Core Curriculum Debate

Whenever the powers that be, be they local, state, or national, decide that standards must be set they are actually restricting learning by tying it down to pre-existing standards, rather than encouraging the kind of curiosity that produces real knowledge and discovery in a changing world.

I was stunned to read in the paper this morning that the libertarian wing of the Republican Party has glommed on to this issue as another instance in which we are being robbed of our civil liberties.

For me that is not the issue.  At stake is the very fundamental nature of education, which is more than facts but which consists just as much -- perhaps even more -- of intangibles imparted by one human being to others.

Perhaps it is a tone of voice, a choice of a story to read, a song to sing, none of it according to a plan.