I understand the rationale behind curriculum standards... someone to tell us what we should be doing... some "data" we can pint to when individuals in our communities question us...
Despite my understanding, I am questioning the appropriateness of our current focus on standards. Right now, I can point to three strands of evidence that are personally relevant:
1) Our state "refreshed" their technology standards a few years ago... just before they did, I had students review the previous set, and their response was laughter... seriously, they laughed at how silly the "skills" were and they were able to demonstrate those far above their grade level and they were commonly using technology in ways that were not even mentioned in the standards. Guess what... they are beginning to have the same responses to the "refreshed" standards. Despite that, our administration is pointing to those standards as "the guiding light" of our renewed interest in technology.
2) I am reading a book in which the author argues that the standardization of curriculum is a deviation from the localized needs students and families that was the original intent of education in our society. According to the author, the centralization of education has contributed to a huge economy and bureaucracy supporting itself.
3) A recent entry on EdWeek suggests that a group has published set of standards for human sexuality education. Please do not assume I am somehow opposed to sex education, I simply know that standards ted to contribute to what is described in point #2 and we have too much in the curriculum already... my old middle school mentors who taught us "less is more."
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