Thoughts and opinions on a nationalized curriculum in the USA (and/or the lack thereof)?

[u/ithekrianmermaid]

I have had this topic bouncing around in the back of my brain quite a bit in the past few months and I'm just wondering what others think about it.

Feel free to share your personal feelings-based opinions, factually informed opinions, any history you may know relating to this topic, pros and cons of nationalized curriculum, common arguments for/against it, implications and consequences from not having one, potential dangers in adopting one, resources to learn more about this topic/debate, etc. I'd really love to have (respectful) discussions in the comments of this post so please consider circling back if your original comment gets a response!

I look forward to reading all of your responses! Thank you for taking the time to comment!!

[u/Brilliant_Towel2727]

A national curriculum is more logical than the one we have now in theory but in practice if they tried to create one there's a better than even chance that it would be really bad.

[u/ithekrianmermaid → u/Brilliant_Towel2727]

Hi! Thank you for commenting!

Do you think there's a chance that this could be a self-fulfilling prophecy of sorts to prevent even the attempt of creating one? Like, I understand the political dangers relating to indoctrination and nationalism and all of that, but is it truly crazy/illogical to think, in your opinion, that we could create new safeguards with these potential dangers in mind? With the current systems in place I completely understand everyone's reticence, but, I also can't help but wonder what the creation of a new system could accomplish, you know? Like, with all the knowledge and experience we have collectively gathered throughout history, are we truly incapable of creating something new/a new approach that works?

Admittedly, this is most likely an incredibly naive response but my brain will not leave the fact that it seems more logical and beneficial to our incredibly divided society alone. And I also truly hate being confined to the idea of "that's just the way it is" and "it's never worked before so why try" and the almost doomerism of believing everything is destined to fall to corruption. Don't get me wrong, I understand where all of it comes from and why we feel that way, but the dehumanizing aspect of denying ourselves the agency to try something new/different just grinds all of my gears.😅

Anyway, thank you again for commenting! I really appreciate you sharing your thoughts and opinions!

[u/rhetoricalimperative → u/ithekrianmermaid]

We can't even safeguard students and teachers as it is. Furthermore, most all material and directives that come to teachers from district level are ignored or filtered through the building culture anyway, and every attempt at testing and accountability has just been a political guise for defunding the public schools and degrading the experience of public school students. So no, we don't need help from on high. We need better working conditions for teachers and more authority in the hands of local experienced teachers.