Common Core is designed to break K-12 math's traditional focus on rote arithmetic and instead focus on learning math as abstract reasoning and multiple different solution strategies.
The fact that it is designed to do so does not mean that it succeeds in any way. What I see is the replacement of rote arithmetic with the rote repetition of formulaic statements that are not connected to actual understanding. This is not an improvement.
That you would include this barb in your comment shows that you're more arguing against the concept of changing standards, and not against Common Core itself. That's not an indefensible position, and you do consistently argue from that stance throughout your comment, but I fail to see how it's constructive. The US is ranked ~30th in math worldwide -- obviously things need to be changed. Perhaps there are better ways to change our standards: what would you propose?
I would suggest incremental improvement, not revolutionary change. The education establishment has a long history of revolutionary change, and knows exactly how to go about it. This always turns out badly. The much safer way to go is to incrementally improve, with constant feedback and repetition. It doesn't feel day by day like progress, but it has much higher odds of actually succeeding.
What our educational system has done is the equivalent of throwing out a major software system, and rolling out a new one. Such big bang upgrades seldom go well, and the larger the system the worse the disaster that follows. Even if you can wind up in a situation where success can be declared, huge amounts of damage are done.
The fact that it is designed to do so does not mean that it succeeds in any way. What I see is the replacement of rote arithmetic with the rote repetition of formulaic statements that are not connected to actual understanding. This is not an improvement.
That you would include this barb in your comment shows that you're more arguing against the concept of changing standards, and not against Common Core itself. That's not an indefensible position, and you do consistently argue from that stance throughout your comment, but I fail to see how it's constructive. The US is ranked ~30th in math worldwide -- obviously things need to be changed. Perhaps there are better ways to change our standards: what would you propose?
I would suggest incremental improvement, not revolutionary change. The education establishment has a long history of revolutionary change, and knows exactly how to go about it. This always turns out badly. The much safer way to go is to incrementally improve, with constant feedback and repetition. It doesn't feel day by day like progress, but it has much higher odds of actually succeeding.
What our educational system has done is the equivalent of throwing out a major software system, and rolling out a new one. Such big bang upgrades seldom go well, and the larger the system the worse the disaster that follows. Even if you can wind up in a situation where success can be declared, huge amounts of damage are done.