I used to be one of those people who complained that the younger generation was not as smart as my generation. I met adolescents who had never heard of “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner” or some other piece of literature that I thought was central to our literary tradition. Or, I noticed that all the cash registers were computerized to compensate for cashiers who didn’t know how to make change. It was so easy to find examples of ignorance, cultural, mathematical, historical. But I didn’t give too much thought to how widespread such illiteracy was in the past. And I had an attitude, which is easy to acquire, that we grown-ups were just better educated because…well, we were.

 

But now that I am older and I hope, wiser, I am continually impressed with the number of amazingly smart young people I encounter, some in person, some on the Internet. For one thing, almost every young person knows more about technology than I do. If I am trying to figure out how to do something on my computer or iPad or iPhone, I look for someone in the younger generation to solve my problem.

 

But that’s not all. Young people are generally more creative than older people, at least in my experience. In part because of their early exposure to new technologies, they have learned to think of creative ways to express their ideas. They just naturally gravitate towards graphic representation of their ideas.

 

Unlike my generation, and the one that followed mine, they don’t protest by writing letters or signing petitions. They take action. My favorite example is the Providence Student Union. They have organized many creative acts of political theater. They are like the Yippies of the 1960s or ACT-UP, whether they know it or not. PSU protested the misuse of a standardized test for high school graduation by a variety of creative tactics. They held a zombie march in front of the State Education Department. They invited 60 successful professionals to take released items from the standardized test that would be used as a graduation requirement, and most of them failed it. They pre-empted state Commissioner Deborah Gist’s annual State of Education address by delivering the first annual State of the Student address. They recently dressed as guinea pigs and ran around the legislative halls. They held a candidate forum in the mayoral race and every candidate agreed with their opposition to the use of the standardized test for graduation. What an amazing group! I have no doubt that they will win their battle because it means so much more to them than to the adults on the other side. And the kids are more creative in expressing their views.

 

Then there are the kids who have explained what is wrong with Common Core and why they oppose it. They are far better prepared and more eloquent than the people paid to advocate for Common Core because the kids are speaking from their life experience, not with an eye to their paycheck.

 

 

The brilliant Ethan Young of Tennessee, neatly dressed in suit and tie, testified to his local school board about the defects of data-driven instruction and Common Core. Tennessee won Race to the Top funding, and Arne Duncan likes to hold it up as a shining example of the success of his data-driven approach to education. I wish Duncan would take five minutes and listen to Ethan Young. Ethan’s testimony went viral, with well more than 2 million viewers. He spoke eloquently about his wonderful, dedicated teachers and how demoralized they are by Race to the Top’s emphasis on value-added-measurement. He said he was there to fight not just for future students, but for his teachers. “If everything I learned in high school is a measurable objective, I haven’t learned anything.” He said it twice to emphasize the point. “We teach to free minds, we teach to inspire.” He added, “Haven’t we gone too far with data.” Ethan is a graduate of public schools. He has been accepted by Yale.

 

Also last fall, a 15-year-old in Arkansas named Patrick Richardson went through a PowerPoint presentation to explain his views about the Common Core. Agree or disagree, this young man was very impressive in his grasp of the facts and his ability to assemble them into a coherent narrative. He took longer than Ethan Young–35 minutes–but he too showed more understanding of the Common Core than any of the high-paid public relations people who defend it but will never take a test made by Pearson, PARCC, or SBAC.

 

So, let me say it again, emphatically: I believe in the younger generation. They know different things than we do. They are smart. They are creative. We should stop trying to standardize them and stop reducing them to data points. We should educate them with passion, love, caring, and a belief in them, not knowing whether they are headed for college or careers, but knowing they deserve the best we know how to give. They will surpass us, and that is as it should be.