Brilliant post, Arthur, and as an ESL teacher I could not agree more! I don't know if I ever told you this but one one fine Saturday morning some 9 or 10 years ago while strolling through Union Square I happened to come face to face with that supra-arrogant little asshole Coleman and asked him, "How do you sleep at night ?" He must have known exactly what I was referring to as I had not identified myself as a teacher nor made any mention of his sacred Common Core before he was scurrying down 14th St like a subway rat. I know it altered nothing but it was still satisfying to see him so. And that, of course, was several years before, after being hailed as the new Quintillion, he slithered into silence with his failed idiotic scheme and his millions.
Thank you Patrick. You probably know that after he slithered away from you and Common Core fell out of favor he went on to head College Board. I guess there are different sorts of people in education--two examples are those of us who do the actual work, and the reformy folk who move from one profitable position to another, make a whole lot of money, and contribute little or nothing--or even hurt the process as Coleman did. It doesn't matter for folks like him because whatever goes wrong, people like you and me are blamed.
I did know that and, like you, know all too well how we are blamed for the failures of idiotic silver bullet programs. But I also know we soldier on doing the best we can in our chosen vocation. I wouldn't change places with a person like that for anything.
Possibly the worst thing about Common Core English is the subtle lesson that you don’t matter and no one cares about you or your opinion. This gets reinforced every day as students ride in on a broken down subway and jam into overcrowded, underfunded schools.
I wouldn't mind it so much if we weren't almost forcing them to embrace a concept about which they are totally indifferent. It could be interesting to them, but we're kind of compelled to present it in the worst possible way.
Yeah. Their arguments pro-minimalism, because that's what they sussed out from the text, kind of kills any interest. But minimalism to a refugee family is kind of insulting too.
Good point. Hadn't even occurred to me. A lot of these topics are like that. Once it was about shark netting in Australia. Kids are smart enough to make up their own arguments, and we can guide them to high-interest reading material. Common Core precludes that completely. I'm not sure how badly it haunts earlier grades, but I suspect this canned reading stuff supersedes real books at every level. That's awfully short-sighted, and awfully sad.
It's depressing to hear this about Common Core. I was a supporter when it started because I thought it lent rigor and ensured kids would read challenging text rather than bad literature. But it sounds like that wasn't the effect at all. I should have known.
They misled you, and "rigor" is a code word for tedium. I'm not sure what constitutes bad literature, but I'd argue high-interest books are clearly superior to things selected for their difficulty. I recall some 16th century poem showing up on the Regents exam, with archaic language designed to baffle. You need skill to plod through that. You get skill with practice. I started with comic books.
I'm not really familiar with what's been used in elementary schools, and I'm sure there are bad things there too. But you hook kids on reading with Goodnight Moon, and for kids with parents who can't be bothered, we're the next best thing.
We need to present reading as something joyous. We all need to read dryer things, like the contract. But if you're a reader, it's so much easier.
Brilliant post, Arthur, and as an ESL teacher I could not agree more! I don't know if I ever told you this but one one fine Saturday morning some 9 or 10 years ago while strolling through Union Square I happened to come face to face with that supra-arrogant little asshole Coleman and asked him, "How do you sleep at night ?" He must have known exactly what I was referring to as I had not identified myself as a teacher nor made any mention of his sacred Common Core before he was scurrying down 14th St like a subway rat. I know it altered nothing but it was still satisfying to see him so. And that, of course, was several years before, after being hailed as the new Quintillion, he slithered into silence with his failed idiotic scheme and his millions.
Thank you Patrick. You probably know that after he slithered away from you and Common Core fell out of favor he went on to head College Board. I guess there are different sorts of people in education--two examples are those of us who do the actual work, and the reformy folk who move from one profitable position to another, make a whole lot of money, and contribute little or nothing--or even hurt the process as Coleman did. It doesn't matter for folks like him because whatever goes wrong, people like you and me are blamed.
I did know that and, like you, know all too well how we are blamed for the failures of idiotic silver bullet programs. But I also know we soldier on doing the best we can in our chosen vocation. I wouldn't change places with a person like that for anything.
Me neither.
Possibly the worst thing about Common Core English is the subtle lesson that you don’t matter and no one cares about you or your opinion. This gets reinforced every day as students ride in on a broken down subway and jam into overcrowded, underfunded schools.
Well said. Having spent most of my career at the largest school in Queens, perpetually the most overcrowded school in the city, I couldn't agree more.
Minimalism! Now there's a topic guaranteed to exacerbate every class division in a high school. Sheesh.
I wouldn't mind it so much if we weren't almost forcing them to embrace a concept about which they are totally indifferent. It could be interesting to them, but we're kind of compelled to present it in the worst possible way.
Yeah. Their arguments pro-minimalism, because that's what they sussed out from the text, kind of kills any interest. But minimalism to a refugee family is kind of insulting too.
Good point. Hadn't even occurred to me. A lot of these topics are like that. Once it was about shark netting in Australia. Kids are smart enough to make up their own arguments, and we can guide them to high-interest reading material. Common Core precludes that completely. I'm not sure how badly it haunts earlier grades, but I suspect this canned reading stuff supersedes real books at every level. That's awfully short-sighted, and awfully sad.
It's depressing to hear this about Common Core. I was a supporter when it started because I thought it lent rigor and ensured kids would read challenging text rather than bad literature. But it sounds like that wasn't the effect at all. I should have known.
They misled you, and "rigor" is a code word for tedium. I'm not sure what constitutes bad literature, but I'd argue high-interest books are clearly superior to things selected for their difficulty. I recall some 16th century poem showing up on the Regents exam, with archaic language designed to baffle. You need skill to plod through that. You get skill with practice. I started with comic books.
I'm not really familiar with what's been used in elementary schools, and I'm sure there are bad things there too. But you hook kids on reading with Goodnight Moon, and for kids with parents who can't be bothered, we're the next best thing.
We need to present reading as something joyous. We all need to read dryer things, like the contract. But if you're a reader, it's so much easier.
That’s an interesting point about minimalism being insulting to a refugee family
Right? It had never even crossed my mind.