Salinger and Harper to be replaced by Invasive Plant Inventory in US school curriculum

By 2014, 46 out of 50 states will adopt new curriculum which favors "informational texts" over classic literature

rt.com

A new curriculum for public schools across the United States will soon make it mandatory for at least 70 percent of all assigned books to be works of non-fiction, eliminating classic works that have influenced great thinkers for centuries.
By 2014, schools in 46 out of 50 states will have adopted this new curriculum, which favors “informational texts” approved by the Common Core State Standards to prepare students for the workplace.

(visit the link for the full news article)


Related News Links:
classiclit.about.com
www.wannalearn.com
Full Books
Core Curriculum
ASCD
Obama bribing schools

Many classic works of fiction will soon be removed from the curriculum of most schools in America, further reducing the influences of culture and creative thinking in favor of "straight from the government" fact books designed to teach everything needed to be a productive worker in the new workplace.

Instead of rambling on about this i will just add this quote, which really says it all

“English is the only compulsory class where students are encouraged to think differently, to be imaginative and creative, and if we take fiction out of the English curriculum, where are our kids going to get that?” said curriculum and instruction graduate research assistant Shea Kerkhoff in an interview with Technician Online.

I am not gonna rant on about government mind control or the fall of American education (assuming it COULD fall farther) but instead will simply list some great ways to encourage your own kids (or yourself) to read...

Three of the links listed above contain a wealth of information about classic literature, and the last one includes actual books like The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, Anna Karenina, Beowulf and Dracula!

The others deal with Core Curriculum and associated stuff.

rt.com
(visit the link for the full news article)

...and the IQ of the nation is set to drop another 2-3 points or so over the next decade due solely to this policy.

WTF??

Yaeh, maybe they should and it's call the METRIC SYSTEM.

This is the reality.

Not just in the US but in all major countries around the world.

The government doesn't want us to read about the rich history of our ancestors but feed us with more and more brainwashing crap.

reply to post by Thorneblood


That's pretty funny...scroll down to the sixth paragraph...

But books such as JD Salinger’s Catcher in the Rue and Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird will no longer be the preferred reading assigned in US schools. Classic novels by authors including Mark Twain, Jane Austen, Fyodor Dostoyevksy, Shakespeare, Edgar Allan Poe and Ernest Hemingway could soon be forgotten and replaced with textbook-style history books and other works of nonfiction put together by government departments or research groups.

reply to post by Thorneblood


This is par for the course, and pathetic by every reasonable metric. Schooling is nothing but training little minions to be big minions for the already rich, and has been going on for some time, but continues to get worse and worse over the years and decades.

Education is a travesty in the US. Its beyond a joke.

Most of these books exist in the public domain and are free online or dirt cheap in RL....these are also many of the books kids will no longer be MADE to read at school. Time to build up your e-libraries here
Public Domain Books - that means FREE

The Adventures of Tom Sawyer
MARK TWAIN

The Aeneid
VIRGIL

Agamemnon
AESCHYLUS

The Age of Innocence
EDITH WHARTON

Anna Karenina
LEO TOLSTOY

Anne of Green Gables
L. M. MONTGOMERY

Anthem
AYN RAND

The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin
BENJAMIN FRANKLIN

The Awakening
KATE CHOPIN

As someone who works in the educational software industry I can tell you the push for all states to use the Common Core State Standards is huge. It's supposed to be our response to the US' pitiful performance in Math and Science, and to make kids more career and college ready. But as with most of our country's initiatives it throws the baby out with the bathwater in certain circumstances.

A move from literature to "informational texts" is simply a blunt admission that our schools no longer teach students how to think but only what to think.

Never mind that Orwell guy. Just memorize these figures.

hmmm good point...

This should help explain to anyone who doesn't want to read (ironic huh!)

My mother taught her children to read before they were three or four years old, and they've read all their lives. And the books I'd put into schools aren't there anyway (Robert Anton Wilson's books come to mind).

So as the song goes "teach your children well", because reading is for a lifetime (I pity the poor fool - literally - who can't read).

The idea behind this is that you need the skills to read non fiction texts in daily life, and speaking as a reading tea her, it's generally easier to teach fiction. But we have to have kids pass those standardized tests, so that's where we're heading.

This upsets me, though. I loved my literature classes....so much more interesting and it sparks creativity.

Sometimes, I just want to throw my hands up and give up on our school system.

One of my favorite novels growing up that has shaped the way I view the world that we live in.

"Recommended Levels of Insulation by the EPA."

Suggested books included works by the Environmental Protection Agency, like the Recommended Levels of Insulation, as well as the Invasive Plant Inventory by California’s Invasive Plant Council.

Don't even get me started with "Invasive Plant Inventory". That story always gets me choked up.

In my continuing effort to encourage reading beyond the classroom i offer this for all Manga/Comic Fans or young readers.

These are graphic novels of classic literature, historical biographies and works of shakespeare.
SelfMadeHero

Casually wonders why you people insist on public schooling anymore.

Homeschool, or, if you don't think you're capable, private school. Yes, you can homeschool while both parents work.

reply to post by Zarniwoop


HAH!
I weep like a little girl whenever i read this ...Social Rhythms of Bipolar Spectrum Disorders

Firstly, here are the standards if anyone is interested in reading what they really say.
Common Core Standards

I'd also like to say I am a teacher and I have had a little experience with Common Core as my school is going to implement next year. I urge you to read the standards, especially if you are concerned about what your child will be learning.

There are standards for informational text, but also for literature. The literature standards require many things, including poetry and at least one play by Shakespeare in the 11-12 grade standards. Just a quick scan shows me that more than 3 of the 10 standards for 11-12 grade require reading poetry, drama, and stories.

The informational text standards for 11-12 grade also require 10 standards. One of which requires students to read and understand various documents such as the constitution. None of the standards say students are required to read "Invasive Plant Inventory" as the op link suggests.

Now, if no text is specifically required for a given standard then it is up to the school or classroom teacher to choose how to teach that standards. Depending on the state, I suppose. If the classroom teacher decides to use To Kill a Mocking Bird in order to teach a specific standard, they are allowed to do so.

Honestly, I ask that you read the standards, preferably given by your own state, before worrying that schools have thrown out literature and are only going to teach informational text.

I'd also like to say that a good majority of those informational text standards will probably be done in science and history.

For example, I teach 4th grade and one of the math standards is about measurement conversion. This is taught during science, rather than math since the topic blurs the line of the two subjects. The standard is still being taught, but not specifically during math time.

So, as I said above, one 11-12 grade standard is reading texts such as the constitution. This wouldn't need to be taught in an English class. It could be taught in a history class.

I'm a teacher, and have to say that the Common Core is designed to INCREASE rigor in our schools.

The previous poster is correct: much of the emphasis on informational reading skills will come from the content areas, such as science and social studies. Literature analysis is expected at every grade level, and even the little ones will be expected to do textual analyses of fiction. Also, within the common core there is less emphasis on rote factual recall and more emphasis on critical thinking.

I'd have to say emphatically that all of the gloom and doom portrayed in this thread about the common core curriculum is being preached by people who are making wild assumptions, not based on fact.

Do a little reading about it (maybe actually READ the standards yourself!) and then discuss.