Damn Bill Gates and his Common Core crap.

[liberal_at_heart]

My son is taking a computer class, the curriculum is requiring Microsoft Office Specialist certification tests after learning about each of the software programs they study.

[roody]

1. The Common Bore: a gravy train

for some.

[seattledo]

2. They're just protecting their monopoly position

It sucks to see so many people think that it is a requirement to give money to Microsoft for both a crappy OS and a generally not needed Office suite.

[immoderate]

3. I think the issue is, who's paying?

I see no harm in obtaining those certs, if they're included in the tuition. If your son has to get them at retail ($150 each) that could be a burden.

--imm

[liberal_at_heart]

6. The syllabus states it is at no cost. I wouldn't have as big a problem with it if it were

voluntary for those who may have an interest working for Microsoft after graduating high school. But I don't think the students should be required to take these tests. Our public schools should not be recruiting tools for corporations.

[Fawke Em]

21. Working for Microsoft?

A Microsoft Office Specialist just means you know how to use Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Publisher at optimum levels.

It's not a cert to work for Microsoft. It's an executive assistant-type certification.

[MannyGoldstein]

4. Is that part of Common Core? nt

[liberal_at_heart]

5. He is a big part of the school privatization efforts going on.

[MannyGoldstein]

8. I meant is your son's course part of Common Core

Gates bribed incentivized the hell out of Massachusetts folks to get us to switch to Core Curriculum.

[liberal_at_heart]

10. I'm not sure if this particular course is part of Common Core or not. I know his

special education English class is. They are trying to force special education English students keep up with general education classroom curriculum. That already has me pissed off. In middle school they did the same thing with his math class.

[WillyT]

7. You Might Wanna See THIS:

DULink: http://www.democraticunderground.com/10024411794

[liberal_at_heart]

12. Thank you for that. None of it surprises me of course. Just pisses me off.

[Squinch]

22. I was just going to go looking for that. Because EVERYONE SHOULD READ THAT LINK!

[fujiyama]

9. Is this a public school? What grade?

I agree, taking a Corporation's software specific examination and being required to pass it is just twisted. I'm fine with the idea of a common core (i.e. all states would be required to actually teach evolution and sex ed without BS abstinence only and creationism garbage introduced) - and there would be a computer technology component built in as well (have kids learn basic programming concepts and spreadsheets) - but those should be general and not specific to Office or any other company's software suite.

[liberal_at_heart]

11. Yes it is public school. It is 9th grade. Common Core sucks. Kids are not robots.

They do not all learn the exact same way or at the exact same pace. My son has already suffered in middle school due to this crap. Now he has to suffer through it in his English class and now his computer class.

[fujiyama]

14. Trust me. I know kids don't learn at the same pace.

As someone that flunked out of college the first time, but eventually went back and got a bachelor's (and now getting a master's on my company's dime), I understand that everyone has a different pace. I think the pressure for kids to do things "at the right time" is one of the silliest things we teach. Looking back, the two years or so I lost by flunking out mean nothing. And I look back at it now, less with shame, and more with pride for accomplishing something even after screwing up initially.

But I still don't like the idea of states like Texas issuing heavily edited textbooks that don't even reflect reality and not teaching basic scientific concepts like evolution or comprehensive sex ed. I think there are some basic concepts all schools should be required to teach.

But that said, I'm really uncomfortable with a school requiring their students to actually pass a company specific software exam. It's just a way for Microsoft to protect their monopoly.

[Xyzse]

13. I don't know... I may actually be ok with it.

My reason for being ok with it is as follows:

MS Office:
-Word
-Excel
-Access

They are basic programs that are emulated quite heavily.

I tend to think of it this way:
Word = Word Processor, where there are many different software that does the same thing. Teaching kids how to format, create a mail merge document and other things like that would be great! I can also see this helping low income students to catch up in regards to reports and other things like that.

Excel = Basic spreadsheet. It allows people to think of rows and columns to create a type of organizing pattern. It also allows to show relationships between data.

Access = Basic database. Being able to create queries out of various sources is a great skill to learn.

Skills learned from those programs are easily translatable to other similar programs such as google docs and so forth.

Still, I might be missing your point. I can agree that this is a quick power grab to indoctrinate children to a particular program, but it is industry standard and easily utilized for something else. Kinda like how Macs were promoted in schools waaaay back when.

[fujiyama]

15. The concepts learned are very useful

Those skills are very useful nowadays, especially Excel. I also think students should be introduced to basic (small 'b') concepts at an earlier age.

However, a public school actually forcing its students to pass a certification in a company-specific software package just doesn't sit right with me.

[Xyzse]

16. Oh, ok... Now I understand.

Requiring to pass a company specific certification.
Yeah, you're right. That doesn't sit well with me much either.

Though then again... I can only see it helping when trying to find an office job.
It is a certification that they don't have to pay for...

I am a wee bit conflicted.

[fujiyama]

17. Yeah it's a tricky situation

In a case like this, we have a corporation that has overwhelming market share in a suite of products which are widely used throughout every industry. Most jobs (and colleges for that matter) assume you are at least somewhat proficient with most Office applications. I grew up in what was probably the first generation to extensively use technology. We used graphing calculators in math and I took programming in HS. So I'm definitely conflicted in how much influence a corporation should have on a classroom. I mean, is there a way to actually teach kids these concepts (that too hands on) without having them use Office? I guess there is Open Office and Linux, but then you likely lose the funding that Microsoft is ponying up.

But I feel like there a lot of concepts even in math - and as an engineer, that I never fully grasped because the use of technology kind of killed the need to actually think and conceptualize.

I suppose I'm digressing a bit.

[Xyzse]

20. No that's fine, and I completely agree with what you have mentioned.

As for the last point, in regards to concepts in math that we have found short cuts for and not fully grasp due to calculators and computers, I have to admit having the same faults.

I feel like, I would be useless without a computer.

[JaneyVee]

18. I like the curriculum so far. But my son is only in kindergarten.

[woodsprite]

19. Delaware must not have bought into the computer part of Common Core

My 8th grade son just finished his computer class. He only had 1 semester of it throughout middle school - no keyboarding, no touch typing class. Jumped right into Word, Excel and Powerpoint. All the teacher did was work through some handouts she had made. When hubby and I met her at parent/teacher night, she didn't even have a syllabus.

He applied to a program starting in 9th grade which follows the Core somewhat, but adds in Cambridge Univ. international high school curriculum, guarantee smaller class size. My experience with our daughter is that they didn't spend so much time 'teaching to the test' - at least not to the Core test. There are a series of Cambridge tests that they take at the end of 10th grade. Toward the time of state testing, they will take a few days to go over some sample test packs and make sure the kids understand. It's much more like a review.

If they have or are starting something like that in your area, that might be an option. I am so glad that my son only has 4 yrs left of regular school.

[mathematic]

23. Some people complain about students not getting taught practical things

Some people complain about the opposite. If you think about this from a vocational standpoint, what's so wrong with it? A course that's designed to teach job skills to high schoolers should do something that improves their job applications.

Recently there was a thread where some people were ok with dropping algebra II from the curriculum because it wasn't useful. Well, the alternative to teaching algebra II isn't more lunchtime it's teaching basic office software. That is, one prepares you for college courses and the other prepares you for immediate employment.