Should there be a national curriculum?

Pro: A national curriculum would raise educational standards to make students competitive with the most advanced students in other countries.

Pro: A national curriculum would ensure that schools in all States would maintain certain standards of excellence in teaching. Teachers and school systems would have higher expectations for their students and aim to generate better results—impart more knowledge and develop the most useful skills in their students.

Con: Teachers will have to inculcate certain values in their students, values that some parents or religious groups or political factions might find objectionable.

Con: There cannot be adequate agreement on the content of a national curriculum.

Con: A national curriculum would lead education toward mediocrity. If a national curriculum created challenges and raised standards, the majority of citizens would resist making greater efforts to meet the higher expectations. The national curriculum would fail because there would be a backlash.

Pro: A national curriculum could expose all students to basic knowledge in all the major fields of academic inquiry. It could open their minds to the rich variety of ideas in the world beyond their local environments.