Race to the Bottom

I just finished reading the article 'How to Raise The Standard In America's Schools' by Walter Isaacson.  I first have to comment on how well written this article was, and say that it sparked a very passionate feeling towards this issue in me.  I have to admit that before reading this article, I was always very skeptical towards the topic of  "standards" in education.  The word 'standard' has gained  a relatively negative connotation, and in general lots of resistance is met, especially in education, when the problem of national standards is addressed.  

My understanding of what it means to be a teacher is changing.  It's not just about what goes on in the classroom, everything is connected.  Our future success as a country is embodied in these young students and we are consciously lowering the bar, cheating them out of a proper education just so our respective state can look like it's proficient.  We NEED to stop beating around the bush and focus on creating a specific standard for these kids.  The way I read this article, these standards aren't focusing on the need for every kid to meet them at all costs. Instead they are focusing on providing a solid goal for these kids to work towards that will get them moving forward to a complete education, fully preparing them to be competitive with their peers around the world.  Equality has always been a big issue in the history of this country.  Why can't we realize that we are creating inferior kids, who have the potential to be the best, just because we are lazy and can't agree.  Is it really worth it?

While reading, I was thinking how this relates to my own life.  I experienced the inequality in levels of education last year in my first year Paideia class.  One of the objectives of requiring the Paideia class for every first year, is to create a common experience and community for the incoming students to build on.  However, because every freshman has to take Paideia, there are many different teachers for the class.   Here is where the problem arises, and the goal of the course is lost.  There is no common standard set up by the teachers for what we as students are supposed to have learned by the end of this course.  And because there is no set common ground  on what to learn,  consequently there is no common standard for grading.  This is really where I felt the inequality.  I had a teacher who graded significantly harder than other Paideia teachers because he held a higher standard of learning for the students in his class than other teachers held for their classes.  Even though this was beneficial towards my overall education, I felt that it was an extremely unfair situation.  The amount of time and work that I put in to write an C+ paper, would get a student in a different class an A paper.  After reading this article, I now see the purpose and importance of having standards in education.  We need a common base in order to effectively evaluate and improve important aspects of education, and to fully prepare our children for the future.