Common Core?

These 2 words drove a preponderance of the debates in the recent AZ primary season for the Republican candidates...for ALL offices.  Logic would seem to dictate that this would be an issue for only the race for Superintendent of Education.  However, the simple question, "Common Core?" was surprisingly prominent in just about every race for state office.

What also surprised me was the paradoxes.  Conservatives, (a group of people whom I'm often associated with) are almost uniformly against an educational idea that purports to have accountability as a primary objective.  Furthermore, Common Core advocates seem to support the continuation of school choice which should find support among conservatives.  However, the greatest surprise of all in this toxic debate is that Common Core is focused on the principle of "standards," and yet conservatives didn't jump for joy realizing there would be no more social promotion.

I recognize there's a bigger picture here that includes a slippery slope making it easier than ever for our educational system to indoctrinate our children with relativism and humanism.  Our nation's move away from God's Word as the guiding document for governance and education is profound, accelerating, and barring a spiritual awakening, uninhibited.  So, should Christians fight the move to incorporate Common Core?  I'd say yes if the sole responsibility for educating my children rested with the government.  It doesn't.

The task of educating my 4 boys is my wife and my responsibility.  Public school is simply a partner and a tool available to us as we educate them.  Knowing that public education is less than ideal isn't exactly a new reality introduced with Common Core.  I've already learned to accept the bad with the good long before Common Core came along.  It's a parent's job to correct the bad and reinforce the good of their child's education on a daily basis.  Hopefully everyone understand that no one educational system, be it private, public, charter or home school programs will be a perfect partner.

So, in addition to being the Superintendent of my boys education I'm also busy working as a supportive influencer of public education along with Tammy.  At our local public elementary school where Tammy teaches and our four boys attend, we've seen that the Common Core standards have pushed forward significantly the expectations of what students are to learn at each grade level which we like.  I cannot yet comment on the affects of these standards on high school education nor the broad long-term impact of Common Core since its new and untested.  We're not fearful though.  We'll watch the trends carefully and cross that bridge later knowing that we hold the legal power and divine prerogative to choose a different educational option for our kids if and when that seems best for us.