Common Core Standards Leaves Us Without a Core

All of this push lately towards what has been coined "Common Core Standards" is an attempt to organize the total variation in how states decide what and how each student learns in our public school system. A noble act, yet somehow one may wonder how does this really improve education at all as this process is for sure to take years if not an entire decade to complete. One has to question perhaps, just perhaps, there is a possibility that there is some advantage to having a variation in state standards. Creating one system does not allow for what many teachers call for in their classrooms: flexibility, autonomy and the creativity to meet various standards. Just because we have made the attempt to align every single states standards there will still be teachers who need help in creating innovative and engaging ways to present materials to students who are often several grade levels behind. We often spend our time working in circles and we must take greater call to address urgent, pressing issues, particularly those issues where student engagement, relevancy, and personal qualities and character development are shouting for our attention and resources. All of this push towards a common core is simply a poor use of resources and time.