“Common Core” or “Missing Core”?

I posted this comment on today’s New York Times’ Op-Ed http://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/23/opinion/sunday/a-common-core-for-all-of-us.html?ref=opinion&_r=0

“The discussion about the Common Core is interesting, both politically and intellectually.  But without  the “missing core”, all of these discussions and disagreements about the nature and goal of education, won’t matter.

What is this “missing core”? Call it integrity, scrupples, whatever. But, until we, as a country, realize it is gone from higher education, we can forget about all the other attempts at improving education.  Here is why.

Higher education (or the lack of it) determines much of ALL of education in America.  High school teachers come from colleges, where they are either taught (or not taught).  They are usually not taught.  I know.  I was a college professor.

Generally, they are not taught for one of two reasons.

Many so-called “elite” schools (like the one where I taught) find it in their interest to focus on meeting the “wants” of their “customers” (once quaintly known as “students”) and not their needs, or society’s needs.

The other reason is that, if future teachers don’t get to attend an “elite” school, they may well be taught by one of these “elite” schools graduate Ph.D.’s.  In many cases, these PH.D.’s don’t have the qualifications or ability to teach their subject well.  But that is ok; the “ellite” schools get funds to graduate such Ph.D.’s from the government, so called “naitional need” grants.

(To see how all of this happens, go to my blog www.inside-higher-ed.com)

[ADDED FOR THIS BLOG: See my posts: How Competition Leads to “Content Deflation” in One Anecdote, No Jobs for Ph.D’s? Depends on what you mean by Ph.D. and Professor Alfred Doesn’t Know What is Wrong with the Homework]

Until we fix the “missing core”, change will only be superficial.”