Education’s green light

If you use social media in any way, chances are you’ve probably noticed a particular recent trend: The Great Gatsby. Now, as much as I’d like to write one, this isn’t an expose of Baz Luhrmann’s film adaptation of the great American novel. Or a commentary on why some people shouldn’t discount the film just because they say, “It was my favorite book in high school. I am so special for reading it in high school, you can’t possibly understand.”

No, what this is about is education standards. Like almost every Portland State student, I went to public high school and took four years of English classes before making my merry way to university. I, like many people, also read Gatsby in high school. Chances are you read it as well. That’s all right. It’s an important book, but there’s really no need to act like reading makes you a better person than anyone else.

OK, now that that’s out of the way, back to education. Recently, Oregon signed on to increase the level of teaching in reading, writing and math. Planned to go into effect in 2014, this change in curriculum will cover K–12 schools.

That sounds great, right? Oregon and the 43 other states anticipating this change will be part of an effort to better prepare kids for both college and “the real world.” However, as The Oregonian
reported, “barely one-fourth of U.S. teachers say they have the tools and preparation to make sure students meet the new expectations.”

That’s a little disconcerting. These new expectations, titled Common Core State Standards, “will require students to read challenging works of fiction and nonfiction and write sophisticated analyses, including of science and history,” according to The Oregonian.

This is happening because Oregon leaders believe nationwide universal standards will ensure a particular brand of higher education that will put the U.S. on a more even playing field in the international community. The U.S. is significantly lacking in its primary education programs, so what better solution than to actually start caring about and prioritizing education?

Remember those awful standardized tests that everyone had to take in order to graduate high school? Well, those will still be around. The Oregon Assessment of Knowledge and Skills, or OAKS exam, is just being replaced with two different tests.

One is the Smarter Balanced Assessment. From the name, you could guesstimate that the test is balanced and mindful of the fact that not every student comes from the same school district, background, et cetera. It’s hard to tell since it isn’t yet the standard, but it seems like the test mainly consists of multiple-choice, short-answer and essay questions. So, not too different from what we’re already used to.

While the idea of completely changing the education system is alluring in many ways, it’s also a very important and lengthy process. That the state wants to have all these new changes implemented by next year is almost a pipe dream. Oregon is a lot bigger than just Portland and Eugene, and the state has many different school districts, all with different focuses.

Raising standards is a good start, however. The whole Gatsby craze of the past few weeks has caused a bigger jump in sales of Fitzgerald’s novel than ever before, so obviously people are interested in reading the classics.

If we raise standards and make English classes more challenging and focused on analysis, students will be introduced to the classics earlier on. This will help them gain understanding of symbolism, metaphors, et cetera, and how these literary techniques are applicable to real life.

When it comes down to it, implementing new standards is important; in fact, it’s probably one of the best things we can do for students right now (aside from well, abolishing student debt, but y’know).

Not only will this prepare kids for college, it’ll also give them a broader and more analytical perspective of the world around them. While radically changing the system would be optimal, the economy isn’t in the shape to provide educators with the tools and funds they need to make it work in our current system.

Let’s hope this implementation isn’t just pretty words hiding an ugly truth, otherwise we could just be screwing over future generations of learners—and no one wants that, right?