And, influential as schools are, children are shaped by a great deal outside of school as well. Students are unique individuals and can't be expected all to learn the same material. Schooling should respond to the unique learning styles of each individual child. There is no incompatibility between teaching a core curriculum and adapting instruction to the needs of individual students. Moreover, even as we look to teachers to bring out the best in each child as a learner, we also ask them to recognize the needs of each child as part of a larger community.
All communities require some common ground.
The community of the classroom requires, in particular, that its members share some common knowledge, because this knowledge makes communication and progress possible. Specific academic content is not developmentally appropriate for young children. That is, within reason, specific content is itself neither developmentally appropriate nor inappropriate. A curriculum that specifies what is to be taught at each grade level takes away the creative freedom of teachers. Some educators argue that curricular decisions should be left up to the individual classroom teacher.