Status Updates From One Nation Under Taught: So...

Respectfully, I disagree with the author's opinion of common core. It has not aged well. Common core has not helped the students. The book was published in 2014 and it was clear that common core wasn't doing well then. Education is a dumpster fire now and it was failing before the lockdown. We are doing a disservice to our children.

Major Conservatives easily come to defense of Common Core, including Mike Huckabee! My intuition told me that it was a good thing, when I observed the school reading lists at library etc and what was required. (Nonfiction! Ha! among others.) It's a set of standards, NOT a curriculum or a Guinea-pig pedagogy. You don't even have to call it CC, as long as you choose to use them for your expected outcomes.

48: "'mathematical content dominates the CC K-12 expectations. Unlike many of the replaced state standards, CC demands automaticity (memorization) with basic math facts, mastery of standard algorithms, & understanding of critical arithmetic....not only required but prioritized in early grades....focus in-depth on fewer topics that coherently build over time.'l

"What did they learn? How did they learn it? How did they fail and try again? What effect did those people have on society?" Johannes Gutenberg!

Talk and read about great discoveries and scientists and inventors of our time. Hidden Figures! Wright Brothers. Or historical - George Washington Carver. Isaac Newton. Madame Curie. Louis Pasteur!

Geometry was hard. Algebra 2 challenging and Chemistry, I still do poorly. What changed (too late!)? Taking Visual BASIC course - aced it. Taking Intro to Computer Graphics - aced it (FAR too long after many art courses!) College algebra professor asked if I planned to be Math major. Writing lots of papers on computer. Internet explosion. Aced "math for elementary teachers." Trying to design blog.

40-41: "'exposure to any facts about engineering leads more than half of teens to say they are more likely to consider engineering as s career'" "'...societal benefits of what engineers do...'" Prosthetics, orthopedics, clean water & transporting it, cleaner electricity, etc etc! Painting false eyeballs to look real! Definitely I had no clue starting college about any STEM fields or how not to hate computers...

40-41. How do you turn a student in to math and science in an early grade (K-5th)? How might lack of knowledge about Jesus our Creator affect that interest, or can it be inspired without/before knowing God?

P. 37: at least 5 problems we need to overcome: Engaging students in STEM subjects too late and then not enough; teaching poor & boring content; not integrating math & science with other subjects; ineffective teacher training; and a paucity of women & minorities in the fields."

37. Using mathematical and scientific methods in every subject (e.g. Reading and writing) "'building models, arguing from evidence, and communicating findings'"

36. Speech pathology and music, brains and sound perception, brains and rhythm and sports. Brains and music and Alzheimer's and Parkinson's. Science and government policy. Interdisciplinary.

36. Optics and Color Theory, Vision and Visual Arts.

29. Gateway Academy (middle schoolers summer camp). Massive Open Online Courses teacher development. Project Lead The Way for continuous teacher learning.

28-29. Real world math/hands-on ideas cont'd. Roller coasters? Lightweight bicycles? Force/axel/level simple machine to rescue animal in ditch. Kahn Academy. Pool, ocean. BAKING. Nonfiction books. Coding/programming. Flight and space/astronomy. Zoo. Garden.

21-28. Who designed & built the MacBook Pro? Acoustics of symphony concert hall? Chemical combo of paint colors? Strong absorbent canvases? Alternative energy solutions? The Corvette Stingray? Single-serve coffee maker? Farm machinery to improve food output? Ergonomic work or lightweight running shoes? DJ keyboards? Etc...

P.21 "Our [Project Lead the Way] solutions are about showing students how technical concepts relate to real-world situations...providing them with hands on projects and problems that help them apply concepts in ever-new and changing contexts...developing creativity, problem-solving, critical thinking, and collaboration skills."

Free market is "supply and demand." So students who choose majors in humanities and arts are in large supply, but there is no demand in our current economy. Socialist Indoctrination takes indirect tolls on our nation. China is an irony.

This book only has 74 pages so I'm switching to percent.

"Change the Equation" CEO- led initiative to improve/mobilize education in business, accounting, engineering, architecture, biological research, computer science, data analysis, and all the other STEM fields.

Fred Smith (founder FedEx): "...the federal government...should restrict its funding of higher-education grants and loans to science, math and engineering, b/c that's where most of the value added comes."

What does it mean that South Korea surpasses USA in math and science skills and innovation while simultaneously heading towards surpassing us (by percentage) in homegrown missionaries being sent out? Same with China -- but that will probably change as the Communists rise again to obliterate the Gospel there.