In schools across the country, traditional literature is being replaced with government informational texts.
It is the result of the Common Core standards
transition
from teaching literature to focusing on government provided
informational documents. “English teachers across the country are trying
to figure out which poetry, short stories and novels might have to be
sacrificed to make room for nonfiction,” The Washington Post reported.
This is not sitting well with some teachers. Jamie Highfill, an
eighth grade English teacher in Fayetteville, Arkansas, said that she
has had to
ditch
“some short stories and a favorite unit on the legends of King Arthur
to make room for essays by Malcolm Gladwell and a chapter from ‘The
Tipping Point.’ Highfill goes on to explain that with the informational
texts, the human connection prominent in literature, isn’t present. She
expressed dismay over the fact that her students are bored and shutting
down. “I’m seeing more behavior problems in my classroom than I’ve ever
seen.”
Perhaps the biggest concern, however, is that these informational
documents could usher in a politicized curriculum. National Review’s
Stanley Kurtz cites the fact that one of Common Core’s suggested texts is
Executive Order 13423: Strengthening Federal Environmental, Energy, and Transportation Management.
Kurtz believes that this particular executive order was chosen because
it “appears to give the imprimatur of the federal government to the
political gospel of ‘sustainability’ and the crusade against global
warming.”
Also included as Common Core recommended reading is a 2009 New Yorker essay on health care which,
Kurtz
notes, "may not explicitly endorse Obamacare, but it certainly leaves
students with the impression that Obamacare is wise policy.” He adds
that, “the potential for political abuse in a curriculum heavy with
government documents and news articles should be obvious.”
It has been
reported
that though the Common Core impetus has so far only targeted English
language arts and math, more subjects will eventually be included. For
instance, Education Week has reported that the “release of a framework
for common standards in social studies had been anticipated at the
annual meeting of the National Council for the Social Studies, in
Seattle last month.”
According to the
Heritage Foundation:
”Since coming to office, the Obama
Administration has been intent on standardizing what is taught at each
grade level in all of the nation’s schools. It has used its flagship
“Race to the Top” competitive grant program to entice states to adopt
the K–12 standards developed by a joint project of the National
Governors Association (NGA) and the Council of Chief State School
Officers (CCSSO). It has also suggested, in its 2009 Blueprint for
Education Reform, that adoption of these common standards could one day
be a qualification for states wanting future Title 1 dollars for
low income schools.
Parents, teachers, and education leaders
along the political spectrum are increasingly raising questions about
the constitutionality and transparency of this joint project, called the
Common Core State Standards Initiative (CCSSI). They are also
expressing concern about the high cost of implementing the standards and
the national tests that will be based on them, as well as the potential
loss of local control of curriculum and instruction.”
The move towards the centralization of education standards
significantly minimizes the amount of important input from parents and
teachers on what children are taught in school. In order to prevent the
encroachment of federal control of schools, states must reject the
impending national education standards.
