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 your views on the policy and explain your reasoning for the position you take. In developing and supporting yo

One may reasonably argue that a nation should require all of its students to study the same national curriculum until they enter college. Surely, requiring that students study the same topics, in the same order, using the same examples and exercises would ensure that students master the concepts necessary to live well and be productive, informed citizens. Unfortunately, while the notion of a standardized, national curriculum may appeal to some individuals who pine for a well-educated citizenry capable of making data-driven decisions with respect to political issues of grave import, the effectiveness of this curriculum rests almost entirely on the assumption that students will actually learn the concepts being taught. Because one cannot guarantee that students will learn the material included in this curriculum, one could never justify the cost and logistical innovation required to create, implement, and enforce the standardized curriculum.

While proponents of a standardized, national curriculum may argue that students would achieve greater mastery of curricular concepts because the standardized curriculum would be created using pedagogical best practice, one cannot force students to study the material using best study practices. Most learning occurs outside of the classroom (i.e., when students study the material presented during class). One cannot ensure that students review the material after class, and therefore, no matter how well the information in the standardized curriculum is presented, one cannot guarantee that it well be effective in imparting knowledge to students. This understood, proponents of the standardized curriculum would effectively argue against those who argue that the pedagogical techniques in the standardized curriculum would be inconsistent with many students’ so-called “learning styles,” insofar as cognitive science has consistently failed to demonstrate the effectiveness of matching one’s study techniques to one’s preferred method of receiving information.

Beyond the fact that one cannot guarantee that students study the advanced curriculum, one could never implement it practically. The cost and effort associated with the development of a standardized curriculum would be significant, and once added to the cost of training teachers to deliver this curriculum and monitoring schools to ensure that teachers are adhering to the standardized curriculum, the cost and effort would be far too much for the federal government to bear. Any good achieved by standardizing the curriculum and producing better-educated citizens would surely be minimized by the harm done from pulling federal funding away from other government programs, such as the maintenance of public schools.

Additionally, the government would need to expend a great deal of effort to ensure educator compliance with the new curriculum, as many teachers resent constraints placed on their ability to adapt curricula to their students and their experiences. One need only look at the resistance to the implementation of the common core curriculum to see how much backlash would result from the adoption of a standardized, national curriculum for all schools. Under these conditions, teachers resented the government’s interference with teacher’s ability to present material in ways that their students would understand. Teachers across the nation believe that they know their students far better than far-removed government officials, and they would strongly resist the development and implementation of this curriculum at almost every stage. This would inevitably increase the cost of implementation and enforcement for the federal government.

Finally, in the interest of student success, the implementation of a standardized, national curriculum would stifle the exploration of individual student interests and largely prevent students from receiving the education and training to excel in their desired careers. A standardized curriculum would necessarily address the interests and concerns of the average student, severely limiting teachers’ ability to challenge high-achieving students and to support those who might not be as intellectually gifted. Not all students have the intellectual capacity or desire to attend college, and to a certain extent, a standardized, national curriculum would neglect the needs and talents of individual students, shepherding them to a common goal that not every student would be able and/or willing to achieve.