Catholic scholars blast Common Core in letter to U.S. bishops

Washington Post ^ | 11/2/2013 | VALERIE STRAUSS

[markomalley]

About 130 Catholic scholars around the country have signed a hard-hitting letter to U.S. Catholic bishops denouncing the Common Core State Standards as doing “a grave disservice to Catholic education” and urging the bishops to ignore the standards or, in the more than 100 dioceses that have already adopted them, to give them up.

The letter was sent by Gerard V. Bradley, a law professor at the University of Notre Dame, to every Catholic bishop in the country, with 132 scholars from various disciplines and institutions signing on. It blasts the standards, saying they are “contrary to tradition and academic studies on reading and human formation,” and accuses Core proponents of seeking to “transform ‘literacy’ into a ’critical’ skill set, at the expense of sustained and heartfelt encounters with great works of literature.” (That last part is apparently a reference to suggestions by Core opponents that the standards require English teachers to dramatically cut back on teaching literature, which isn’t true.)

The letter, which calls the Core ”a recipe for standardized workforce preparation,” cites criticism of the standards by academics including James Milgram, professor emeritus of mathematics at Stanford University, and Sandra Stotsky, professor emerita of education at the University of Arkansas. They have both testified before various state legislatures against the Core, saying the standards aren’t strong enough to prepare students for college. Supporters of the Core argue otherwise.

Here’s the text of the letter:

[FrdmLvr]

Good luck with that. Our group tried to keep Vision 2000 (Catholic version of Goals 2000) out of the Catholic schools but the Archdiocese refused to hear us. Called us right-wing quacks.

[Excellence]

If you like the Western Cannon you can keep the Western Cannon-or not.

[Jeff Chandler]

[pie_eater]

Baltimore catholic schools have already signed on to common core.

[Nevadan]

I know a 2nd grader who attends a private Catholic school that has adopted the Common Core curriculum. In her reading book she had a chapter on the subject of “scarcity”. You know how there is simply not enough “whatever” to go around. It didn't get to the part where she will be told that Americans are selfish for being prosperous and using a huge chunk of the world's goods, but no doubt that is coming in a later grade.

[Citizen Soldier]

I don’t teach Language Arts or Math, and I just ignore the common core. I am at a diocese school. I don’t see why I need to spend time on fictional history reading books when I should be teaching and they should be reading only real historical and primary source documents.

[Excellence]

I did screw that up didn’t I? Funny. That’s okay, I needed a good laugh.

[vladimir998]

Jeff Chandler did give you a cannon but it isn’t western. It’s Russian. So you cancel each other out there. :)

[Jeff Chandler]

Excellence’s Western cannon was substandard according to Obama’s guidelines. This new government approved cannon has the essential features he would demand if he knew as much as Obama.

[Elsiejay]

Recently my local School District Superintendent presented a talk on Common Core standards, stating that literary reading (i.e., not textbook) is to be solely non-fiction.

I hope parents encourage a wider scope in book selection for home reading. There is much of value to be learned from carefully selected fiction, more than just the dry facts of events.

[ronnietherocket3]

The letter, which calls the Core ”a recipe for standardized workforce preparation,” cites criticism of the standards by academics including James Milgram, professor emeritus of mathematics at Stanford University, and Sandra Stotsky, professor emerita of education at the University of Arkansas. They have both testified before various state legislatures against the Core, saying the standards aren’t strong enough to prepare students for college. Supporters of the Core argue otherwise.

The above links are to software articles.

[FrdmLvr]

Very good! I used to teach in the public school and I would ignore most of the curriculum I was supposed to teach. I had my own lesson plans. It was getting increasingly hard to do that, however.

[vladimir998]

“If you like your cannon, you can keep your cannon. If you like your fodder, you can keep your fodder.” (B. Obama)

[Excellence]

I actually own a set of the Great Books of the Western World, but they are, sadly, in storage except for the first six volumes.
You guy are not going to let me live this down, are you?

[RBStealth]

I have a nice set of encyclopedias I’d like to sell you

[vladimir998]

What I wish I had the money and shelf space for is this: http://www.amazon.com/English-Dictionary-published-University-Hardcover/dp/B00A3F6DPS/ref=sr_1_6?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1383425487&sr=1-6&keywords=oxford+english+dictionary+20+volume+set It looks like it is now out-of-print. That’s a pity. I know they’re working on the next edition, but that one will never end up on paper because of the enormous cost.

[COBOL2Java]

I understand a canon regular took a picture of that cannon with his Canon while discussing the Taoist Canon...

[Excellence]

There was a time they were giving away miniature versions with an included magnifying glass with a book club subscription. Good luck finding one now. And the subscription is outrageous. You can sign up to receive the word of the day.

[narses]

“Your ancestors ate the manna in the desert, but they died;
this is the bread that comes down from heaven so that one may eat it and not die.

I am the living bread that came down from heaven; whoever eats this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give is my flesh for the life of the world.”
The Jews quarreled among themselves, saying, “How can this man give us (his) flesh to eat?”

Jesus said to them, “Amen, amen, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you do not have life within you.
Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him on the last day.

For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink

Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me and I in him.
Just as the living Father sent me and I have life because of the Father, so also the one who feeds on me will have life because of me.

This is the bread that came down from heaven. Unlike your ancestors who ate and still died, whoever eats this bread will live forever.”

These things he said while teaching in the synagogue in Capernaum
Then many of his disciples who were listening said, “This saying is hard; who can accept it?”

Since Jesus knew that his disciples were murmuring about this, he said to them, “Does this shock you?

What if you were to see the Son of Man ascending to where he was before?
It is the spirit that gives life, while the flesh is of no avail. The words I have spoken to you are spirit and life.

But there are some of you who do not believe.” Jesus knew from the beginning the ones who would not believe and the one who would betray him.
And he said, “For this reason I have told you that no one can come to me unless it is granted him by my Father.”

As a result of this, many (of) his disciples returned to their former way of life and no longer accompanied him

Jesus then said to the Twelve, “Do you also want to leave?”

Simon Peter answered him, “Master, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.

We have come to believe and are convinced that you are the Holy One of God.”
Jesus answered them, “Did I not choose you twelve? Yet is not one of you a devil?”

He was referring to Judas, son of Simon the Iscariot; it was he who would betray him, one of the Twelve.” [John 6: 49-71]