Most cultural attitudes go unquestioned. Many attitudes held by Americans do not promote the idea of academic excellence in either parents or children.

Parents and teachers who don't want to be deceived as to the purpose and probable effects of the Common Core Standards need to recognize the script. Challenge school administrators and journalists to use their own thought out words when discussing the CCSS.

U.S. schools K-12 succeed in educating only about 40% of the nation's children. The only meaningful school reform would purge both schools and teachers' colleges of the "whole word" theory of reading instruction that dooms 60% of our children to semi-literacy.

As schools begin to implement the new Common Core Standards, principals are being urged to focus on instructional leadership. Unfortunately, most U.S. principals lack the time to be instructional leaders. True reform would restructure the principal's job into three.

Thanks to weighted courses in high school, 4.0 is no longer the highest GPA that can be earned. Weighting enables students to manipulate the system in order to "look good" on their college applications. These days, GPA is not a dependable gauge of high school achievement.

In addition to the Common Core Standards created by corporate consultants, additional requirements are being placed on schools by state legislators and political appointees. The latest is the intrusion of keyboarding instruction for children K-3 who should be learning how to write.

Cursive writing is just one style of handwriting, but many people seem to think that it is the only kind. North Carolina legislators have passed a law requiring that all fifth graders must be able to write in cursive.

The term Liberal Arts refers to the academic subjects that include language, literature, science, math, and history. In the past, an acquaintance with all these subjects was considered the mark of an educated person. Today's idea of "an educated person" seems to have changed.

STEM is an acronym for Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics. It has become a kind of mantra for business leaders and politicians who want more children to pursue careers in those subjects. A danger is that STEM is seen by some as being of more value than subjects in the Liberal Arts.

Same-sex classrooms were long the norm. U.S. public education adopted the coeducational model at the end of the 19th century. Thanks to changes in American culture, it's probably time to return to the single-sex model, at least from grades 7-12.