Common Core is bad for business in NH

To the editor:

While it’s good to want a well-educated populace, it’s very shortsighted for New Hampshire business folks to support Common Core. There are three main reasons.

First, the evidence that Common Core will actually make today’s young people well-educated is lacking. Research shows, for example, that education standards do not improve student achievement, either nationally or internationally. Further, a number of education professionals have criticized Common Core for a lack of academic quality in both math and English.

Second, as businesspeople should well know, today’s global marketplace is not about standardization. It is highly diverse, democratic and complex. Factory-style, top-down standardization is for the 19th century economy. Young people trained to think and act within such a system will not be fit for today or tomorrow’s dynamic marketplace.

Third, a great number of business leaders have told me and been quoted on this in many publications: One of the greatest deficits in prospective hires is their lack of soft skills, such as showing up to work on time, looking people in the eye, speaking coherently, and working hard. Research also shows this is a direct result of family breakdown and extremely difficult for schools to overcome. Besides, it is not addressed in Common Core, nor is it really schools’ place to parent children.

If executives really want a thriving populace, they should turn their attention to the roots of the problem.

Joy Pullmann
Education research fellow
Heartland Institute
Chicago, Ill.