Skills developed in class are more important than content

However, some say that standardizing curriculum is beneficial, as it establishes the foundations of every field. Although the classes may lack in creativity, the skills they are instilling in the students will help them in their daily lives once they begin their 

“In our particular Carlmont demographic community, parents are (highly motivated) and have pushed for more AP classes and demanded all kids have the ‘same educational experiences,’ no matter what teacher. Therefore, teachers have to align the curriculum with each other so that kids and families don’t find it unfair that one kid gets this curriculum and some other kid gets a different one,” Braunstein said.

This idea is echoed in an article by the Borgen Project. They add that standardization is not only useful for children attending the specific school, but also transfer students. Without the structure and consistency, the class would be hard to follow and ultimately hurt the children who are trying to benefit from the education. The uniformity allows the student to quickly jump into the class and reap the true rewards of a well-rounded education.

Although hundreds of formulas are memorized, and thousands of problems are solved, the ultimate goal of a math class is not to memorize the specific equations.

“The biggest thing you get out of math, and it doesn’t really even matter what level you’re taking, is it’s essentially how to problem solve, right? And it’s how you attempt to solve this problem with the stuff you already know when you’re presented with a problem. And I think math is the subject best suited to (developing those skills),” said Michael Skrable, a math teacher.

Science teacher Michal Nozik has a similar philosophy when teaching her students.

“It’s a combination of math in a scientific concept. So it’s not just solving a problem, you can potentially solve a problem in, in science, just from the mathematical point of view, but you won’t necessarily have an understanding of what actually happened, like actually what are the particles doing? What does it look like? So science sort of combines math skills and mathematical critical thinking with a scientific concept into something beyond just the math,” Nozik said.

Traditionally, when people were educated, they drew upon humanity’s collective knowledge and learned to innovate and discover more to add to it. With the advent of personalized smartphones and Google where information is at people’s fingertips, the importance of specific facts is no longer the focus in the curriculum. The particular facts and activities, like many students argue, isn’t useful long-term. Instead, the curriculum is meant to help develop critical thinking, and helping students establish the skills they will need to stay relevant in the workforce of tomorrow.

“Even if you don’t use calculus, lots of people like the fact that when you know calculus, you have to have the mindset to go through a lot and be able to process it,” said Alyssa Higdon, a senior. “It’s not necessarily what you learn, per se, but how your brain develops to learn it all.”