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Common Core lessons blasted for sneaking politics into elementary classrooms

Moot said:
You learn to solve problems by reasoning and doing, not by memorizing.
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By all three, I would say.
But saying that the correct answer to math problem doesn't matter as long as they can explain how they arrived at that incorrect answer, sets a pretty low standard, IMO
 
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TML said:
By all three, I would say.
But saying that the correct answer to math problem doesn't matter as long as they can explain how they arrived at that incorrect answer, sets a pretty low standard, IMO
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Getting the answer right without understanding the process is also a pretty low standard.
 
Moot said:
Some of the white suburban comments from your link.......


"This is the progressive movement coming in for the kill. And believe me, if we don’t stop it, this will be the kill." – Glenn Beck

"Most of us who lived through this Hitler era remember how British Prime Minister Chamberlain gushed how great Hitler’s Youth Corps was, much like those who support Common Core today." – Donald Conkey, Cherokee Tribune

"Remember the quote by Hitler, 'Give me your children and in 10 years I’ll change society?' The Obama administration intends to do just that." – Elois Zeanah

"What the heck am I talking about? The end of the world? Some kind of natural disaster? Zombies? No, something even scarier: the Common Core." – David Kierski

"If this isn't Nazism, Communism, Marxism and all the 'ism's' I don't know what is." – Christina Michas

"Today's teachers and psychologists are NOT being trained to educate students academically or to counsel and help people cope with their problems, but to influence their political views. Does it sound like we're becoming Castro's Cuba? I can tell you from personal experience that we're already there." - New Hampshire Tea Party

"Our kids are going to be indoctrinated with extreme leftist ideology. That should terrify most people." - Glenn Beck

"Now they’re teaching something called Common Core. Folks, this president is emulating dictators. Do you not understand that he is not playing games? If you look at Mao Tse-tung, this boy is emulating Mao Tse-tung to a T." - Bradlee Dean

"Your child or grandchild will not be able to escape Common Core materials that are anti-Christian, anti-capitalism, and anti-America. Or that are pro-homosexuality, illegal immigration, unions, environmentalism, gun control, feminism and social justice." - Elois Zeanah



In lieu of those comments it appears our standards for learning have been lowered and dumbed down for far too long.
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and yet another thread has been Godwined.
 
sangha said:
Getting the answer right without understanding the process is also a pretty low standard.
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Understanding the process is required in order to get the answer right. What's you're point?
 
TML said:
Understanding the process is required in order to get the answer right. What's you're point?
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Learning and understanding the process in order to get the right answer, is the point.
 
sangha said:
No, there's something called "memorization"
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The notion that memorization is a bad thing sounds absurd if that’s what you’re implying. It’s a part of the learning process, as I stated.
 
TML said:
The notion that memorization is a bad thing sounds absurd if that’s what you’re implying. It’s a part of the learning process, as I stated.
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Good thing I didn't imply that

Understanding is also part of the learning process so it should be measured too. That's all I'm saying.
 
Moot said:
Learning and understanding the process in order to get the right answer, is the point.
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Which is already under current standards, prior to the new Outcome-Based Curriculum, Common Core. I don’t know about you, but I was taught to understand how and why 3x4=12 in like 2nd grade.
And my teacher never felt that how I got the incorrect answer was ever more important than getting the correct one.
 
TML said:
Which is already under current standards, prior to the new Outcome-Based Curriculum, Common Core. I don’t know about you, but I was taught to understand how and why 3x4=12 in like 2nd grade.
And my teacher never felt that how I got the incorrect answer was ever more important than getting the correct one.
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When I was in the 2nd grade, which was more than 40 years ago, showing your work got partial credit even if the final answer was wrong.

CC doesn't change this.
 
sangha said:
When I was in the 2nd grade, which was more than 40 years ago, showing your work got partial credit even if the final answer was wrong.

CC doesn't change this.
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Doesn't make much sense to give credit for getting the wrong answer, showing your work or not. Our experiences are different on that matter.
 
TML said:
Doesn't make much sense to give credit for getting the wrong answer, showing your work or not. Our experiences are different on that matter.
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His point is sound. My late mother taught at the U of Cincinnati, many of the girls at UC were from the Catholic School system which is rather large in Cincinnati. My mother could always tell students from such schools. They had wonderful handwriting and had memorized the facts (my mother taught European History-from crusades to the early industrial era) But they couldn't analyze whatsoever since at the time (1950s) the all girl catholic schools taught through rote memory-I guess they figured their students were going to be headed for a career of popping out 3-6 puppies rather than say being bank executives, lawyers or financial analysts or others who had to analyze complex and myriad numbers of facts.

showing your work process indicates an attempt of analysis. For example, one of my mother's exams to her students was

The black plague killed almost a quarter of the population of many european nation states. Discuss the impact of the plague on European commerce. Well the Catholic girls students could recite the deaths and the direct impact caused by massive deaths but they missed some of the stuff that would come from a thorough analysis including the acceleration of the decline of the feudal system and a strengthening of the early unions called guilds because skilled workers became scarcer and thus more valuable
 
TurtleDude said:
His point is sound. My late mother taught at the U of Cincinnati, many of the girls at UC were from the Catholic School system which is rather large in Cincinnati. My mother could always tell students from such schools. They had wonderful handwriting and had memorized the facts (my mother taught European History-from crusades to the early industrial era) But they couldn't analyze whatsoever since at the time (1950s) the all girl catholic schools taught through rote memory-I guess they figured their students were going to be headed for a career of popping out 3-6 puppies rather than say being bank executives, lawyers or financial analysts or others who had to analyze complex and myriad numbers of facts.

showing your work process indicates an attempt of analysis. For example, one of my mother's exams to her students was

The black plague killed almost a quarter of the population of many european nation states. Discuss the impact of the plague on European commerce. Well the Catholic girls students could recite the deaths and the direct impact caused by massive deaths but they missed some of the stuff that would come from a thorough analysis including the acceleration of the decline of the feudal system and a strengthening of the early unions called guilds because skilled workers became scarcer and thus more valuable
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A catholic girls school is an extreme example I say. As an atheist, I know all too well the problems you mention in that regard, but then, those are private schools as opposed to public schools. Not to mention we're talking about much younger students that are still at the 3x4 learning level of mathematics, rather than college level analysis of history.
 
TML said:
Doesn't make much sense to give credit for getting the wrong answer, showing your work or not. Our experiences are different on that matter.
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Whether or not your school did it doesn't really affect my point. The fact that this has been around for so long proves that it's not something that is new or unique to CC.
 
sangha said:
Whether or not your school did it doesn't really affect my point. The fact that this has been around for so long proves that it's not something that is new or unique to CC.
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This is correct. I also heard someone talking about a "picture walk" and how Common Core is just teaching our kids to look at pictures instead of read. That's untrue. The "picture walk" is part of the Guided Reading Model which was developed before Common Core existed. And a picture walk isn't just looking at pictures.
 
sangha said:
Whether or not your school did it doesn't really affect my point. The fact that this has been around for so long proves that it's not something that is new or unique to CC.
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I'm not saying its necessarily unique, I'm simply saying its a poor standard to give credit to young children for getting the wrong answer to a question as logical as mathematics.
 
TML said:
I'm not saying its necessarily unique, I'm simply saying its a poor standard to give credit to young children for getting the wrong answer to a question as logical as mathematics.
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Well, I could go with the trained educators I've been exposed to, or "some guy on the internet"


Hmmm.....:shrug:
 
TML said:
I'm not saying its necessarily unique, I'm simply saying its a poor standard to give credit to young children for getting the wrong answer to a question as logical as mathematics.
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I agree with this. I also hate it when teachers give kids credit for "participating". Really? You're boosting their grade because they were there and said something? Stupid.
 
sangha said:
Well, I could go with the trained educators I've been exposed to, or "some guy on the internet"


Hmmm.....:shrug:
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Appeal to authority, followed by ad hominem?
I guess I could say I'll go with the trained educators I've been exposed to, but I'll settle for saying, decide for yourself.
 
Josie said:
I agree with this. I also hate it when teachers give kids credit for "participating". Really? You're boosting their grade because they were there and said something? Stupid.
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aren't we grading to differentiate them according to their performance
that kid who participates - and is able to do so because he is on task - deserves recognition for that compared the the cohort who is drooling in the corner ignoring the teacher/presented lesson
 
Josie said:
I agree with this. I also hate it when teachers give kids credit for "participating". Really? You're boosting their grade because they were there and said something? Stupid.
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Actually really useful for getting students to pipe up about complex topics, who do not want to look stupid or who may zone out. We use it all the time to get students to come out and have extended conversations beyond one or two participants.
 
Josie said:
I agree with this. I also hate it when teachers give kids credit for "participating". Really? You're boosting their grade because they were there and said something? Stupid.
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In the example we were discussing the kid isn't getting credit for "participating". The kid is getting partial credit for demonstrating that they understand part of what they were taught.
 
sangha said:
In the example we were discussing the kid isn't getting credit for "participating". The kid is getting partial credit for demonstrating that they understand part of what they were taught.
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Yes, I know. I wasn't referring to your example.
 
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