Day: October 7, 2014

By Joanne Yurchak

I had to share this outstanding letter by a woman named Allison Lewis, who is from Canonsburg, PA.    Make sure you take a look at the example problem that she presents in the letter.  Unfortunately, this isn’t unique in that there are innumerable other ridiculous ones with Common Core-aligned programs.  To be fair, there have been other ridiculous problems BCC (before Common Core), but Common Core has been implemented supposedly to improve our educational system.  In actuality, it seems that instead of doing so, it is including many of the bad features of previous educational programs and expanding on them.

And please don’t let the “powers that be” try to convince you that Common Core is just STANDARDS.  In theory, it is, but in practice, it is the standards that drive the curriculum.  Please take a look at the attachment that explains where these standards lead, entitled ‘What’s All the Fuss about the Common Core Standards?”.

Letter by Allison Lewis that she sent to her District Superintendent
To Whom It May Concern:

I am writing as a concerned parent.  I am increasingly worried about the educational system and what it is NOT doing for my kids.  Now they are starting Common Core in Math.  After reviewing the Envisions book (or computer screen with NO instructional guidelines), I see where all of the criticism comes from.  I am writing this letter because I feel a total loss of control in my children’s education.
I am not one to write letters or complain about anything, but I have two children and it is partly my responsibility to make sure they are well educated and enjoy learning!  This will inevitably cause a riff between parents and kids, creating resentment and a bad educational foundation at home.  After all, that is where it all begins!  A child can have average intelligence, but if taught at home to enjoy learning, that child can end up to be a very successful adult.  Without the parents on their side, the desire for learning and education is lost.
I have seen this in my home already.  When my kids do math, I have to sit there like a complete idiot and say that I cannot help them.  If they can’t figure it out themselves, I say, you will have to get it wrong, resulting in a bad grade and failure.  This is abnormal.  What good parent can sit there and say “oh well, fail” and NOT have anger towards the people who put this into action.
Change is good.  We need change to update kids on new technologies, textbooks need updating and kids should learn how to think differently.  This could have been an addition to the traditional formulas of math.  It doesn’t need to be changed!  I am not saying that as a bitter parent stuck in her ways or a “white suburban mom” either.
This creates more stress than what these young kids are already feeling. It is actually going to harm them.  I think anxiety and depression medication use among children will be on the rise.  It will also create doubt.  I have heard my son say he is stupid and get upset when he sees me getting frustrated for not being able to understand his homework.  Tonight he will miss his baseball game so we can do math because it is so time consuming!
The math problems are bizarre.  My son had to answer a question using repeated subtraction (?!!)  He must have not been paying attention in class.  He didn’t remember, I was clueless, so was my husband and there was nothing to reference so I could help him learn!  We knew the answer was 14, but we were all wrong because we didn’t use “repeated subtraction” in order to solve it.  This was just homework.  He had a test on this the following day.  He was very excited and proud of himself feeling as if he had accomplished long division, then came the test.  It was all word problems!  They were tricky and unfair and he didn’t do as well, making him feel horrible.  He had to spend 20 minutes on one problem trying to explain why an answer was what it was!  After TWO paragraphs he turned it in and it was wrong.  Why?  Because he didn’t explain it well enough.  Meanwhile, through tears, he said “I KNOW why it is that answer but I can’t put it into words.”  I told him that I couldn’t either.
My daughter had 2 math problems where, again, I could not help her solve.  It took us and hour with no solution.  Or, I should say it took ME an hour because after 45 minutes, my daughter was so frustrated and bored she lost all interest.  A few days later, we couldn’t figure out another one.  She went next door where her dad was watching the hockey game with friends.  It took 3 adult men 30 minutes to figure it out.  One has an engineering degree, one is a computer software programmer and one has a Business degree.  All of which need expert experience with numbers.
I keep hearing the word rigorous to describe this new curriculum.  That is an understatement.  Why in the WORLD would this be incorporated into young children’s educations?  They need a solid foundation before they can philosophically analyze why 2+2=4 and then try to solve it in 18 steps when all along we know the answer!  If a solid foundation is not TOTALLY mastered, how can kids even begin to look at math at a different level?
I cannot believe that the American Educational System has come to this.  Supposedly intelligent men and women are writing this, looking at it and saying it is ok.   Allow me to insert a test question for 5th grade:

What?  Is this a mistake?  Is there really an answer?  What the heck is it?  Am I stupid?  Or are the people who wrote it not as smart as they want to be?  It is EMBARRASSING and other countries are laughing at us.  With this in their text books my kids will not be college ready.  They will be prepared to work at the local BP station or any blue collar level job.  I guess keeping us all at one level is the goal.

Children need to learn to solve problems, master them and move on, then go outside and play and be kids!!  Not stress and cry about their homework or be set up for failure with stupid math questions.  I had a teacher say “If your son doesn’t master this this week, he will fall behind and never catch up.  We are going to move fast!”  Really?  If he is having a problem, I will undoubtedly help, but guess what, I am not a teacher.  I will reinforce at home and support my kids, but now I am worried that I can’t.  I honestly shouldn’t have to recap the whole day (couldn’t anyway) if it is being done right at school! Since we pay so many taxes, a nice tutoring program should be offered, but I don’t see much help available.

I want to see my children enjoy learning.  Knowledge is powerful and these kids are only being taught to test and then impatiently hurried along to something else.  They aren’t actually being taught.  There is no time for good teachers with a passion for teaching to teach anything because they are always testing.  Some kids, like my son, aren’t good test takers, but have the knowledge and understanding of the subject if given time and are actually motivated by pure curiosity and interest.  They need to absorb the material.  It is not a competition of speed (rocket math).  Math isn’t just a brain teaser game or riddle to solve and my kids aren’t guinea pigs only used for test scores.  One of their usual math word problems was actually written to trick my son.  Our children will inevitably fall behind and NEVER catch up with this crazy, wasteful, embarrassing curriculum and any testing results will not provide an accurate picture of what these kids really can and should do at their level.
I remember being 10 or 11.  I was taught age appropriate, interesting material and given time to master each subject.  Apparently the educational system is broken and America (politicians) feel the need to fix it in all the wrong ways.  I was told Pre-School will now change their curriculum.  My kids went to a Pre-School where they were taught through play and interaction.  They thrived!
After talking to other friends in other states, I hear how English classes will change as well.  I hear Classic Literature will be shoved in the background so they can focus on instructional manuals.  Sounds fun!  WHO in the WORLD thought of this?  Is it a joke?  That would be absolute torture on my kids…and me!
I want someone to prove to me that this is beneficial to my kids and that I am just an overly worried parent jumping to conclusions, however, having family and friends in education all over the country, I know they share the same concerns.  I also want to know what happens if this is abandoned.  Are my kids completely lost?  Do I supplement math at home so they build the basic foundation? Is part of the plan separating parents from their child’s education?  You don’t make kids smarter by making school harder.  What change is coming next?
I’m not blaming the teachers or the district.  You are caught in the middle between the state and the parents.  I have utmost respect for the teachers who care for these children six hours a day.  I want children to be challenged and taught to see things differently.  Higher standards and more rigorous curriculum isn’t bad.  I just want it to make sense.  I also want to be a part of my children’s education.  I cannot even begin to understand how parents were never consulted in this.  I have never been a very vocal or political person, but this is scary.  Therefore I will be writing and writing and writing to anyone who will listen and not patronize me.
Families and America deserves so much better!
Respectfully,
Allison Levis

Note: Allison is from Canonsburg, PA and has given me permission to share this outstanding letter.

 

Common Core Disaster Described By Canonsburg Mom