I have a strong interest in education; in fact, I am currently attending college to earn my bachelor's degree in liberal studies, in hopes of becoming an elementary school teacher in the near future. This year I signed up to volunteer as a room mom in my daughter's second grade classroom to gain more hands-on experience and really understand if this is the career I see myself wanting and having. Something I didn't realize until I became more hands-on in a school setting is the effects the “Common Core Curriculum” has on children. For the first time in our nation's history, beginning with the 2013-2014 school year, more than 90 percent of public schools will operate under the same learning standards for literacy and math, from kindergarten through 12th grade, to become “college and career ready” (Nichols, p.36). At first glance, adopting the Common Core Curriculum may seem like the ideal solution considering that “having the same standards in all states will help students get a good education, even if they change schools or move to a different state” ( Core, Common). But what concerns me most is that children, who generally perform well on tests and in the classroom, are now facing challenges due to common core exam questions that are not at an age-appropriate level, which I could add are provided to children several times during the year. All of this is to the detriment of children and, furthermore, not only takes away any creativity or talent that children may possess and may never know what they are capable of, but also undermines any independence and creativity of teachers. The common core requires higher standards, standards that should provide children with a deeper understanding of… middle of paper… needs, in order to live their unique lives. Schools must encourage creativity and be flexible in how they operate (Williams p. 24). It is difficult to blame the curriculum, tests, students, or teachers alone for the difficulties encountered in the newly adopted common core. It is also difficult to ignore all the documentation and evidence of the harm done to children and schools by the newly adopted curriculum. Our only hope for our future means that we must rethink the fundamental principles on which we educate our children. Perhaps the core curriculum doesn't need to be distributed, but instead needs to be strengthened. If Common Core is to continue to be implemented in our school system, districts must adapt their curriculum not only to better fit what the tests require, but also to not rob our children of what makes them an individual, the creativity..