Common Core Not That Common

My concerns on our children’s education is becoming more worrisome. I  proceeded to interview one of my friends; as, she has children that attend the public school system. I asked Mrs. Yvette Vasquez if she knows, “What Common Core is and was there any parent’s conference that her children’s school offer to assist her as a parent with Common Core? Her reply was astonishing, “I don’t know what Common Core is. As parents, we are not trained; so, we can’t help our children.” Mrs. Yvette does not see any advantages to the standards and only sees confusion. She believes the only advantage to the math standards would be to solve problems from different angles. I also asked Mrs. Yvette, “What can our government do to solve our education’s system?” Her last reply was, “The government can stop fixings things that are not broken.” I agree that the government needs butt out and let the educators do their job with our children.

Works cited
Vasquez, Yvette. “Common Core Standards.” E-mail interview. 12 Oct. 2015

I decided to interview my daughters English high school teacher. Mrs. Jessica Guidry teaches at Westgate High School in New Iberia, LA. Staff, students, and parents think highly of her and value her point of view. I asked her, “What is Common Core and have you received the proper training on Common Core to teach your students? She replied, “Common core is a set of standards that were created to "even the playing field" for all students. The standards should prepare student for college or career after high school. Proper training- no, teachers were thrown into it.” Mrs. Guidry’s second statement shocked me. How can teachers not receive the proper training to apply this new system to our children. She honestly in theory likes the standards and believes that there is nothing wrong with rigor and high expectations. However, Mrs. Guidry also believes that the disadvantage to the standards is it focuses on complex text at grade level and not every student is reading at the appropriate grade level. I also wanted to know what she thought on the standards tests. Mrs. Guidry does not believe in them. She thinks the standards are fairly new and the expectations for most students are unrealistic. Common Core was first integrated in Kindergarten four years ago and now those students are currently in the 3rd grade. By the time those students get into middle and high school Mrs. Guidry imagines those students will be able to meet and exceed those standards, but not now. I asked her, “What or how do you think, the government can do to help teachers and students to better education? Her finally reply was, “I think government needs to leave education to those qualified to make decisions. Govt. is wasting students time with the common core standards. It has sucked all the "fun" and creativity out of education.” This makes me so disappointed in our government for I still have fond memories of my education.

Works Cited
Guidry, Jessica. “Common Core Standards.” E-mail interview. 12 Oct. 2015.

I have researched what our government is doing about Common Core and our children’s future.As for the state of Louisiana, our Governor Bobby Jindal filed a federal lawsuit in 2014, and was denied to block Common Core nationally on September 16, 2015. The governor believes the Common Core standards violate the 10th Amendment of the Constitution. Gov. Bobby Jindal also believes that there is a federal overreach and constituted coercion. U.S. District Judge Shelly Dick, who was appointed to bench by President Barack Obama, wrote that Common Core is not a curriculum and that federal education laws don’t infringe on states’ rights. So far, the only positive thing that our state of Louisiana has been able to do was to drop out of the online Common Core standards testing this past spring.

Works Cited

Danielle Dillinger, NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune. “Gov. Bobby Jindal Loses Federal Common Core Lawsuit.”

Web. 5 Oct. 2015 .