What is the first thing you picture when you hear the word rhetoric? Most people I asked recently had one of two images in mind. At best, people thought of a compelling commercial. At the worst, people envisioned a slick politician either manipulating an audience through smooth talk or lying outright.

One can hardly avoid the topic of Common Core curriculum these days. Common Core has become shorthand for the Common Core State Standards, which were proposed as a way to make sure that American public schools were preparing American students to compete in a technologically complex and global economy.