Change, of course, can be good or bad, but — either way — incumbents almost always fear it (and, in this case, we the parents, are among the incumbents). Think of it this way: If you are a mom or a dad who has invested a dozen years in a public education, learning the old way of doing math, you’re hardly an impartial observer. You have a vested interest in stasis.

In politics, emotion almost always trumps logic, and it’s easy to understand how this issue taps into all sorts of fears and insecurities. (“What good is a better way of doing math if I can’t help my kids with their homework?”)

So, putting the Common Core baggage aside, it’s worth asking a larger question: What if there really are better ways to teach our kids? Would we cast them aside because they make us uncomfortable — because they’re different from the way we were raised?