Are Students Career and
College Ready?
The content implications of Common
Core’s report seem, in part, to contradict what U.S. society apparently
believes students need to succeed in
college and the workaday world. The
MetLife Survey of the American Teacher:
Preparing Students for College and
Careers showed that teachers, parents,
students, and business leaders said that
“problem-solving skills, critical thinking, the ability to write clearly and
persuasively, and the ability to work
independently” are more important
for being well prepared for career and
college than “knowledge of challenging content.” For example, 99 percent
of Fortune 100 executives surveyed
said problem solving was essential or
very important for students, whereas
only 31 percent indicated the same
for higher level chemistry and physics
(Metropolitan Life Insurance Company, 2010, p.13).
awareness, however, seem to contradict other parts of the survey, which
rank skills higher than “challenging
content.”
Looking to the Past,
Present, and Future: The
Role of History, Civics,
and Social Studies
Yet ensuring that students master
content in a wide variety of subjects is
a key instructional element for nations
that lead in the international PISA
rankings, according to Lynne Munson,
executive director and president of
Common Core, which authored the
Why We’re Behind PISA curriculum
study.
“These nations seem primarily
concerned with discovering whether or
not student knowledge has been built
up in a wide range of content areas.
Not only are they not just testing or
establishing standards or curriculum
frameworks in solely reading or math,
they’re covering many other subjects
and they’re doing it a way that demonstrates a concern for content in the
first place, and skills, perhaps, in the
second place,” Munson explains.
History and civics, often under the
rubric of social studies in the elementary grades, are important for other
reasons besides PISA rankings. Education experts are worried that today’s
students are not learning enough
about their civic heritage, history, and
the various processes of government
in order to be thoughtful and active
citizens in a democratic society.
In contrast, over 6 in 10 teachers, parents, and business leaders
felt that knowledge of other nations
was “important” but not “absolutely
essential” for college readiness and
careers in a global economy and society. Nonetheless, 59 percent of black
students indicated that knowledge of
other nations and cultures is absolutely essential to be college and career
ready (versus 47 percent of white
students and 49 percent of Hispanic
students). But to address the need for
global awareness, a majority of both
teachers and students agreed that it
could best be gained by studying history, government, geography, the arts,
world religion, and foreign languages
(Metropolitan Life Insurance Company, 2010, p.15). The implications
about the value of content for global
Earlier in the decade, a study
by the Carnegie Corporation and
CIRCLE: The Center for Information
and Research on Civic Learning and
Engagement noted that an “increasing
numbers of Americans have disengaged from civic and political institutions such as voluntary associations,
religious congregations, community-based organizations, and political and
electoral activities such as voting and
being informed about public issues”
(2003). And young people are a part
of this trend; as they are less likely to
vote and show an interest in politics
and public issues than older Americans. “Many young Americans may
not be prepared to participate fully in
our democracy now and when they
become adults,” the report warned.
The latest NAEP report on civics,
released in May, offers the latest
“indicator of failure” to meet the civic
But to address the need for global awareness, a
majority of both teachers and students agreed
that it could best be gained by studying history,
government, geography, the arts, world religion,
and foreign languages.
