The Common Core

As a teacher, people ask me all the time about the Common Core. I pains me so much to see what education has become, that I don't even like to talk about it. If you don't know what Common Core is, or if you just want to know more about it, I'll let you do your own research. For the purpose of this post, I'll tell you Common Core is more about the path a student takes to arrive at an answer more than finding the actual correct answer. It's supposed to be about thinking skills more than the accuracy of the answer. I guess the theory is if students are better thinkers, they will become more accurate in their answers. I disagree. 9x7=63. What's wrong with just memorizing that fact? Why must we ask kids to first multiply 10x7 and then subtract 1x7? Our education system cannot be built on students being given credit for taking the right path, but arriving at the wrong answer.