Dear Future President,

I would like to inform you about a major dysfunction in our country’s education system. It is called the Common Core Standards. Common Core has two main issues. First off, in this learning system, students are not learning certain concepts correctly. Second off, students and teachers are stressed with these standards of learning.

Students are not learning concepts correctly, especially in math. Yes, math should be about understanding why the answer is the answer, but Common Core is overdoing it. Students should only be required to know the fact, not explain it every time they answer a question. On a local Buffalo, NY TV station, they showed a video of a Common Core teacher taking nearly a minute just to solve 9+6=15. This shows that Common Core is making a simple concept more complicated than it needs to be. Also, children get penalized on tests and assignments for not following certain methods even if they understand the concept and reach the correct answer. Children could learn much faster and learn more if we didn’t use Common Core.

Also, because of the Common Core regulated tests, teachers are forced to teach by the test, so they don’t teach creatively. This may cause less comprehension of topics for students. Moreover, because teachers have to focus their time on preparing for tests, it takes time away from other activities such as art, music, and physical education. In an National Education Association article, a Los Angeles art teacher, Ginger Rose Fox asks, “Shouldn’t these early grades be a time to discover, play, and explore?...We talk all the time about making our kids ‘college and career ready’—even at such a young age. Let’s make them ‘life ready’ first.” This means that we should let children be able to enjoy their childhood before Common Core forces teachers to teach young children so harshly.

Students and teachers are all stressed out by the Common Core State standards. According to “Top Ten Things Parents Hate About Common Core” on The Federalist, a video showed a second grade student who was crying because of her extremely complicated homework. I myself have suffered from stress due to homework and tests. It was mandatory for me to start test prep months before the test, and I did not do my best on the test due to all the stress. Teachers feel the same way. On an National Education Association Survey, 72 percent of the teachers surveyed said they felt moderate to extreme pressure while in the classroom and 45 percent of teachers considered quitting.

Common Core Standards are not working. They need to be repealed. This is a major issue in the United States right now. One solution could be to let teachers, schools, or district administrators decide what should be taught, not a one-size-fits-all system. If you repeal Common Core I feel students will learn a lot more, with less stress. Do you really want children to be stressed and not learning basic concepts well? I hope you will take my letter into consideration.

Sincerely,

Bhaskar C.

Sources:

Pullmann, Joy. "Top Ten Things Parents Hate About Common Core." The Federalist. N.p., 01 Oct. 2014. Web. 07 Nov. 2016.

Walker, Tim. "NEA Survey: Nearly Half Of Teachers Consider Leaving Profession Due to Standardized Testing - NEA Today." NEA Today. @NEAToday, 26 Aug. 2015. Web. 07 Nov. 2016.

Walker, Tim. "The Testing Obsession and the Disappearing Curriculum - NEAToday." NEA Today. @NEAToday, 26 Oct. 2015. Web. 08 Nov. 2016.