Who knows education best?

Recently I have been following a thread on Facebook about a "Common Core" math problem.  Somebody shared this link on their timeline.  Usually I know better than to look at the comments, but they had a train-wreck type of fascination for me.  The original article itself misunderstands the concept of the Common Core, or any kind of educational standard. 

In the article on Diply, the main commentary is, "For starters, it lumps kids together by their age, determining what they should know by the end of each grade, and doesn't take into account the fact that everybody learns differently and excels in different areas. Common Core teaches to a test, and if kids don't pass that test, they are usually held back, and made to feel inferior- which is totally, absolutely absurd."

Academic standards of any kind are simply guidelines for the scope and sequence of skills in any academic area.  The Common Core's web site itself states that the standards' purpose is to, "provide clear and consistent learning goals to help prepare students for college, career, and life."  In our increasingly mobile world, having a relatively standardized set of learning goals makes sense. 

The Common Core standards are not intended as instructional methods or curriculum.  They are simply guidelines for what to teach and when.  Good schools and teachers will take these standards and use the instructional methods best suited to their teaching styles and the learning styles of their students.  Most of the critics on this Facebook thread did not seem to understand the purpose of Common Core.  Many of them seemed to think that "Common Core" is a way of teaching rather than academic standards.

Of course, many of the critics discounted the Common Core because the instructional methodology used to achieve the standards differs from their own experience as students.   This led me to thinking about the reason so many people outside the field of education seem to think they know so much more about teaching than teachers.

I believe that the main reason so many people have this attitude is because everyone has been inside a classroom as a student.  This means that they believe they know how teaching "should" work.  The problem is that, to borrow a bad metaphor, teaching is like an iceberg.  What you see in the classroom is only a small part of the picture.  No one sees the research and planning behind the lessons.  No one sees the assessment that happens during and after the lesson has been administered.  No one sees the modifications made in order to ensure that mastery is achieved. 

I like the idea of standards.  I need to know what concepts need to be taught and when they should be taught.  I need to know what skills and knowledge my students will need when they leave my classroom for other educational ventures. 

Let's take a look at one of the standards.  In the Reading strand of the English Language Arts standards, students should be able to "determine a theme or central idea of a text and analyze in detail its development, including how it emerges and is shaped and refined by specific details; provide an objective summary of the text."

To translate this to non-pedagogical language: students should be able to read a text, figure out its main idea and how the main idea is developed by looking at the details in the text, and ultimately state the main idea in their own words.   The last time I checked, this is the main goal for reading anything.  You read the words to determine the message the author is presenting.  You use the details the author shares in order to figure out that message.  I believe that this is a skill that is absolutely necessary in all aspects of life.  If I want to understand the directions for using a new appliance, if I want to understand the fine print of a credit agreement, if I want to know the main point of anything I read, I need to be able to do this.  I need to ensure that my students can do this, so they can be successful in a career or college.  This standard is essential knowledge for life.

I suspect that many of the critics in this thread do not even know what the standards are.  If they read them, they will understand exactly what the purpose of the standards are.  They will understand that essentially the standards are skills students should have in order to progress academically.