2008 September 05 Archive at The Core Knowledge Blog

The cornerstone of the Core Knowledge curriculum is the idea that to be fully literate depends on shared knowledge–understanding a broad range of ideas and information taken for granted by speakers and writers. Here are a few examples I stumbled across in the papers, online and on TV this week. The references will hopefully be familiar to literate adults, but how about elementary and middle school students? (Each question is followed by the section of the Core Knowledge Sequence where students learn the background information necessary to make the passages fully comprehensible.)

1) Describing the New York Mets recent surge on mlb.com, sportswriter Marty Noble said “Carlos Delgado, now a Ponce De Leon disciple, has become what he once was: a feared left-handed slugger.” Who is Ponce De Leon and why would the Mets first baseman be a true believer? Need to phone a friend? Make sure it’s a Core Knowledge 3rd grader (Core Knowledge Sequence: “Early Spanish Exploration and Settlement,” American History and Geography, 3rd grade).

2) New York Times columnist David Brooks wrote this week that choosing Sarah Palin as his running mate “allows McCain to run the way he wants to - not as the old goat running against the fresh upstart, but as the crusader for virtue against the forces of selfishness. It allows him to make cleaning out the Augean stables of Washington the major issue of his campaign.” Can you explain the reference? (Core Knowledge Sequence: “Mythology of Ancient Greece,” 2nd Grade)

3) In his acceptance speech to the Democratic National Convention, Barack Obama declared, “We are the party of Roosevelt. We are the party of Kennedy. So don’t tell me that Democrats won’t defend this country. Don’t tell me that Democrats won’t keep us safe.” Explain how, by invoking the names of these two former U.S. Presidents, Obama sought to reassure his listeners. (Core Knowledge Sequence: “World War Two in Europe and At Home,” 7th Grade; “The Cold War,” 8th Grade History and Geography)

Pencils down. Papers to the front. Have a great weekend.

Merit pay is back in the news. For kids, that is, not teachers. Washington, DC’s Michelle Rhee is the latest to float the idea of paying 12-year-olds to act in their own best interest. Fordham’s Liam Julian thinks it’s a bad idea, preferring the stick to the carrot. But he makes the emotionally satisfying argument:

It is expected that students will complete assignments and work hard; it is legally demanded that they come to school. When these obligatory activities are rewarded with cash, what was once mundane becomes exceptional. Standards of right behavior take a prima facie tumble. The student who shunned class is paid to be there, which makes a mockery of the rules, and the pupil who already came to school on time now receives money for it and learns the false lesson that punctuality and conscientiousness are extraordinary and noteworthy.

I’m not immune to this line of moral hazard reasoning, although I remain agnostic and willing to consider any reasonable idea to boost performance. Still, I have a hard time arguing incentives are bad when I know darned well that there are affluent kids who are routinely bribed — er, rewarded — for good report cards with everything from a ten dollar bill to a new car in the driveway. Add the fact that many inner city families have learned not to expect much from their education, and it becomes hard to ask them to take our good word for it that education is its own reward.

Greg Foster nails it at Pajamas Media. “Admit it,” he writes, “you don’t care about whether it works nearly as much as you care about whether it’s just inherently wrong. This policy is the sort of thing people respond to purely by visceral reaction.” He then goes on to explain why it’s not wrong.

Joanne Jacobs, as usual, is the voice of reason: “If foundations want to fund pay-for-performance schemes,” she writes, ”I suggest they put the money into college (or job training) scholarship funds for hard-working students. Connect doing tomorrow’s homework with a brighter future down the road.”