Fifty Stars, One Flag:
How the Common Core State Standards Will Unite America
Every morning in America, students in public schools pledge their allegiance to our flag and country. A chorus of children all affirm that we as a nation are “one and indivisible.” For quite some time, however, states have insisted on abiding by their own educational standards, dividing our nation into fifty discordant pieces. In an effort to unite these pieces, the Common Core State Standards were developed by a collaboration of researchers, teachers, and leading experts in education (Common). Although a multitude of controversy surrounds this issue, the Common Core State Standards are certain to benefit America’s schools by uniting teachers and students across the country.
In his groundbreaking book The Pedagogy of the Oppressed , Brazilian educator
Paulo Freire identified a serious problem that plagues both students and teachers alike:
Education has become an act of mindlessly depositing information rather than effectively communicating it (63). Because this is an issue that currently disrupts learning in
America, we, as a whole nation, need to take steps in providing all of our children with the tools they need to succeed. The Common Core State Standards were developed as a way to bring new and favorable standards to grade schools across America. In the legendary Supreme Court case Brown v. Board of Education
, it was decided that “an opportunity for an education… is a right which must be made available to all on equal terms” (“Civil”). Unfortunately, as they currently stand, our statewide education systems vary greatly in quality from state to state. A student in Nevada does not have an equal opportunity to attend a quality school compared to a student who lives in Massachusetts
(KIDS). This inequality of state schooling shows a major need for the uniting of

educational standards across state borders. This is where the Common Core State
Standards come in. These standards offer clear and efficient nationwide guidelines that will prepare students for their future role as members of the American workforce and/or collegiate system. The development of the Common Core standards was bipartisan and state led, ensuring that they are in the best interest of all Americans (Common). That being said, many Americans still worry that these standards are being forced upon state schools. Although the goal of the Common Core standards is to meet a nationwide necessity for improvement, whether or not to adopt these standards is a decision left up to each individual state. Each state determines how these standards will be incorporated into its own system. This confirms that these standards were based upon a model of democracy, not dictatorship. We as a nation need to come together to better the education of our children; the Common Core standards simply provide a way to facilitate that aim.
In addition to the Common Core’s goal of educational equality, the contents of the standards set up a method for improving communication among teachers, parents, and students. Certain people may fret that the Common Core State Standards only address
Mathematics and English Language Arts; however, the two-subject range of the standards makes for a more sensible starting point in improving national education. Furthermore, national standards for other subject matters such as Science or Arts have been developed by other organizations and are available for statewide use (Common). The specific standards for Mathematics and English Language Arts are written in a way that encourages communication and exploration in the classroom, two factors that many students may feel are missing from their everyday classroom experiences. For instance, a
1 st
grade Mathematics standard states that students should be able to “Compose and

decompose numbers from 11 to 19 into ten ones and some further ones, e.g., by using objects or drawings, and record each composition or decomposition by a drawing or equation (such as 18 = 10 + 8); understand that these numbers are composed of ten ones and one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, or nine ones” (National). The wording of this standard provides 1 st
grade classrooms with multiple ways of understanding addition problems for sums fewer than 20. By providing students with options, such as using a drawing or equation to represent addition, students are able to construct their own ideas of what addition means. Some students may prefer the method of rote memorization for addition facts, but that method is not sufficient for all students. The Common Core State
Standards require that teachers provide their students with different methods, and in turn, equal opportunities to learn and understand facts. What makes Common Core unique from other educational standards is that it emphasizes the skills of understanding and analyzing problems over the skills of memorizing facts and performance (Hess). This shift in how American education is approached will give students an opportunity to have a higher quality understanding of what they are learning and why it matters. This understanding will improve students’ motivation to learn, which will consequently elevate the quality of teaching. When teachers and students are more motivated to pursue their own learning, a greater sense of communication is developed in the classroom, and it is “only through communication [that] human life and hold meaning” (Friere, 64). Our students deserve standards that value their individual learning methods and enrich their educational experiences.
If Paulo Freire were alive today, he would absolutely advocate for the change in education that Common Core is making: a shift from viewing our students as receptacles

to viewing them as contributors to their own learning. When our children pledge allegiance to America each morning, it is our job to make sure that our nation is providing them with equal opportunities to learn. The Common Core State Standards, if given the chance, will unite the students and teachers of our fifty states and create a singular force to be reckoned with.
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Works Cited
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The National Center for

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Freire, Paulo. “The Banking Concept of Education”.
Reading the World: Ideas That
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Ed. Marilyn Moller. W. W. Norton & Company, 2010, 2007. 62-67. Print.
Hess, Rick. How Big a Change Are the Common Core Standards?
Education Week, and
Editorial Projects in Education, 1 June 2011. Web. 6 Mar. 2015.
KIDS COUNT Data Center. Education Rank.
The Annie E. Casey Foundation, July
2014.
Web. 6 Mar. 2015.
National Governors Association Center for Best Practices, and Council of Chief State
School
Officers. “Common Core State Standards Mathematics Grade 1 Number &
Operations in Base Ten.”
Common Core State Standards Initiative . National
Governors Association Center for Best Practices, and Council of Chief State
School Officers. 2010. Web. 6 Mar. 2015.