Common Core State Standards Argumentative Essay

Words: 847
Pages: 4

Common Core State Standards: Beneficial or Detrimental to Education? In the words of James A. Garfield, “Next in importance to freedom and justice is popular education, without which neither freedom nor justice can be permanently maintained.” With education being so prodigiously essential to ones future, it should (advanced classes should never be restricted or discouraged) (not be restricted in any possibly destructive way. The employment of Common Core has put prominent restrictions on the education system and has proved to have many negative effects on students. Thus, states should not be required to implement Common Core State Standards in their schools because of the adverse effects they often have in terms of rigor, equality, and …show more content…
Many community members, including parents and officials, are enraged that they have no say in the education of their children. In addition, Common Core disregards the opinions of a majority of teachers who are forced to comply with the standards. In fact, the way Common Core State Standards were essentially forced upon schools was corrupt, because “Federal law prohibits the U.S. Department of Education from prescribing any curriculum, but the Department figured out a clever way to evade the law by making states not eligible for Race to the Top funding ($4.35 billion) unless they adopted the Common Core standards” (Ravitch). Thus, states were extorted into accepting Common Core or else they would not receive necessary funding. The system even restricts the teaching methods that can be used. “There are many ways to be a good teacher,” (Ravitch) which demonstrates why teachers should be given more freedom to teach the way they see fit according to the needs of their class. Furthermore, Common Core forces teachers to follow a rigid curriculum in a specified amount of time. This often causes teachers to rush through content without going in-depth and teach only the exact information that is going to appear on the Common Core assessment. Thus, there is little to no room for creativity in the way teachers present the