National standards have been needed in education for a long time. Everyone remembers the time that Mississippi fourth graders scored highest in the nation on their writing test, only to find out that our testing standards ranked lowest in the nation. Though Mississippi’s standards have made great advancement since then, national standards like Common Core make this problem a thing of the past. Students from all over the country will learn the same skills.
   One argument against national standards is that they stifle teacher creativity, a real concern because studies have shown that restricting teachers can lower teacher retention. Though the standards  have suggested readings for English Language Arts and timeline for math, the ultimate decision is up to the teacher. In practice, rather than restricting teachers’ procedures, the new standards seem to increase creativity among veteran teachers.
    In my opinion, the best argument against CCSS is the fact that though they were adopted by most states, including Mississippi in 2010, an example of the test that will be used to evaluate the standards has yet to be released. However, as more information about the tests has come out in recent months, it seems to lean toward more writing and critical thinking. This will be a great thing for both teachers and students, as it will allow teachers to spend most of their time on more marketable skills, rather than teaching students how to deal with multiple choice questions.
  Another great thing about CCSS is that though there are no standards for subjects other than math and English Language Arts, there are suggestions for reading across the curriculum. In order to raise students’ reading skills, it is necessary to implement reading of relevant primary texts in subjects such as history and science, as well as in English. In the past, most high schools in Mississippi have not required their students to read any type of informational texts in other subjects. This causes students to come to college with no prior experience with reading texts in their discipline outside of textbooks, which becomes an unneeded challenge during their first semesters of college.
    In general, having a national standard for education is something that should have been done long before now. Though it is certainly true that different locations in the U.S. need different approaches to education, and even different content, the skills that students need remain largely the same throughout the country. Furthermore, though I cannot speak for the math standards, I know the English Language Arts standards can be easily adapted to be relevant for most students, regardless of location.