Stop Core Curriculum Bashers

Core Curriculum is not the Devil. Education reform has to start somewhere. If we had a national curriculum that could be discussed with our friends on the other coast, then we might have children discussing what they learned in school that day. Kids are not just friends with their school mates or kids in their neighborhood. This is where our culture has changed and education has not. They have social media that allows them to stay friends with kids all over the country.

I have a church that has the same idea. It's curriculum or teachings are the same anywhere in the world. They may have different discussions and the teacher may take it in a different directions, but it is the same idea. K-12 had the basic units of learning that could be discussed on a nationwide level. This would get the kids more involved with education and the teachers couldn't be accused of being lazy. 

Half Days School Week...

The average school year is 180 days or 1,098 hours per year.  Some schools only require a number of days and not hours, so a full day may be counted if it is six hours. For example, a school may let kids out early once a week and it still fulfills its number of days of instruction. In New Mexico, Utah, Georgia and many other school districts they have Early Release days. This is when kids get out early by 1 or 2 hours once a week. This also gives the school districts time for prep or development meetings.

Then we have the four day week. There is not any studies about how this will work because it hasn’t been done. And because it hasn’t been done….why not. It saves fiscal money for the school districts. And this is just what Colorado has started this year.  What will kids do with their extra time?

Progressive Education Era was taking place during this time. John Dewey, the father of progressive education was influencing that changes that would take place into the 1900’s.  Education seemed to be for the wealthy, and the PEA wanted an education that helped each American do their civil duty and be a part of a democracy.  In early 1900 it was a big deal to graduate 8^th grade.  Then in 1906 vocational schools were brought about by labor demands and a industrial society by the National Society for the Promotion of Industrial Education (NSPIE).  The 1917 Smith-Hughes National Vocational Education Act was the result of the NSPIE pushing for federal funding for the labor shortages. The Vocational schools did not prepare people for their field because of the varying curriculum and did not help the individual economically. Also, the numbers of enrolled students never reached the numbers they hoped <20%. Finally, the child labor act came in 1916 in American and 1918 in England because of the labor shortage due to the war in 1914.  England decided to take a less book style to teaching and America had Dewey’s publication pushing for a school that prepared kids for a democratic society.  During this time mother’s could count on their child living and began keeping track of their milestones in a baby book. One of those milestones, according to the History of Childhood, recorded when a child’s first discipline happened. In 1912 the U.S. Children’s Bureau was inundated with letters from parents for help raising babies. The people depend on the government to help them raise their child.

Adults are working in a more industrialized America. This wasn’t just week days, this was Saturday too. In the 1900’s adults are working an average of 10 hours a day. During the 1900’s education was 99 days of the year. By the 30’s, adults worked an average of 44 hours a week, which was reduced to 40 hour work weeks with the help of Unions by the 40’s. Education said good-bye to the 1 room school house and started going to school 158 days a year. Thirty- eight percent of our children are graduating kindergarten and 35% graduate college. College graduates is up 10% from a decade ago. Each time the days of school went up the graduation rate increased. We finally see the 45 minute 7 periods a day for schools in the 50’s. Countries want a more rigoriious education because each wanted to be the first to land on the moon. This would happen finally in

Americans were fighting for higher wages, while Europe was fighting for shorter hours. By the 50’s it was past the depression and parents were working less than they ever had. They had more time with their children and 19% of mom’s are working. People as a whole in America have more free time and are wasting time and teachers are accused of becoming lazy. The television is invented and the baby boomers are entering the world.

During the 60’s it was a war on race. Sixty-nine percent of kids are graduating, but only 16% are black. The rich are getting richer and the poor are getting poorer. Lyndon Johnson declared a War of Poverty. By the 70’s the Watergate lost the trust of the American People to depend on the government to help raise their kids. Now the government is not doing enough in the school and expectations are not where they should be for education. The panacea of all problems in the school is that the teachers are lazy and there needs to be more discipline in the schools.

When the 80’s hit we no longer keep track of graduation percentages, but drop-out rate. That means we were doing better of course, but then started focusing on the drop-outs and not the successes. Teachers are still lazy and are not getting paid fairly. Teachers are burned out and students are burned out.

Maybe we should have listened, because the school violence hits us hard in the 90’s. School violence is an epidemic. One other number that is worth noting is 80% of moms work. This is up 61% from the 50’s. What did we have in the 50’s that we don’t have now? 

Half days are not for our generation unless the kids are doing something useful. Parents are working and are not watching their kids. Why keep cutting the budget and not take the money from Planned Parenthood? Solve the problem, don't just eradicate it.