Months after Tennessee high school student Ethan Young gained national attention for his anti-Common Core presentation in front of the Knox County Board of Education in November, one of the high schooler's classmates is following in his footsteps.
A recent video of Farragutt High School student Kenneth Ye giving a presentation before the same board of education has been gaining steam around the Internet in recent weeks. Like Young, whose presentation has received more than 1.9 million views on YouTube, Ye urges the board to drop the standards, saying they take the joy out of learning and will turn schools into Chinese-style data factories.
WATCH THE VIDEO OF HIS PRESENTATION ABOVE
The Common Core Standards have been adopted in a vast majority of states around the country, including Tennessee. While the standards are designed to emphasize critical thinking and deeper learning, anti-Common Core activists like Young and Ye contend that the standards, and the high-stakes tests aligned with them, perpetuate a "one-size-fits-all" type of education.
"Our public education is striving to parallel the high technical efficiency of the Chinese," says Ye around 4:40 in the video. "And as a student who has learned in both environments, I can clearly say that the increase in standardization and testing, coupled with the pressure that coalesces, will diminish the creative and inquisitive mindset that we seek to foster."
What do you think of his points? Let us know in the comments section below.