Perhaps there will be a whole new generation of disturbed stalkers mumbling to themselves, but with copies of "Recommended Levels of Insulation" in their trenchcoat pockets instead of "The Catcher In The Rye."
It's Reason #8979458548 to Home School, no matter what the sacrifices.
You wouldn't trust these brain-deadeners with your car keys, your checkbook or your Online Banking password, would you? Why on God's green earth would you trust them with something imcomparably more precious: the mind of your child?
It's Reason #8979458548 to Home School, no matter what the sacrifices.
You wouldn't trust these brain-deadeners with your car keys, your checkbook or your Online Banking password, would you? Why on God's green earth would you trust them with something imcomparably more precious: the mind of your child?
One trashy, worthless book replaced with several worthless books...
With 3 out of 5 governors being Republican, there’s no excuse for their backing this drivel.
Rather, this is the sort of thing Romney could have run against!
“Supporters of the directive argue that it will help pupils to develop the ability to write concisely and factually, which will be more useful in the workplace than a knowledge of Shakespeare.”
I’d argue that a knowledge of Shakespeare will help pupils develop the ability to THINK, which is a prerequisite to writing concisely and factually.
Catcher in the Rye had its issues. To Kill remains one of my top favorite books.
But -
Catcher can be used to really reinforce sexual obsession and stalkiness. It is not about a mentally healthy person, but a snarky jerk. And To Kill can reinforce black on white hatred, although our hero is white, so is are our villains; the victim is black.
So if the teacher teaches the books in a politically correct way, I am not too enthusiastic. If the student is left to discover the author and his text on his own, well and good.
Always hated that book.
Too bad they are not replacing it with something decent.
Don't see why this notion, as such, is inherently bad.
There is a lot of great writing in histories, biographies, etc.
The problem, however, is likely to be not the fiction/nonfiction issue. It's the books they will approve in both categories. No dead white males need apply.
“Government is a parasite — a cancer that by nature tries to spread deeper into society. Those who want to run others’ lives won’t give up and start minding their own business.” -Harry Browne
“Schools have not necessarily much to do with education... they are mainly institutions of control, where basic habits must be inculcated in the young. Education is quite different and has little place in school.” -Winston Churchill
Education should aim at destroying free will so that after pupils are thus schooled they will be incapable throughout the rest of their lives of thinking or acting otherwise than as their school masters would have wished ... “ —Johann Gotlieb fitche
I am not crying over the removal of Catcher in the Rye (which I thought was pretentious tripe when I read as a teenager back in the day when dinosaurs roamed the Earth), but Recommended Levels of Insulation and the Invasive Plant Inventory as replacements?
Geeze, Louise. I think the objective must be to raise a generation of kids that hate reading. I cannot imagine anything less motivating than assigning bureacrateze to schoolkids.
*Another* reason to homeschool.
If only.
A real shame. I would recommend books like 1984, Animal Farm, Manchild in the Promised Land (contains vulgar language). For my 13 year old, some books mentioned should be on his reading list for next Summer. He is definitely is being brought up NOT to be politically correct.
Other than the propaganda, I don’t see a problem here. I got through school without having to read “Catcher in the Rye.” Thank goodness.
For some reason, English lit classes select only the most excruciatingly boring books as “literature.” Why not let the kids read Sherlock Holmes stories, “The Scottish Chiefs,” “Kidnapped,” “Beau Geste,” or even “Tarzan?” They’re good books, well written, and reasonably entertaining. The kids might actually learn to LIKE reading; something they won’t get from Catcher in the Rye or Earth-First propaganda.
Never cared for “Catcher in the Rye” - I found it incredibly boring. I do love “To kill a Mockingbird” - in fact I read it again last week! It’s a delightful story about growing up in rural Alabama during the depression. The only downside is that the story was interrupted by some sort of trial. (The trial part was boring, so I skipped over it).
I think this is a tongue-in-cheek article. A brief look at the Common Core State Standards Initiative home page (http://www.corestandards.org/) doesn’t bear out any of the way-out elements from the article. The Telegraph was having a little fun.
Replacing mid-20th century fiction with early 21st-century fiction