It’s 8 p.m. Do you know what your children are doing?

That oft-spoken phrase beckoning parents to check on the whereabouts and goings-on of their children has surely reminded parents to take a more advisory role through the years.

Now, it seems we need one for daylight hours. It’s 8 a.m. Do you know what your children are learning?

This year, Maine schools, as well as districts nationwide, are dealing with a new education paradigm, known as the Common Core State Standards Initiative. Many schools will be holding public information sessions to explain to parents what the Common Core is. And, for sure, there will be a lot of discussion about the new guidelines, such as an event in Saco next week organized by those suspicious of the new standards.

So what is the Common Core? So far, 45 states including Maine have adopted the standards, which, simply put, dictate how the subjects of math and English Language Arts are taught and what students are expected to know at each grade level.

According to the impressively comprehensive website, www.corestandards.org, “The standards are designed to ensure that students graduating from high school are prepared to enter credit bearing entry courses in two- or four-year college programs or enter the workforce. The standards are clear and concise to ensure that parents, teachers and students have a clear understanding of the expectations in reading, writing, speaking and listening, language and mathematics in school.”

Adoption of a common set of educational standards is an important step, since college deans around the country complain that incoming freshmen are ill prepared to handle the rigors of a college education. Many college students never make it to graduation, partly because they get derailed due to lack of preparation. Something needed to be done to ensure students can succeed at the next level.

Nationalizing curriculum, which is basically what the Common Core does, is also seen as a plus for students who move from one state to another during their academic career.

But the new standard has its downsides, as well. The federalization of education may streamline the process, but is seen by many as stripping away local control. States, and towns even, will have little say in what their students learn as they cede control to the federal level, which sets the guidelines.

In reading through the new guidelines, none of it is shocking. What’s more shocking is how we got here. Failing schools, despite myriad attempts by state and federal governments to improve education, are still failing – even with such comprehensive overhauls such as Maine Learning Results, No Child Left Behind and Race to the Top.

So, will Common Core finally do the trick? We hope so, but we’ve also heard it all before, with each new curriculum tweak. To the layman, the last 10 to 15 years, ever since President George W. Bush introduced No Child Left Behind, has been rife with education overhauls, which only seem to benefit name recognition for educational leaders, rather than result in any scholastic improvement for students.

It also seems apparent after all these years that these numerous and major guideline overhauls aren’t doing the trick. So what’s the problem? That question really should be, “Who’s the problem?” It’s not necessarily the teacher or administrator’s fault when little Johnny and Sally fail to learn their multiplication tables or how to conjugate a verb. To a great extent, it’s their parents’ fault.

While it’s common to blame cultural influences urging students to prize athletics and socializing above scholastics, parents, somehow, have long avoided the spotlight when it comes to who’s to blame for America’s sagging report cards. Teachers get fired en masse or have their pay tied to test scores, but parents don’t share in the blame game. Parents, not teachers, are the ones who allow their kids to watch TV when they should be doing homework. Parents allow them to take days off when they should be in school. Parents display poor discipline in a multitude of areas, which rubs off on their kids. Parents in many cases are underperforming in their own lives, so should we expect their kids to be any different?

The culture of blaming school officials and teachers first needs to change before any curriculum tweak is going to make a difference. If it doesn’t change, expect an overhaul another five years down the road.

–John Balentine, managing editor