A Smarter America

Over the span of the last few years the United States has not placed favorably among other nations when it comes to education, especially in math and science. There have been attempts to elevate scores that have stemmed from both the local and state level as well as the national level such as the No Child Left Behind Act mandated by President Bush. Statistics and studies prove that none of these attempts have raised scores, thus teachers and educators across the country have formulated a new set of standards with the hope that American youth will be more prepared for their future. 

In the most recent article of Times Magazine (September 30, 2013) author Amanda Ripley investigates the success of this newly developed program, Common Core, and analyzes the state of Kentucky and the success Common Core has produced since the 2010-2011 school year. Both Democrats and Conservatives don’t approve of this program because they feel like it is suffocating state rights to make education laws, a right designated to the states by the Constitution. However, this plan was not designed by neither the state government nor the federal government. So far, Kentucky is the only state who has implemented Common Core statewide and like most major reforms, it began with a rocky start. After the kinks were worked out, Kentucky saw a high school graduation rate increase from 80% to 86% and students who felt ready to move on to secondary education saw a 20% jump to 54% since 2010 (Ripley 36). Kentucky is the only state thus far to have integrated this program into their education system however, 46 states have pledged to adopt Common Core as their education policy as well (36).  

Personally, I see great flaws in the American education system. Since education is a right distributed to the states, each state has the liberty to decide how rigorous their education system will be, leading to not only unequal levels of education among the states, but internationally as well. As the founder fathers intended, the Constitution is a living and breathing document and is meant to be amended and I think that education reform (Common Core) needs to be rigorously enforced universally by the federal government so the United States does not get left in the dust by other countries with better education systems. 

Ripley, Amanda. “What Every Child Can Learn from Kentucky.” TIME.com. Time Magazine, 30 Sept. 2013. Web. 25 Sept. 2013.