Politics / Education

Are the Common Core Standards really that bad? I believe not. The idea of having standards that are the same across the nation just makes common sense.

I believe that no matter what state a student is educated, he/she should be learning the same content as students in other states at the same grade level. As a nation, we all need to be on the same page.

Many states have students who have mastered their state educational standards, but fail their students education beyond high school. Employment with high wage and benefit returns, require successful post high school training.

Many students are not prepared to enter post high school training with just mastering their state educational standards.

The Common Core standards are a set of goals developed to ensure students graduate from high school to be successful in college, careers, and life no matter what career path they take or where they live.

Forty-four states, D.C., 4 territories and the DoDEA volunteered to adopt the standards with federal grant monies supporting the effort.

However, the challenge has been the implementation of the standards and the agreement on whether students are prepared to take the assessments aligned to the Common Core.

The Common Core raises the bar for student performance. These standards require students to interact with their learning and most importantly, develop critical thinking skills.

Critical thinking skills is something that many state standards were lacking and which is, and will be in high demand for the future work place.

Secretary of Education, Arne Duncan, states that he supports the idea of keeping wage jobs here in the U.S. which is why we need to improve our educated workforce. Critical thinking is how we will accomplish this task.

Critical thinking is one of the major standards of 21^st Century Learning, which are standards many nations are using to ensure their students are able to compete in our global economy.

With mid-term elections just around the corner, voters need to be aware of people who we vote to represent us, are they focusing on what will help our nation continue to be a world leader?