Give parents some choice! Our kids' education should not be controlled by a monopoly

John Stossel reports:

the data clearly show that America’s government schools are a big part of the problem. American fourth-graders do fine on international tests. It’s not until high school that they fall behind. In other words, kids perform worse, not better, as they progress through our education system.

This latest “reform,” the Common Core State Standards Initiative, is being implemented in many schools this year.

The standards expect a “deep” understanding of math. Instead of memorizing tables, kids are expected to “decompose” numbers into ones, fives, and tens before adding, subtracting, multiplying or dividing. This system of “anchoring” a number to tens, fives and ones is meant to calm kids who “do not feel comfortable” memorizing tables, according to a Common Core “Homework Helper” video.

This is centralized thinking. Just because some kids find it easier to “decompose” a number before they perform math operations does not mean all kids do. Imagine if a physical education teacher taught the class how to toss the ball underhand only, because some students were “uncomfortable” learning to throw overhand.

It's long past time to separate school from state.