Many policymakers, curriculum specialists, teachers and administrators, bloggers and other commentators have raised serious questions about the Common Core State Standards. One set of questions asks whether states and districts have the money for professional development, curriculum materials, planning time, and other logistics that would be needed to implement the standards. Another set of questions ask about the content of the Common Core State Standards Initiative and where it might lead: Is this really what ought to be required of all young people: Is it enough or too much to ask of students? What is it's purpose? Who created it and what was their motivation? Despite the claim that such standards are not "the curriculum" is it possible they could eventually become one by squeezing everything else out just as they have replaced most state standards? The first set of questions is extremely important, as financial issues will probably determine the extent to which these new standards have any chance at genuine implementation. The second set deserves even more attention because requiring anything of "all" young people is a very serious matter involving fundamental questions about what is of crucial importance for them and the larger society.