance
- Growth Mindset
- Gratitude
- Curiosity
- Constructive Collaboration
- Self Discipline - Interpersonal
- Self Discipline - Schoolwork
The grades issued for this section are A (Almost always), O (Often), S (Sometimes) and R (Rarely).
These standards are not only vague, but contain questionable attributes such as "Gratitude" and "Constructive Collaboration." (Does the latter mean going along with the crowd?) They also seem to invite individual interpretation and evaluation by teachers, whose proclivity towards political activism is well established.
One of Common Core's intentions is to move students away from rote learning and memorization towards critical thinking and analysis. However, the former are prerequisite steps to attaining the latter. For example, one does not learn to speak, read and write through critical analysis. I am concerned that leapfrogging these basics will, by accident or design, produce a generation of politically malleable minions.
SUCCESSFUL PRACTICES
- Grit/Perseverance
- Growth Mindset
- Gratitude
- Curiosity
- Constructive Collaboration
- Self Discipline - Interpersonal
- Self Discipline - Schoolwork
The grades issued for this section are A (Almost always), O (Often), S (Sometimes) and R (Rarely).
These standards are not only vague, but contain questionable attributes such as "Gratitude" and "Constructive Collaboration." (Does the latter mean going along with the crowd?) They also seem to invite individual interpretation and evaluation by teachers, whose proclivity towards political activism is well established.
One of Common Core's intentions is to move students away from rote learning and memorization towards critical thinking and analysis. However, the former are prerequisite steps to attaining the latter. For example, one does not learn to speak, read and write through critical analysis. I am concerned that leapfrogging these basics will, by accident or design, produce a generation of politically malleable minions.