Another in our essay contest series, this one contributed by Sarah Anderson.
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What is common core? It is the standard core of knowledge that most educators and government officials believe every child should know in preparation for college. I understand why they would think students in high schools would need something like this, what I don’t understand is why they feel the need to shove it down the throats of children in elementary schools. The children in America are taking more and more tests about science and math while doing less art projects and learning about fun subjects that teaches them learning can be fun. I think that they should do away with common core as it is now and return the core curriculum back to how they were before they started experimenting with the math classes, letting the elected state officials decide what our children should learn. The education in America is messed up; the whole idea of America is the land of the free where different people are free to do things in their own unique way. So the question is, why do they think they should teach all the children the same things and the same pace? Every citizen in America is unique, that includes the children and teens. We all deserve to take things at our own pace and if we need to be in an easier math class they should have one available for people to take. We all learn in different ways and I would go as far to say that expecting millions of individuals to think and learn the same way was completely unconstitutional and inhumane. In the common core system they have developed different ways to test the special needs children, but every child is special, not just the ones with the learning disabilities. In a perfect world each and every child would have their own curriculum dedicated to teaching them in the way they learn best. That may be completely unrealistic, but schools should at least try to offer as many classes as they can, where the teachers teach the students at different paces instead of fewer classes that everyone has to take. I’m not saying that having core classes are bad, there are things that every child should know, I’m just saying that they should offer lots of different classes so students aren’t forced into classes where they fail just because they don’t learn the way that teacher teaches. If the government is going to spend a ton of money we don’t have on our education they should use it to offer more classes and hire more teachers to teach different and unique subjects.
When Utah first adopted the common core, the government distracted everyone from all the power they were taking away from the states by putting a competition in our faces where the states could win prize money. If everyone hadn’t been distracted I don’t think they would have agreed to let people on the other side of the country make the decisions for their children’s education. The government is taking more and more power away from the people and the sad thing is lots of people don’t even know its happening. When Utah joined the common core program we were assured that our state could get out of it if the majority of the state wanted to, but it’s not that simple we would also have to get written permission from the board of education and all of the other states in the program. There were also a few implied threats that any money we had earned in the competitions would have to be paid back to the country. The government is trying to convince everyone that it is such a good program and all of the children will be much better because of it, so why does it seem like they had to bribe the different states to join? Furthermore why does it sound like they’ll make our lives extremely difficult if we ever try to leave? The government is trying to control the states of this nation and all of the people and children who live in them. When the government was set up it was specifically designed to be a servant of the people. The people all voted and decided what laws they all had to live by, and there was a checks and balances system set up to make sure that the members in the government didn’t get greedy and try to take complete control of the government. This nation was meant to be a Republic, but every day when the government takes away another one of our freedoms to make us all “safer” we seem to be moving closer and closer to a communist government. Common core is an example of this; the government is taking away the states’ rights to decide what our children learn and telling us they know what’s best for our children. How can some old fat people who live over two thousand miles away, know better than the elected officials who live in our state? Our rights are being taken away from us, but people don’t realize it because they are wrapped up in the lies the government is feeding us about knowing what is best for our children.
The Common Core should be taken out of our schools and our education should go back to being decided by the elected officials in each state that were doing a fine job before it came along. The USA is about people uniqueness, and our children learning to be common are the complete opposite of that. It’s against everything we stand for as citizens of the USA, our children should learn to embrace their uniqueness and being told they have to learn like everyone else at such a young age drills the idea that being different is bad. If the children of our nation are forced to learn in such a strict environment with no room for creativity they’ll never reach their full potential.
-Sarah Anderson