There are those out there who think that they can not only decide what everyone should know, but they are also willing to force it on you. For starters Arne Duncan of the DOE would like national standards for reading and math (for now, expect more subjects to follow). Forty-six governors and DC are getting on board and trying to help draft these standards. I am proud to say that Gov. Perry of TX and Gov. Palin are not on board. (The other two are Missouri and South Carolina which makes me kind of disappointed in Gov. Jindal.)
Anyway, Tammy at Education Conversation has some great thoughts on the subject. For example, she suggests that we test the governors on the stuff that they think everyone should know. Any guesses as to how many would pass? And what about successful business men and women? What did they need to know to get where they are and is it the same as the stuff in the standards? As she says, "Who knows how many people are running around conducting life without adequate knowledge, but the ones with power over us are the ones we need to worry about most."
And what about the track record of these politicians and experts. Let's see. Arne Duncan was CEO of Chicago Public Schools. Hey that is where over half of the kids failed the eighth grade.
Hm. I think I will keep homeschooling.
2 comments:
I only taught in the public schools for a short while, then I had my children, stayed home with them and now I homeschool. So my recollection may be fuzzy, but I thought that the Clinton administration already came out with national standards for school subjects. I believe it was for the year 2000. I don't know in what way they were binding on schools, I remember having a copy as a guideline for music course content. I wonder how this is different and why these are done in the first place. Isn't education a state responsibility? I get tired of the federal government just doing whatever it wants to do without regard to its proper place.
Karen,
Though all of the females on my mom's side of the family are teachers (except me), I am not familiar with the standards that Clinton put in place. Maybe they were recommendations where these would be mandatory?
I would rather have each state in charge as well.
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