Who should decide what students learn?

Who should determine what students learn in the classroom?  With so much focus recently on advancements in educational technology and alternative learning environments, little attention has been paid to determining what students should actually learn.  As recently as this past week, the focus of the education world did an about face and some attention was paid to that very basic, but extremely important question.

The issue began last week when Governor Niki Haley provided her support for a bill in the South Carolina legislature that aims to block the use of the Common Core Standards for students in the state she leads.  According to the letter sent by Governor Haley to the South Carolina legislature, she believes that local government should retain as much control as possible, which includes determining the educational objectives of the students in her state.

For Haley, this raises three major issues.  First, South Carolina has already joined 45 states across the US in adopting the Common Core Standards.  Second, educators in the state of South Carolina are largely in favor of the Common Core.  Third, many parents and legislators disagree with this move by the governor.

So perhaps an even bigger question, than the one proposed at the beginning of this article, is how will all of this play out?  If the state of South Carolina ultimately decides to reverse course and reject the Common Core Standards, is it possible that other states might follow suit?  If so, how many..... and what might the ramifications be for new educational technologies that are geared toward tying the Common Core Standards into the learning experience?  More importantly, what effects might this ultimately have on our students?