Kudos from this special educator to the teacher in that video. Arne Duncan is a JOKE!

She rails against the Common Core Syndrome. The only people "diagnosed" with it are--wait for it--educators. The "syndrome" is the extreme polarization and animosity over the new standards, and that teacher has it in spades.

Of course, she confidently asserts that children are diagnosed with it. Curious, that.


The problem that suburbia will have is this. The parents want their kids to get a HS degree that says they're brilliant and have learned all kinds of stuff. Most parents never learned that in high school. The kids aren't learning it and have no motivation to learn it, but the parents assume that the kids' problems are all the schools' problems because the teachers and the politicians have absolved many of responsibility.

So when confronted with a test that says their kids are idiots and haven't learned all the content that the parents wanted them to learn, the parents rebel. Either it's the teachers' fault or the tests are too hard. They want their kids to get the grades, to get the degree. That's about all. They want the same level of learning to be worth more.

Rigor and higher standards are good. As long as they don't actually matter.

http://goingfurtherwithed.blogspot.com/2011/10/1969-2009.html