It is characteristic of our culture, and particularly our attitude towards education, to seek some magic wand, some golden lever, that we can employ to make things right. I do not argue here that our schools are in good shape. Some schools are wonderful, many schools are dreadful, and most schools, from my perspective, need to generate a much greater sense of intellectual vitality and challenge than they now possess. I cannot help but wonder whether this emphasis on standards is likely to move schools in the direction that I value. I do not value schools that regard children as an army marching toward fixed and uniform goals.
Standardization is already too pervasive in our culture.
We need to celebrate diversity and to cultivate the idiosyncratic aptitudes our students possess. Certainly, an array of common learning is appropriate for almost all students in our schools, but the preoccupation with uniform standards, common national goals, curriculums, achievement tests, and report cards rings in a theme that gives me pause. I believe we would do far better to pay more attention to the quality of our workplace and to the character of our teaching than to display such preoccupations with standards. If we can create schools that excite both teachers and students and provide the conditions that improve the quality of teaching, we will do much to create schools that genuinely educate. The current emphasis on standards will provide no panacea in education.