I see why Professor Dennis is such a fan of Diane Ravitch. The chapter we read was extremely readable, very straightforward, no-nonsense writing. It lacked the jargon and purposeful vocabulary complexity that many articles and textbooks have. It was written to get the point across. It seems to have been written for the average teacher, not the pursuer of a PhD in teaching. It is not just the vocabulary, but the content. It is relevant. And, surprisingly, it contained a convincing argument for people of nearly any political stance that something spawned by the Reagan administration was rational and applicable to us today.

For obvious reasons, particularly significant to me was the discussion on history standards. It put the current standards in a historical perspective. Personally, I like the Common Core social studies standards. They promote critical thinking! This is something that was completely absent in some of my history classes. They promote the use of primary sources. Also lacking in my education. “Integrate and evaluate multiple sources of information presented in diverse formats and media.” I am a media junkie. I can't get enough movies, music, and literature, and I want to incorporate as much media as I can. “Evaluate an author's premises, claims, and evidence by corroborating or challenging them with other information.” When I read (or watch a movie or see something on TV or the internet), my mind always attempts to analyze the author's motivation. My skepticism usually emerges, provoking me to find other sources (perhaps the greatest strength of the internet!) The point is, many of these Common Core standards illustrate exactly what I want to do in my classroom. Too many social studies classes do not promote critical thinking, fueling the stigma that history is names, dates, and memorization.

So, in my opinion, we should keep these Common Core social studies standards. However, we need to add standards that cover the most important topics. Most graduates of my high school had no world history. That someone could graduate high school without knowing anything whatsoever about ancient Rome or Greece is a shame. We need some standards that give students common knowledge that every graduate should possess. We do not need to go so far as Hirsch and have dictionaries worth of terms, but at least broad events and subjects, and the most important people. We need both the critical thinking promoted by Common Core, as well as the specific information students should know. As is usually the case, we need a middle ground in this extremely polarized, politicized society.