American education is on the fritz.

Throughout history, American schools have typically been among the world’s best. Now, this trend is shifting. Across the board, American schools are dropping in comparison to systems across the world, especially to those in Asia and the Nordic countries.

In the coming elections, both 2014 and 2016, citizens of the United States are guaranteed to hear countless debates on education and public education standards, one of the most heated topics.

The higher standard of a nationwide ‘common core,’ as introduced in 2010, is absolutely the right way to proceed, though many disagree.

In the past, many states instituted their own, individualized set of standards. Among other issues, these standards were frequently unacceptably low. These low standards made students feel successful when they were actually poorly prepared.

In 2010, President Barack Obama and the rest of his administration stressed their focus on education in America. In his State of the Union Address, Obama called attention not only to the fact that American school standards were inexcusable, but also that our education system was starting to lag behind more advanced models, like those in Norway.

In response, the nationwide set of school standards known as the ‘common core’ was introduced in 2010. Almost immediately, Obama faced violent backlash from the right. Some criticisms included government meddling, improper teacher motivation and unfair strain on young children. Conservative activists relentlessly argued the federal government’s common core standards were another example of Obama overstepping his central government authority.

Interestingly, the majority of these criticisms are flimsy at best and downright false at worst. To start, let’s look at the students. Republicans claim that the stress standardized tests place on students is detrimental to their mental health. It would be better, then, to prop them up their entire lives, only to have them reach the real world and realize they are unequipped to succeed?

Everybody knows the job market is not what it used to be. In a world where opportunities for work after college are hard to come by, one would think people would want to give their children the best chance of being qualified for employment after graduation. The only way for that to happen is to make sure they are brought up in an environment that paints no false pictures about what is required for success.

Republicans also fear a drop in test scores. There is, however, a caveat that comes along with the lower scores. In several cases of states that have already adopted the common core, most notably Tennessee and Washington, D.C., the results have been overwhelmingly positive in the areas of career and college readiness. At the expense of test scores, children are better prepared for life after school.

There is also the idea that Obama is overstepping his bounds and limiting states’ rights. This doesn’t appear to hold water, as states are free to drop out if they want to. At the end of the day, these standards show tremendous promise in reversing the decline in American education.

Chris Piemonte is a senior political philosophy major. He can be reached at [email protected].

Published on January 21, 2014 at 2:45 am