This is my response to the editorial of Nov. 2, “Education should be left to the teachers.” Public education in the United States is just that, publicly funded education. That means those of us who file taxes pay for it. Taxation without representation was one of the big issues we had with the King of England back in the 18th century. The editorial proposes that citizens be taxed, yet be excluded from having input into the development of academic standards for public schools.

This country allows and expects its citizens to be involved in the government. Abraham Lincoln, in his Gettysburg Address, reminded citizens of this when he said, “We have a government of the people, by the people.” To participate effectively, this country must have an educated and informed citizenry. Public education intended to fulfill that need. We are no longer a country in isolation; our educational curriculum must be comparable to that of other countries. We cannot afford to think, or act, differently.

A representative form of government represents its people. I’m not arguing that the United States government works exactly as expected, but the public not only has the right to be involved in public education, they have a responsibility to do so. According to the editorial, “leaving the establishment of … minimum standards to the transient whim of public opinion and passion is dangerous.” I would argue that not incorporating public opinion in the creation of academic standards is the danger. What the editorial is proposing, in effect, is that educational standards should be dictated by those that know more about education than members of the “ignorant citizenry.”

Educational standards, of which there are several, do not promote “inculcating people with facts they can recite on command”; rather, the standards seek to further reasoning abilities, in addition to those pesky facts, such as the alphabet, and the scientific method. Contrary to the editorial, academic skills should be spelled out by the legislature. A unified curriculum is a strong curriculum. The legislature is not a secret society making arbitrary rules and laws to be imposed on the masses. It is a representative body that represents us. If we choose not to be involved in the government, then it is not a government by the people; it would look more like a dictatorship.

The editorial also advocates that students should be exposed to a variety of ideas and be given enough information to evaluate those ideas. Educational standards provide for exposure to broad ideas and the reasoning ability to consider those ideas. The editorial intimates that educational standards are a simple list of facts to be learned. That is simply not true. Educational standards do not negate the need for professional teachers. Teachers will still assign and critique student assignments, write lesson plans and implement the educational standards.

Educational standards were written to broaden our students’ education, not limit it. Standardizing what knowledge should be taught and in what grades would eliminate the disparity now found between districts, cities and states. That would solve the issue of students transferring from one school district to another, and discovering they are ahead of or behind the curriculum in their new school. Colleges and universities could align their curricula with high school standards.

Realize that educational professionals, not politicians, wrote the educational standards that are in consideration for adoption. I would suggest reading the standards and then forming an opinion.