My reason for bringing such an event into this discussion is that it and many others I experienced during my 40+ years in the high tech industry, have convinced me that too many people, in particular those who work in a government environment, do not address the root cause of a problem when they define and then implement a solution. From what I’ve heard from my 3 nieces and nephews, who are K-12 teachers, from my previous knowledge of Common Core, and your above “crash course”, I believe that once again “they” came up with a solution to a problem without having understood the root cause of the problem they attempted to solve.

Goes back to what I call the original common core; ethics, morality, integrity and rich knowledge of history. History is the mortar and the weak link. A seemingly insignificant idea for one person is the crux of the idea for another person. Einstein’s theory of relativity is like that. For Einstein the the idea was born on bus ride. He looked at a clock as they were driving away. The position of the hands arrives at his eyes at the speed of light. If he was going away faster than the speed light, what position would he see? So is the opposite true, going in the other direction also true or does it just take good brakes to keep from crashing into the bus depot?

We are blessed with different skills, likes, dislikes, persistence and determination so our need for skills knowledge is different. We all are part of very interconnected society so having a common set of social skills, a common core, is critically important. When we lived in our original family, each of us learned different skills to accomplish the family’s needs. Just to do the dishes we decided who washed and who dried. The cook decided the best compromise for seasoning and selection of foods to accommodate the various tastes. We learned the importance of giving our word and keeping our word. We learned the boundaries of personal and public. We learned how to disagree, honestly and just in spite. There is a lot to our common core. The pity of our current education system is that we no longer teach our common core. That use to be something parents taught but compulsory education has replaced the parent with a stranger. If the stranger is asked who teaches common core they will point at the parents and the parents at the stranger. Everyone is responsible which means no one is responsible. Suddenly we find ourselves 4 or 5 steps into morphing an idea and we think we are doing something original. If we only knew our history. Isn’t learning and gaining understandings our history what stories are about. Aren’t our stories parables? Write a multiple guess question that tests parables.