One Size Fits Few: The Folly of Educational Standards Book

Boy, Ohanian is one angry woman. I know her huge beef is with the California Standards, and I don't know a lot about how they stack up against the Common Core, but...there were times I liked her fierceness, and other times I found it strident. And I had to wonder if that's the way I sound to people/ I understand her passion, her need to tell the stories of her students, and what she's learned from them. I wonder if she sees conspiracies where there's none to be found. I wonder if her anger takes away from her argument...I keep wondering if I'm turning into her. Her point, that Standards are being written by non-educators, to provide a cheap work force for corporations that do not care about teachers or students or workers is made strongly. She makes leaps that I can't follow: corporations want students who are 'trained' full of facts, then sent to college where they will eventually glut the job market, allowing corporations to lower wages for workers, driving up dividends for stockholders and their own bonuses...I'm breathless even saying it.

My favorite quote: "Altho most teachers avoid talking about it, the savviest among us are privy to a dirty secret...The fact is that kinds don't necessarily learn what teachers teach." LOL -- I've said that for years.