No Common Core for My Sons

Here in Ohio, and many other states, the Common Core Standards Initiative (CCSI) for mathematics and language arts education have taken the place of former methods. These new "fed ed" standards have divided parents across the board. Some have embraced the visual methods, while others have spoken out. What is common core? The website corestandards.org explains Common Core as:

"State education chiefs and governors in 48 states came together to develop the Common Core, a set of clear college- and career-ready standards for kindergarten through 12th grade in English language arts/literacy and mathematics. Today, 43 states have voluntarily adopted and are working to implement the standards, which are designed to ensure that students graduating from high school are prepared to take credit bearing introductory courses in two- or four-year college programs or enter the workforce."

I have two sons, one in sixth grade and one in fifth. My sixth-grader excels at everything in school and always has. My fifth-grader has always struggled. He's incredibly intelligent, he just learns differently. They are both smart boys with different styles. That being said, I watched Common Core come into play this past school year and I was confused by the methods that were being taught.

I have a degree in genetics and I have done my fair share of mathematical studies. I am no stranger to  working out a good math problem. Then Common Core came into play. My sons were bringing math homework home and as I sat trying to help them, I couldn't believe how drawn out the problems had become. What was once a simple multiplication or division problem has now become a Bob Ross art exhibit with diagrams and drawings. Oh those happy little trees.

I sat with my older son and explained the easiest way to complete the problem at hand and then double check it. He explained to me he wasn't allowed to do it that way and that he'd get the problem wrong if he didn't have a picture drawn for the problem. Everything he did took twice as long and he began to struggle with math. A subject he once enjoyed and did well in soon became his least favorite subject. How is that possible? Something that should be benefiting a student has caused his grade to drop? It seems backwards to me.

Then it came to helping my younger son. He has already struggled to keep up with the rest of his class, but he has always done above average work in mathematics. Now, with the new Common Core standards he has been left behind completely. His school wanted to write him off. He couldn't keep up and they didn't want to deal with it. How does a child who was advanced in mathematics suddenly fall off the grid? I think he gave up. What once was a methodical approach that worked for his learning style was ripped away from him and replaced with a method that was created to leave him struggling.

Not only has the work been ridiculous, the workbooks are riddled with errors that only help to confuse students even more. I understand that the system is new and they need to work out the kinks, but there shouldn't be this many issues with our educational system. What we are teaching them when we hand them erroneous workbooks and homework is that proofreading and paying attention to detail is an unnecessary task. Then we compound it with useless methods of study that would not be acceptable in today's job market. Yeah, our kids are in great hands with these new methods.

As a parent who has experienced Common Core, and one who knows that children are not 'common' or cookie cutter copies of each other, I find the new method of education completely useless. To me, it seems to have been created to let some students excel and others fail. Not only that, but the cost of the program implementation is an unnecessary cost our schools do not need. Funds that could be used to hire more teachers and create smaller classrooms are now being spent on transitioning our schools to the new CCSI method. Why? It's not better.

Since the government has decided to leave my son behind by creating a method of education that requires all students to learn the exact same way, I have decided to pull him from school and educate him at home. He deserves to be taught, not programmed.

Please understand, these are my opinions. I am simply expressing my views and I understand if yours differ. That's okay, because we are all individual in our own way.

As always, thanks for reading.

Take care,
NB