Emily Parnell: Separating the wheat from the chaff

I like to instill a little shock value into my parenting as part of an ongoing effort to teach my kids to use judgment to evaluate truth. I consider it my parental duty to provide my children with asinine statements, encouraging them to use their own reasoning to determine what is true. Is it partly true? Fully true? Or am I just making stuff up?

Discerning truth from hogwash was probably difficult for my kids when they were young, but it didn’t take them long to develop the confidence needed to evaluate the situation. When they seem stumped, I led them with questions to figure out what was real — and what was not.

You could call it a game, and it’s played like this: I provide anecdotal evidence, skewed statistics and emphatically implore them to believe me. Then they narrow their eyes at me and determine if mommy is educating them or trying to lead them down a rabbit trail into a pit of lies. I enjoy creatively spinning an alternate universe and presenting it to my children. I’m proud of them when they catch on immediately, but even more so when they join in.

Whether this activity represents stellar parenting or is merely providing material for their future visits to a therapist, I’m not sure. But surely many would agree, this world is full of dubious “information” that’s presented as truth. Learning to question information, even when it comes from “good” sources, is an important skill in life.

It’s a daily occurrence for anyone following controversial, opinion-driven topics. We’re bombarded with news stories and claims that range from hard data to complete fantasy. Yet, it’s all presented as truth.

For instance, have you seen the videos showing a parent demonstrating a simple math problem, purportedly using “Common Core math”? With a taut smirk, she emphasizes the “ludicrous” method of breaking a simple math problem into many steps. After watching the video, it’s undeniably clear that the devil himself has created Common Core math to create a new generation of numbskulls unable to work a simple subtraction problem in anything less than 20 minutes.

Comments on the video simultaneously declared it “dumbed down” while admitting their own inability to understand it, leaving them unable to help their children do math homework.

So which is it? Is this method of math making our children dumb? Or is it possible that our kids are learning cool things about math theory and building blocks that we parents were never taught? Could the claims be true that these methods will lead to stronger math skills in the long run? Don’t we owe it to our kids to investigate?

Last week, I watched the live Twitter feed of the Kansas Legislature debating whether to abandon Common Core State Standards. Common Core is a set of national educational standards established to provide guidelines for what kids need to know. Educating kids according to these standards is optional on a national level and states have the choice to adopt these standards — or not.

Twitter provided a little window into the decision-making process, including the fact that many of the representatives didn’t seem to understand what Common Core is, the difference between standards and curriculum, and didn’t even seem interested in learning the answers to these truths. It appeared that many of them were blinded by shocking scare tactics, content to go by hearsay — perhaps the video of the woman demonstrating subtraction.

“What are you doing?” my son asked, peering at my screen over my shoulder.

“I’m watching to see if the state of Kansas wants you to be smart or not.” He looked appropriately horrified by my statement. I added, “They’re voting to see if they want to use the tough standards that the rest of the country is using — so your education will be as valuable as education in different areas of the country. Or if Kansas kids need to learn something totally different.”

I could see the gears turning as he wondered if I was making things up — pulling his leg — messing with his mind. I wish I was this time.

Thankfully, enough of our state representatives were able to see through the hogwash. The voted to keep the standards. The Common Core truth is safe — for now, anyway.

This story was originally published March 29, 2016 at 11:08 PM with the headline "Emily Parnell: Separating the wheat from the chaff."