The
Uncommon
Core
Essential creativity skills and the grammar of
new media are missing from the Common Core
English Language Arts Standards.
Jason Ohler
The United States neglects creativity in its education system. To see this, just look at the Common Core State Standards. If you search the
English Language Arts and Literacy
standards for the words creative, innovative, and original—and any associated
terms, you will find scant mention of
the words and the ideas they represent.
Readers should find this troubling.
Supporters of the new standards
will likely note that creativity relates
more to instructional methodology
than to literacy and that the Common
Core initiative leaves choices about
methodology to teacher practitioners.
Although this deference to teachers’
judgment is appreciated, there are three
problems with this reasoning.
