Recently Tom Ultican responded to something I posted on Twitter.
His response contained a typo.
He meant to write “Common Core Standards,” but mistakenly wrote “Common Care Standards.”
Wouldn’t it be wonderful if our schools had “Common Care Standards,” in which we acknowledged our responsibility to care about students?
The standards might read like this:
All children shall have access to high quality preschool.
All children should have time to play every day, between classes and after school.
All children should have three nutritious meals every day.
All children should see a school nurse whenever they don’t feel well.
All children should be checked by a doctor and dentist annually.
All children should have access to a well-stocked library.
All children should have a safe place to live.
All children should have the arts as part of their daily schedule.
All children should have a school curriculum that includes not only reading and mathematics, but civics and history, science, literature, and foreign language.
Do you have anything to add to the Common Care Standards?
Diane Ravitch's blog 
All children should be educated about consent as a specific subject to understand and protect themselves from either receiving or perpetrating abuse of any type.
Love the list. How about, All children should be told the truth.
Of course, that’s a stretch for the U.S. of A considering the dismal, four year mountain of lies we’re trying to dig out of right now…
All children should sit beside a loving adult as a two-year-old and look wide-eyed at the beautiful books written for them while they hear the language read clearly and distinctly and with emotion.
Suddenly, I realize the truth of all our dreams: we can only achieve this latter experience within the family, whether it be extended, traditional, or otherwise fabricated. This is an initially expensive undertaking, which is why our society does not do it very much. But on this foundation rests the solution to all the problems we discuss in education, indeed in all of society.
Most of the things above on the Nancy Bailey style list are also expensive for society. Traditional society was a gift society. You learned a trade from a mentor, usually a family member. No payment necessary. Modern society is much more expensive, even as it is more flexible and responsive to dramatic change. That is the paradox of civilization: it is preserved by specialization of profession, which undermines its roots and soil.
One of my nieces learned to read with an elderly neighbor (retired librarian?) who volunteered free of charge.
Roy Turrentine You write: “That is the paradox of civilization: it is preserved by specialization of profession, which undermines its roots and soil.”
True . . . however, civilization cannot be preserved well or at all by specialization and professions if they, first, fail to understand and fail to try to preserve what is not specialized fields of science and study . . . what’s in the first part of your note . . . the essential nature of the human family as a kind of generational cocoon (it’s what true and good about tribes), as the foundation for civilization and for the professions if they are to do well and have a chance to be lasting. CBK
All children deserve loving parents that will stand by them and guide them.
All children should have the right to attend a safe, well resourced public school staffed by professional teachers.
Class sizes small enough so teachers are able to express the care they feel for each of their students, and students are able to experience that care.
I’d put this at the top of the list. Along with an hour of reading and an hour of music.
Diane I agree about class size . . . I think it’s foundational to ALL of the other concerns. I remember my fourth grade class that had over 35 kids in it, and I shared a SEAT with another Cathy. I felt lost and that it didn’t matter to anyone whether I was there or not.
There are times when bigger groups are okay and even better, but not as a general rule . . . and the younger the student, the fewer students per teacher.
Also, smaller classes leads to the potential for having well-guided discussions where the kids can express themselves and interact regularly with others and with the teacher. Also, for smaller classes, teachers can READ 12 or 15 ESSAYS rather than hurrying through 35.
Is it any wonder some like bubble-tests? They don’t have to fill their trunk with them for over-the-weekend reading/grading. CBK
All children should practice problem solving and critical thinking skills daily.
All children should practice working as a team daily.
But how would you test those standards?
And even more importantly, how would you monetize them?
All children shall have authentic learning and education experiences.
All children shall have teachers that have authentic learning and education experiences.
All children shall have teachers that have schoolhouse leaders that have authentic learning and education experiences.
All children shall have teachers that have schoolhouse leaders that have superintendents and school boards that have authentic learning and education experiences.
You are beginning a new list. All teachers should have….
No. All children shall have…
Just adding to list in a Systems Thinking kind of way. 🙂
… and commissioners of education that have authentic learning and education experiences.
All children should have daily access to safe green outdoor spaces. It is their human right and it is essential to their well being.
LOVE THIS!!! Kas Winters
All children should have teachers that love them.
All children should have an education that helps them discern the difference between fact and fiction, reality from propaganda. All children should learn how to play together and talk together in ways that prioritize cooperative relationships with others.
All children should have their learning assessed in such a way that they feel no fear 💫
How about this: All children should have their learning assessed by their classroom teachers.
Well said, Diane. This is the kinder, more interesting and less frantic curriculum to truly engage and educate great children, for them, not to prove a standardized test score is superior to that of another school. It all got too crazy. Minimizing the importance of literature in English class was a bad omen and others followed, such as holding up the business model like the Bible and calling us all stakeholders. I’m retired now but I understand that it’s better. I hope so.