Good standards are good. Bad standards are bad. The current standards are more towards the good end of the spectrum, at least IMHO. But they do have the sid

Good standards are good. Bad standards are bad. The current standards are more towards the good end of the spectrum, at least IMHO. But they do have the side effect of keeping public school teachers from using bottom-up, student-directed techniques. The kids and the teacher are going to be evaluated by the standards, so the lessons have to be top down and at a very fast pace, or there would be no time to teach what the standards require. Maybe a net win, maybe not, but we should at least be aware there are trade offs.