Our role isn’t to produce test takers

To the Editor:

One of the members of our “Common Core Team” recently asked for my opinion: “What should a graduating senior know, understand and be able to do when they graduate?” This could include projects, content or written assignments.

This was my initial response: “Seniors should have research and critical thinking skills whereby they could support their assertions and opinions with documented evidence as they consider alternate points of view and different perspectives.”

Although I firmly believed in what I was saying, there was something else gnawing at me. The real needs of graduating seniors are that of social skills: personal responsibility, self-discipline, responsibilities as members of a community, relationships and responsibilities to colleagues and authority figures, ethical and moral awareness, dress and language, and attitudes toward learning and education in general.

Although such ephemeral qualities and attitudes cannot be easily assessed, they end up being more important than all the results on standardized tests. Academic skills are certainly important, but the kind of citizens we produce is the real common core.

Larry Hoffner, LaGuardia HS