I know a lot of teachers. The ones I know are not happy about Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium test coming next year as part of the Common Core Standards. I recently read Richland School District proposed removing four teachers from classrooms and assigning them to teach the teachers the Common Core. I'm scratching my head.

The problem with taking teachers from classrooms is that a teacher's job is to learn what they're going to teach. In college they learn how to learn -- and then to teach. So why do they need people teaching them? Why take good teachers away from kids to teach teachers who can already teach themselves?

Now, about these tests: Learning is a very personal experience and everyone learns differently. Some people are good at math, some people will never be good at math. So why are they forcing these standards that some people will struggle to achieve and then will never use later on?

It appears they'll be teaching kids to pass Common Core tests, not necessarily what they need to know. In other words, it's teaching kids to pass tests. Do we want kids who know information, or know how to take tests?

Some people think it's creating a minimum standard. But not a lot of people know kids can "fail" every subject, and as long as they're close enough they'll still graduate. There are certain things you have to do to graduate, but you don't necessarily need to know the Common Core.

All of that said, my personal thoughts are high school should be MUCH, MUCH harder -- 10 times harder. I had SUCH a wake up call my freshman year of college. And the kids are capable of it.

Right now kids can skate through high school without really reading the book. In college you won't have a clue without doing the reading. You teach yourself and come prepared for class. Getting a college degree is not about knowing information, it's about proving you know how to teach yourself. You know how to take books and information and teach yourself. Personally, I think they could learn that in high school.

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