Liberty and Common Core

These are thoughts about Liberty and Common Core.  The comments evolved on Face Book from a nice discussion on an article about whether there should be evaluative tests, written tests or that these should be eliminated. 

 A friend of mine made the point about Common Core exams/tests that these rely less on recall and more on the performance of complex tasks where there is more than one right answer.  Those are good points and a nice observation on Common Core.  I can see the attraction for some of these features.  The problem I see with Common Core tests and one I feel is loaded with danger is that the writers of the tests determine what is taught.  This may seem a strange point but bear with me, please.  I use the following as a means to make my point.  

I taught Latin.  In some ways I liked the AP Latin tests, but what bothered me was the clear indication (as the years passed- I did not notice it for some time) that the same passages were hit over and over in terms of say a five year period.  Thus there were passages never hit which were stunning displays of artistic quality and of personal value for a student’s view of life.  My point here is that those who wrote the tests and selected the passages had the imprint of THEIR view of what  was significant in a piece of literature.  I noted, too, that the authors selected and the works selected represented the social and even political views of the test designers (This point is picked up later).  These points make the case that a teacher would tend to focus on what the test designers felt was valuable.  I ignored that, frequently, but the time constraints made it difficult to fit in.  My system jeopardized my students' performance on the exam, because I did not always select passages for my tests which I knew may be on the exam.  I hope that these sentences make my point understandable.  

I have another example.  I investigated the International Baccalaureate syllabus for Latin.  I was stunned to see that every author selected, every one, was from the imperial period, there was nothing from those authors who defended liberty, free speech and opposed tyranny.  Of course, I point out that we are a country which cherishes liberty.  I understand the title of the program is IB, but even so, it is heavily promoted here in the U.S.A.. My concern is this- it is dangerous to have authors selected or tests designed by a centralized group.  It will defend its turf against a challenge.  

Years ago a group of Latin teachers, like my self, asked the committee which selects authors and passages for AP Latin courses to help with the process.  These were permitted to sit in the room with the committee, but were not permitted to ask questions, make comments, written or spoken.  And this was the result of an extended set of negotiations.  

I might add that the Romans never had any national syllabus or anything vaguely similar to public education, yet there was very strong similarity between the authors covered by one teacher or group of teachers and another.  Yet, because there was no national control of any kind, teachers were known to tailor their program to the interests of individual students.  Even in the imperial period, teachers continued to teach authors who defended liberty and fought against tyranny.  Thus there was for a long time a constant stream of those who opposed the manner in which some emperors operated and challenged conventional thinking.  Opposition ended when a way was found to end the system where teachers designed their own program.