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As a part of the CCSS initiative, the Common Core State Standards for English language arts and Math are implemented in all schools right from kindergarten to 12th grade. This move is an effort to establish a common curriculum throughout the nation. Gates Foundation and other corporate giants bankroll this initiative promoted by the Obama administration. No inputs have been taken from students, parents or teachers in this regard.

The initiative was developed by two education experts Charles Fadel and Bernie Trilling and aims at focusing on skills and knowledge necessary for graduates who wish to become capable of competing in the global economy.

Right from the age of five, children under this program will be tested for college and career readiness. Students who do not qualify will be channelled to trade skill track. The need of the hour is to devise the best scientific methods to teach our students. CCSS does nothing towards this.

It just aims at using intense measures to test student and teacher performance through various public education accountability programs. Notwithstanding the fact that the root of problems faced by educational institutions today can be traced back to staggering poverty levels and decades of cutbacks among public school students, CCSS will again point fingers at educators for any and every classroom problem.

Just like Bush’s No Child Left Behind and Obama’s Race to the Top programs, CCSS will only speed up the process of closing down public schools and create social inequality by expanding for-profit charter schools.

Our administration is focusing on tailoring higher and public education to the needs of our corporate. Liberal arts education is now projected as a no return on investment, less affordable luxury while the STEM or science, technology, engineering and math subjects are hugely promoted in the curricula.

Instead of fictional stories, there is immense stress on informational, non-fiction texts even at the elementary and kindergarten school levels as is evident with the absurd Common Core language arts standards.

Deep suspicion and in some cases open hostility greets this initiative. Private companies will evidently profit to a great extent by promotion of a national testing program and curriculum. According to US secretary of education Arne Duncan’s chief of staff Joanne Weiss, shared assessments and common standards will open up a national market for graduates.

This move alters the market for innovation and enterprise in formative assessments, professional development and curriculum development. Adoption of these common standards and assessments will benefit education entrepreneurs as they can take their products to the large scale national markets.

Sceptics feel that the only companies that will profit immensely from the implementation of common core are those that supply educational and testing materials. Taxpayers will have to shell out the huge amount of $12 to $30 billion to implement this initiative.

States also have to spend a lot to invest in necessary testing and implementation materials like training materials for teachers, computers and software. This means, none of these funds will directly benefit classrooms, students or teachers. There will be no resource left to spend on music, art and gym courses and teacher’s salary will continue to remain low.