Common Core: Killing Creativity

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I have a strong interest in education; in fact, I am currently in college going after my degree in liberal studies, in hopes of becoming an elementary school teacher in the near future. This year I signed up to volunteer as room mom in my daughters second grade class in order to get more of a hands on experience and really figure out if this is the career I see myself wanting and having. Something that I didn’t realize until becoming more hands on in a classroom setting are the effects of the “Common Core Curriculum” having on children. For the first time in our nation’s history, beginning with the 2013-2014 school year, more than 90 percent of public schools will operate under the same learning standards for literacy and math, from kindergarten through grade twelve in order to become “college and career ready” (Nichols, p.36). At first glance, adopting the common core curriculum may seem ideal considering, “having the same standards in all states will help students get a good education, even if they change schools or move to a different state” (Core, Common). But what came to me as more of a concern is children, who generally perform well on tests and in class, are now faced with challenges due to the common core exam questions that are not at an age appropriate level, which I might add are given to the children multiple times throughout the year. All of this is at the expense of children and furthermore, it not only takes away from any creativity or talent that children may possess and might never know what they are capable of, but it also undermines any independence and creativity of the teachers as well.
The common core requires higher standards, standards that are supposed to provide children with a deeper understanding of ...

... middle of paper ...

...on needs, in order to live their unique life. Schools need to encourage creativity and be flexible in the way they operate (Williams p. 24)
It is hard to blame just the curriculum, tests, students or teachers for the difficulties seen in the new adopted common core. It is also hard to disregard all the documentation and evidence of the damage that has been done to the children and schools from the newly adopted curriculum. Our only hope for our future means we have to rethink the fundamental principles on which we are educating our children. Maybe the Core curriculum does not need to be shipped out, but instead needs shoring up. If the common core is to continue being implemented in our school system the districts need to adjust its curriculum to not only better fit what the tests ask, but also, not rob our children from what makes them an individual, creativity.

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