You probably hear this phrase and groan. You think of the fact that elementary math is changing in methods of multiplication or sentence mapping is completely dumb, because you learned it differently, and you turned out okay.

NEWS FLASH: "You" do not represent the entire demographic of students across the United States.

Do you know what Common Core is? Probably not.

Common Core is a way to level the playing field across America in order to make education equal regardless of school district income, or region in which you live. Especially in the sense that kids across America are competing for scholarships and admission to colleges, it is important that we have equal opportunities.

A school district in an inner city, where standardized test scores will determine whether or not they are a credited public school on a year to year basis obviously has less opportunities or advantages than school in a suburb that often attracts higher income families that produce more tax revenue for that school. Why should a kid born in a low income part of America automatically be less entitled to a quality education than a suburban student? Hint- they should not.

Common Core Standards have been implemented in many countries around the world, including France, one of the most successful examples. Unlike what most people think, it does not bring the bar of what students should be leaning to the "lowest common denominator" and it does not barre children from learning more than what the standard is set at, or what the class average is.

The problem with these misconceptions is that sometimes, this does occur. But Common Core is going to take time, perhaps even a generation to fully be effective as it was intended to. Until we see a crop of students go from Pre-Kindergarten through 12th grade with only Common Core Standards, we will not be able to truly assess and fix problems.

Does that make it a poor institution, it so bad that we should throw it away? To that I say, good things take time. We cannot expect to fix the problems we see in education throughout the course of even 4-5 school years. That's unrealistic.

But let me guess, your parent, cousin, sibling, grandma, aunt/uncle is a teacher, and they think Common Core is a waste of time, and ruins the way they have learned how to teach when they were in college.

Common Core is going to require several steps, and several versions of itself to be perfected. Teachers are constantly working with state and federal governments to help improve this system. Is any teacher perfect, and has all the answers? No, of course not, and obviously not on a 50 state basis. People complain that these standards tell teachers what to teach. This is also false. Common Core tells teachers what needs to be covered in a school year. The way teachers go about doing this is up to them, and their own school board.

Some school boards may be handling the Common Core poorly, and ineffectively, thereby deeming this institution worthless, but that is not the fault of the program, it is the fault of the school district.

Open your mind to the endless possibilities of what Common Core Standards can do for students in this nation. Work towards making things better, not remaining stagnant, or complacent. The future of our country lies within our students, it's time we start setting this future up for success.