In what is an extremely important move, a committee of educators empaneled by the state governors of America and school superintendents has proposed a uniform set of academic standards in English and Math, year by year, so that all of the nation’s public school students would have the same standards and expectations.
This is far preferable to the hodgepodge of state and local standards which has undermined public education and led to mediocre education, particularly in many Southern states and poorer states elsewhere.
Every child is entitled to learn what needs to be learned to succeed in life, and to promote higher education after finishing K-12. With these proposed national standards, the way teachers are trained would change, and textbooks would have to be revamped to reflect the new expectations.
Of course, conservatives predictably do not like the national standards idea, as they seem to think state standards, already proven inferior, are better. There is no way that these ideologues can be won over, and as it is, the states of Alaska and Texas have refused to participate, which is sad since both rank very low in their performances educationally.
But when one considers the lightweight governor of Texas, Rick Perry, and the lightweight former governor of Alaska, Sarah Palin, should it be any wonder that these two states should be the ones to continue to promote inferiority, and not concern themselves with the high failure rate and poverty levels they both have?
It is indeed tragic when “know nothings” are governors and give not a whit about those who most need nurturing: the children of their states! 🙁