A nation should require all of its students to study the same national curriculum until they enter college.
Write a response in which you discuss the extent to which you agree or disagree with the recommendation and explain your reasoning for the position you take. In developing and supporting your position, describe specific circumstances in which adopting the recommendation would or would not be advantageous and explain how these examples shape your position.
▼Sample Essay▼
A national curriculum sounds like a good idea. It would be ideal if every student in a country had the same body of knowledge and set of skills upon graduation from high school. However. this is only passible if every student is the same as every other student. Some may argue that a ready-touse curriculum would save individual school districts and teachers the time it takes to develop curriculum of their own. Others may point out the expense of purchasing text books and other materials needed to follow a national curriculum. 1n the case of the United States. there is continuous comparison between what American students achieve and what students in other industrial nations achieve. On the surface, the US does not compare favorably to many of those countries. A national curriculum may be the solution to that problem. However, each of the fifty states must be convinced to give up control over its own educational philosophy.
The logistics of creating a national curriculum in the United States is daunting. The US has the third largest population in the world, divided among fifty separately governed states. It was and continues to be a nation of immigrants. ‘I`hose immigrants come from all over the world, bringing their languages and customs with them. Immigrants have a greater impact on some states than on others.Schools are challenged to educate children who can’t even speak English. A national curriculum may be the straw that breaks the camel’s back, educationally. Under ideal conditions, school districts would need considerable financial and technical support to adopt a national curriculum; added to other obstacles that already tax the abilities of some districts, a national curriculum could cause a mutiny.
A national curriculum would be likely to focus on the core areas of education: math, science, language arts, and social studies. One would be hard put to find someone who disagrees with the idea that all children of a country should have the same math skills, the same understanding of science, the same abilities to read and communicate effectively, and the same knowledge of history, geography, and government. However, many would also argue that there is great benefit in participating in the arts, knowing how to cook a meal or sew on a button, and being physically active. Others may hope their children learn the basics of a vocational trade such as carpentry, auto mechanics, or welding. Would there be room for these elective programs in a national curriculum?
Two compromises come to mind. The first entails requiring a national curriculum through grade eight. From kindergarten through middle school, all teachers would adhere to a national curriculum. These are the grades in which students learn the fundamentals of reading, writing, math, and social studies. Every student would be well-prepared for high school, where teachers develop a curriculum that encourages students to further develop the skills they learned in the lower grades. ‘I`he four years of high school would focus on the core areas but allow students the time to explore other areas of interest. The second compromise consists of a set of guidelines or standards that enumerate the skills and knowledge that every student must be able to demonstrate with proficiency before graduating from high school. Every teacher would know what his or her students must be able to do or understand and use instructional strategies and materials to make that possible.
A nation’s desire to promote the educational well being of its children is laudable and, perhaps, necessary. In order to foster creativity and individuality, the means to accomplish this should be left to the practitioners who also have the best interests of children at heart.