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

All schools should teach a common government-approved curriculum to their students until the students enter college.

The main advantage that is to be gained by all schools teaching the same national curriculum is the guaranteeing of consistency of topics covered. Colleges can then plan their own curriculum being assured of the fact that all students possess certain pre-requisites that they have learnt in School. Once each school is allowed to teach its own curriculum, this consistency disappears. The curriculum taught will be dependent upon the beliefs and opinions held by the school's governing body. For example, a particular school may decide that its students do not require do study mathematics as extensively compared to other subjects. Another school may decide to spend its funds allocated to laboratories on other areas, thus narrowing the focus on practical lab-based work. As a result, the students from the first school will lag behind students from other schools with detailed mathematics curriculum in college, through no fault of their own. Similarly, when students from the second school will go to Engineering or Applied Science-based colleges, they will find that they lack crucial skills needed to pursue higher studies in such disciplines. In both cases, the students will need extensive tutoring to bring them up to the expected standard, with great effort required on behalf of the students as well. In the worst case, the students will get demoralised at the gap between them and the other students, which have an adverse effect throughout the entirety of their college life.

Some may argue that following if all schools follow a nationally-mandated curriculum, it may cause the entire education process to be mechanical, bereft of any creativity or flair. Certain schools who previously participated in adventurous and pioneering techniques of education will then be forced to partake in the same standard curriculum. This is a valid criticism, but I would point out that while having nationally-mandated curriculum ensures everyone teaches the same content, it does not force any restrictions on how that content will be taught. So schools are still free to pursue their own unique brand of teaching.

At the end of the day, our primary objective should be create a level-playing field for all students. As having the same national curriculum taught in all schools guarantees this to a certain extent, I agree that it should be enforced.