"The CCSS were created to ensure that all students who graduate from an American high school do so with the skills and knowledge necessary to succeed in college, career, and life in the Twenty-First Century, regardless of where they live." -- K. Devlin
Dr. Keith Devlin addresses the math Common Core debate in his latest posting for Huffington Post (he supports CC):
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dr-keith-devlin/common-core-math-standards_b_5369939.html
...just from the first two comments to his piece, I can imagine this is going to generate some lively, effusive discussion!
In all honesty, it's hard for me to see how this whole debate ever ends well, both sides, pro and con, having quite hardened, opposing views. Even if Common Core works well, it might be years, or even a generation, before we are able to fully recognize that. Meanwhile, in the short-term (which seems to be all people focus on these days) there are bound to be difficulties with the implementation of this education overhaul, and both sides are poised to blame each other for whatever travails result.
[None of that, by the way, is meant as a criticism of Keith's piece, which I think is great, but just an acknowledgment, that I don't believe it will be persuasive to the audience it's aimed at: generations of adult parents who have only ever known one way of learning math; or, as Keith writes, "...they were only ever exposed to the algorithmic-skills math instruction developed for earlier times -- a form of teaching that is hopelessly inadequate for life in today's world."] I hope I'm wrong, but, from my standpoint, this whole squabble isn't looking pretty heading into the future... :-(
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