An Open Letter to Louis C.K.

Dear Louis C.K.,

We don't know each other, but I heard that you sent some tweets about the Common Core State Standards. More than heard about them, actually.They're everywhere! I'm guessing you might be surprised by the response. I'm guessing that many things are being said about your tweets--hailing them, using them as leverage, attacking them. In fact, I saw all of that and more on your Twitter feed--it's trending!

I went to Twitter looking for more information about your thoughts. Your tweets that day hit a nerve with me (and a gabillion other people). I suppose, in all honesty, I was irritated by them. You see, I typically agree with the things you say. I find you funny and usually just right enough to make people uncomfortable--pulling the curtains back on a social issue that needs airing. I am honest enough with myself to know that when something sticks in my craw, I have more to learn. 

I stewed on it for the last week, read articles, editorials, Facebook posts, heard jokes about it on Wait Wait Don't Tell Me, read your Twitter feed, and finally figured out my issue. 

This whole thing is just one sound bite. One sound bite that has the ring of truth because it is your experience as a parent of children in public schools. One sound bite that has been strung up on flag poles across the nation (nations, even) to leverage the agenda of... any group with an agenda it would seem.  Part of me hopes you're irritated by that, too. Instead of opening up a conversation, looking at all the sides, intelligently examining the specifics, the mudslingers are on a tear and your face is on the flag.

I don’t sling mud. I don’t insult what I don’t understand. I spend time reading all sides of an issue before I assert an opinion. Sometimes, I don’t pick one clear side because the information provided is too shadowed by rhetoric. Considering all of that, weighing all of the issues, I do support the Common Core State Standards. I support the intent of the standards themselves--absent the ever present conspiracy theory. I agree that what we have done in the past has not developed the learners we need. I have read the CCSS in detail, across grade levels, even the appendices (more than once, even) and it is a simple truth--there is good to be found there. I agree with you, we can’t expect something new to be perfect, and the CCSS isn’t perfect. I don’t expect a set of standards to be the panacea for a centuries-old system that no longer serves the needs of our society. I expect a set of standards to be exactly that—a set of standards. Standards are simply an end-goal, a level of quality, a guideline. As a set of standards, I support the Common Core.

The CCSS didn’t create high-stakes testing. High-stakes testing has been here for over a decade. It is a separate issue and worthy of discussion in its own right, but not on the coat tails of the CCSS. That limits the conversation to one iteration of the problem, misplaces the responsibility, defeats the purpose of the argument.

The CCSS didn’t write New York State Assessments. I've chosen not to research who did write them, but I know a set of standards didn’t do it. If the assessment is poorly written, poorly implemented, or used unfairly, that is also worthy of discussion. This is true for any assessment written by anyone. If it is a poor assessment, implemented poorly, or leveraged inappropriately, that is a concern. 

The CCSS didn't implement themselves. Poor implementation is a concern.. New York implemented early and quickly. We can learn from that. We can also learn from states and districts that are implementing differently. 

The CCSS didn’t teach your children math that made them cry. It is my guess that it was a deeply passionate, caring teacher trying his or her best to teach a wholly new focus on math without adequate preparation.  The new math standards are wildly different than what we’ve done in the past. And it's about time. In the same breath that someone blasts the CCSS math standards, they also accuse the public education system of keeping our children behind other countries in math. If you read the standards, the background of the standards, the thought behind the changes, the pedagogy at work there, you will see that the authors agree. What we have been doing isn’t working. This is an attempt to change that. A change of this magnitude is going to take time, high-quality teaching, sound pedagogy, and support. If teachers in a particular state or district are not getting the support they need, that is yet another worthy discussion.

I want to chat with you Louis C.K.—hear more about the specific concerns you have, share some insights into the standards themselves, look for ways to leverage the strength of your voice with the strength of my experience to affect positive change for all students. I don’t have a political agenda, an ad campaign, a book to sell, or a fan base to please. I have nothing to gain personally from supporting or denouncing the CCSS. What I do have is a deeply rooted passion for education. I work every day to provide quality education for all learners. It is what I was meant to do. I have seen waves of change in education, and it is this current wave—the wave that includes a set of standards focused on learning behaviors over stacks of content—that has me hopeful.

So what do you say, Louis C.K.? Why don’t we chat about all of the sides of this issue that you inadvertently stirred up? I can learn from your experience as a parent. You can tell me what you know, what you want to know, and what the solutions might be. I can share my understandings with you, and, in the process, learn more myself. Nothing to gain but mutual understanding and movement towards a mutual goal of improved public education. Yeah?  Sound like a deal?

--a dedicated education professional

P.S.—in response to the person that is concerned with your habit of double-spacing after a period. I do it too. It’s how we were taught in high school in keyboarding class.Word processing programs do it for us now, so we are, in effect, making three spaces when we try to double-space. That doesn’t stop me. I just use the "find and replace" option after I type to take them all back out again. I support you in your double-spacing.

[Learning] Danger! Curves ahead!

I remember my thinking clearly. I had gotten it into my head that I was meant to be a motorcyclist. My dad had instilled the appropriate amount of fear of what he called “hundreds of pounds of hurtling steel” and I knew the safety class had to come first.  This shows growth on my part since I typically dive in feet first and learn things the hard way.  

I signed up for a one-day introductory class with a class the following week if it went well.  I was nervous, but ready. I had, in my mind, a vision of riding along the beach like Tom Cruise did in Top Gun.  I conveniently ignored the learning curve I was about to climb. I also conveniently ignored what I know about myself as a learner. I need time to observe, time to calculate, time to choose my path.  Learning difficult things in a public and structured way is difficult for me. I knew this, but I ignored it.

We were  a small class—eight people or so.  Most of them had been on some sort of two-wheeled vehicle before.  I… had not.  At least not since I fell asleep on the back of my father’s moving  motorcycle nearly 30 years earlier (don’t worry, he caught me.  Then he banned me from the back of his bike for EVER).  I started to wonder if I had made a good decision.  I was there though. The learning curve had begun.

We read some pamphlets, talked about how dangerous motorcycles were, how they worked, how to have eyes in the backs of our heads .  Then we were allowed to sit on our loaner bikes.  We couldn’t start them yet, but we could sit on them.  I’ll admit, the learning curve was going a little slow for me at this point—my mind was starting to wander. My Tom-Cruise vision was taunting me.  After some practice getting on and off the bikes, we finally got to start them! Vrooom!  I was back on track and engaged immediately. Top Gun, here I come!

That first day we managed to get our bikes started, ride around in 15 mph circles, and do some zigzags. I determined that I was making progress since I wasn’t the very worst learner in the group. By my count, I was in the bottom third, but at least not at the bottom.  I was tense, and felt like I needed more time, but I left that day feeling like a learner!

Two weeks later I went back for my second class. I immediately realized my previous learning had not stuck.  I felt brand new again. I was rusty, to put it kindly.  As we started back into our 15mph circles, I couldn’t get the hang of it.  I was nervous and unsure—making me squeeze the handles too tightly , rev the engine, and squeeze the brakes when I shouldn’t have been.  I was being corrected each time around the circle, and I felt my stress level rise.  My face was hot, my spine tingled, and my heart was beating more loudly than it should have been.  I used my same method of self-measurement as before—was I the worst in the group? Um… yes.  Most decidedly yes.  I just couldn’t get it. I felt my conviction and energy drain and I started marking time until the class was over. I was getting angry—irritated at what seemed like the constant corrections. My learning curve had gone flat and I wasn’t handling it well.

Once class ended it took me over a year to regroup and get back on track with my goal. I ended up deciding to learn in my usual way—feet first.  I saved up and bought a 150cc scooter.  I took it to a parking lot and rode that thing around until I had the feel for it.  Then I rode it every day on the back streets of my neighborhood, then the larger streets, then out into the big bad world.  My learning curve was steep, but on my terms.  I still had the sweaty palms, the tingly spine, and the frustrations, but I was able to work them out on that parking lot and on those streets at my own pace.

I always remember that tingly-spine feeling when I am teaching.  Challenging learning takes an extra dose of focus, of courage, and of perseverance.  While we all agree that we need to push our student to learn in new and challenging ways, it is also true that we need to respect and their learning process.  We can support and guide them in the process of learning while still ensuring that the learning itself is real and rigorous.

This winter, I’m taking that motorcycle safety class again.  I’ve done the prep work, the pre-learning, and I feel ready to learn at their pace. I still have my Top-Gun dreams to achieve!