Common Core Standards Pros And Cons

Today, the majority of schools in the United States follow Common Core Standards in the classroom. These are a set of academic standards in mathematics, English, language arts, and literacy. Common Core is typically used to help teachers outline what their students should know and be able to do at the end of each grade level. These standards are supposed to help develop the critical-thinking, problem-solving, and analytical skills students will need to be successful in the real world. Forty-two states in the U.S have already voluntarily adopted and are moving forward with Common Core. These standards are a very popular topic of controversy not only in the field of education but in politics as well. While they may help regulate public education

According to The New York Times, “Standardized tests became the be-all and end-all of education, and states spent billions on them” (Ravitch). School districts are paying unnecessary amounts of money in order to prepare students for tests, and in order for them to take the tests that are required under these standards. School districts should be focusing their resources on the core subjects of math, reading, history, and science instead of materials to take and prepare students for bleak and repetitive standardized tests. According to the FreedomWorks Foundation, “Common Core will cost taxpayers a lot of money while not improving education quality” (Borowski). Standardized tests required by Common Core are an unfunded mandate, which will require taxpayers to cover the unruly cost. The reality of the situation is that the billions of dollars already spent will be wasted when one by one states and districts fail to fund as well as meet the proficiency requirements for Common Core. The education system is continuing to move further away from the goal that students should be learning and taxpayer dollars should be efficiently and effectively spent. All in all, any money spent on the Common Core is too much and it is appalling what is happening to the educational system because of

These individuals may also argue that Common Core forces teachers in a certain grade level to focus consistently on the most important and fundamental concepts needed to be learned in that year. Therefore, all students move on to the next grade level able to build on that solid foundation, rather than having to review what should have been learned in the previous grade level.

However, these are not good enough reasons to keep Common Core in place. Just because all parts of the country will be learning the same thing at the same grade level, does not necessarily mean that all students can learn the material the same way. Referring to a previous point, not all students learn the same way and at the same pace. Also, just because a teacher focuses consistently on certain concepts, this does not mean every single student will pick up on it and retain the information the same as their peers. To effectively teach a student, the education needs to be individualized and not