Qualifications

This paper examines the growth of the standards movement in education and asserts that the standards movement neglects large issues and constructs in a search for a simple, "quick fix " solution. Most of the standards ' attention is centered around the content of the curriculum and little attention is paid to students and teachers. The standards movement is a "top down " endeavor, largely ignoring teacher training, student knowledge, and the nature of educational change. The document reviews today's standards that have been developed in the social studies, who the developers have been, and what might be expected to occur as a result of accepting or promoting such standards. Historical antecedents in social studies standards with the work of J. Franklin Bobbitt at the University of Chicago are noted. The history of standards has been a history of trying to "teacher proof " the right information with such an attempt being both insulting to teachers and doomed to failure. All of the standards are premised on the notion tha