Schools in America are to drop classic books such as Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird and JD Salinger’s Catcher in the Rye from their curriculum in favour of ‘informational texts’. American literature classics are to be replaced by insulation manuals and plant inventories in US classrooms by 2014.
A new school curriculum which will affect 46 out of 50 states will make it compulsory for at least 70 per cent of books studied to be non-fiction, in an effort to ready pupils for the workplace. Books such as JD Salinger’s Catcher in the Rye and Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird will be replaced by “informational texts” approved by the Common Core State Standards. Suggested non-fiction texts include Recommended Levels of Insulation by the the US Environmental Protection Agency, and the Invasive Plant Inventory, by California’s Invasive Plant Council.
Ha! And you thought little Johnny has a bad case of ADD now!
The new educational standards have the backing of the influential National Governors’ Association and the Council of Chief State School Officers, and are being part-funded by a grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. 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.
Seriously, I’m holding out hope that this some kind of sick joke.
Oopsie!
* No link to original article
* Only link in article points to non-existent page in dvorak.org (404 error)
Can fix, please?
Found the link:
http://telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/booknews/9729383/Catcher-in-the-Rye-dropped-from-US-school-curriculum.html
It’s the PC thing to do. Sooner or later they’re going to ban C. Columbus and George Washington. They both are reported to have prayed and they both did things which aren’t PC according to Liberals/atheists/Marxists thus they can’t be allowed. It would corrupt the kiddies minds.
Yea, JD Salinger is part of the religious freedoms that liberal elites are trying suppress in Texas.
Captain, I see what you mean, republican religious freedom movement.
While Columbus shouldn’t be banned since he is a part of American History, the real truth about him should be told.
Columbus didn’t “discover” the Americas, not even for the Europeons. And he doesn’t deserve a Wal-Mart Sale event.
Nice pic from the movie. That scene exemplifies the self-effacing character of Atticus. As does the entire movie actually.
If they ban FICTION they must get rid of the Bible as well !!!
The fundies would argue that all physics books should be banned since they are about things like the Theory of Relativity or the Theory of Gravity as if there was any doubt about it, and if there is any doubt about it, you can’t teach it,
Give the kids something to study where there is absolutely no doubt: history and religious studies. (Bwahahahaha! I kill myself. :-))
The libraries will be filled with wonderful technical tomes like: Engineering Weights and Measures or Structure and Construction of Cantilever Bridges Over Running Fresh Water.
Stuff that nobody will have the skill to criticize, or even read…
Doubt if Salinger is allowed in public school libraries in Texas, now. Had a friend with a bookstore raided in TX and they took away copies of Pope John’s Pacem en Terris. Book banning has always been a conservative hobby in the U.S. Trying to blame anyone left of Ron Paul is a red herring.
Republicans own the “think of the children” gambit – though they stole it from the fundies.
Myth: The Standards don’t have enough emphasis on fiction/literature.
Fact: The Standards require certain critical content for all students, including: classic myths and stories from around the world, America’s Founding Documents, foundational American literature, and Shakespeare. Appropriately, the remaining crucial decisions about what content should be taught are left to state and local determination. In addition to content coverage, the Standards require that students systematically acquire knowledge in literature and other disciplines through reading, writing, speaking, and listening.
You lotus-eaters obviously have no idea how interesting “Recommended Levels of Insulation” can be.
I found the sequel, R-Values Of Construction Materiel Combined and Layered In Laminates As Used In Farm Outbuildings, to be a real page-turner.
I won’t give any spoilers, but the section on essential venting of porcine stall effluent through sluicing was just riveting.
Manuals akin to those were required reading when I consulted for the Canadian Egg marketing board. (Did you know that chicken sexing was a good paying job, until the development of scanning cameras capable of sufficient resolution. Human eyes just can’t meet the volume of chickens to be sexed. :-))
Just for shits and giggles I figured I’d track down how many degrees of separation there really was between the premise of the article – and the Gates Foundation:
Their grant to a body separate from the CCCSS group was for a program to “produce a common metadata schema to identify learning resources that complement Common Core State Standards”.
Gasp. How frightening. Ab’t 4 degrees of separation.
Hell, I graduated school without ever having to read either of those two books. Couldn’t dodge “War and Peace” though.
They are both great books. Even now.
Too true. Great books.
I wouldn’t worry about it. Training for the workplace? For what jobs?!? They’ll all be in Asia by the next generation.
Top 100 banned or challenged books, yep they’re on there. The more things change the more they stay the same.
1. Harry Potter (series), by J.K. Rowling
2. Alice series, by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor
3. The Chocolate War, by Robert Cormier
4. And Tango Makes Three, by Justin Richardson/Peter Parnell
5. Of Mice and Men, by John Steinbeck
6. I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, by Maya Angelou
7. Scary Stories (series), by Alvin Schwartz
8. His Dark Materials (series), by Philip Pullman
9. ttyl; ttfn; l8r g8r (series), by Lauren Myracle
10. The Perks of Being a Wallflower, by Stephen Chbosky
11. Fallen Angels, by Walter Dean Myers
12. It’s Perfectly Normal, by Robie Harris
13. Captain Underpants (series), by Dav Pilkey
14. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, by Mark Twain
15. The Bluest Eye, by Toni Morrison
16. Forever, by Judy Blume
17. The Color Purple, by Alice Walker
18. Go Ask Alice, by Anonymous
19. Catcher in the Rye, by J.D. Salinger
20. King and King, by Linda de Haan
21. To Kill A Mockingbird, by Harper Lee
22. Gossip Girl (series), by Cecily von Ziegesar
23. The Giver, by Lois Lowry
24. In the Night Kitchen, by Maurice Sendak
25. Killing Mr. Griffen, by Lois Duncan
26. Beloved, by Toni Morrison
27. My Brother Sam Is Dead, by James Lincoln Collier
28. Bridge To Terabithia, by Katherine Paterson
29. The Face on the Milk Carton, by Caroline B. Cooney
30. We All Fall Down, by Robert Cormier
31. What My Mother Doesn’t Know, by Sonya Sones
32. Bless Me, Ultima, by Rudolfo Anaya
33. Snow Falling on Cedars, by David Guterson
34. The Earth, My Butt, and Other Big, Round Things, by Carolyn Mackler
35. Angus, Thongs, and Full Frontal Snogging, by Louise Rennison
36. Brave New World, by Aldous Huxley
37. It’s So Amazing, by Robie Harris
38. Arming America, by Michael Bellasiles
39. Kaffir Boy, by Mark Mathabane
40. Life is Funny, by E.R. Frank
41. Whale Talk, by Chris Crutcher
42. The Fighting Ground, by Avi
43. Blubber, by Judy Blume
44. Athletic Shorts, by Chris Crutcher
45. Crazy Lady, by Jane Leslie Conly
46. Slaughterhouse-Five, by Kurt Vonnegut
47. The Adventures of Super Diaper Baby: The First Graphic Novel by George Beard and Harold Hutchins, the creators of Captain Underpants, by Dav Pilkey
48. Rainbow Boys, by Alex Sanchez
49. One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, by Ken Kesey
50. The Kite Runner, by Khaled Hosseini
51. Daughters of Eve, by Lois Duncan
52. The Great Gilly Hopkins, by Katherine Paterson
53. You Hear Me?, by Betsy Franco
54. The Facts Speak for Themselves, by Brock Cole
55. Summer of My German Soldier, by Bette Green
56. When Dad Killed Mom, by Julius Lester
57. Blood and Chocolate, by Annette Curtis Klause
58. Fat Kid Rules the World, by K.L. Going
59. Olive’s Ocean, by Kevin Henkes
60. Speak, by Laurie Halse Anderson
61. Draw Me A Star, by Eric Carle
62. The Stupids (series), by Harry Allard
63. The Terrorist, by Caroline B. Cooney
64. Mick Harte Was Here, by Barbara Park
65. The Things They Carried, by Tim O’Brien
66. Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry, by Mildred Taylor
67. A Time to Kill, by John Grisham
68. Always Running, by Luis Rodriguez
69. Fahrenheit 451, by Ray Bradbury
70. Harris and Me, by Gary Paulsen
71. Junie B. Jones (series), by Barbara Park
72. Song of Solomon, by Toni Morrison
73. What’s Happening to My Body Book, by Lynda Madaras
74. The Lovely Bones, by Alice Sebold
75. Anastasia (series), by Lois Lowry
76. A Prayer for Owen Meany, by John Irving
77. Crazy: A Novel, by Benjamin Lebert
78. The Joy of Gay Sex, by Dr. Charles Silverstein
79. The Upstairs Room, by Johanna Reiss
80. A Day No Pigs Would Die, by Robert Newton Peck
81. Black Boy, by Richard Wright
82. Deal With It!, by Esther Drill
83. Detour for Emmy, by Marilyn Reynolds
84. So Far From the Bamboo Grove, by Yoko Watkins
85. Staying Fat for Sarah Byrnes, by Chris Crutcher
86. Cut, by Patricia McCormick
87. Tiger Eyes, by Judy Blume
88. The Handmaid’s Tale, by Margaret Atwood
89. Friday Night Lights, by H.G. Bissenger
90. A Wrinkle in Time, by Madeline L’Engle
91. Julie of the Wolves, by Jean Craighead George
92. The Boy Who Lost His Face, by Louis Sachar
93. Bumps in the Night, by Harry Allard
94. Goosebumps (series), by R.L. Stine
95. Shade’s Children, by Garth Nix
96. Grendel, by John Gardner
97. The House of the Spirits, by Isabel Allende
98. I Saw Esau, by Iona Opte
99. Are You There, God? It’s Me, Margaret, by Judy Blume
100. America: A Novel, by E.R. Frank
http://tinyurl.com/7t7333u
What an excellent reading list!!
“A Wrinkle in Time, by Madeline L’Engle”
WTF? What possible reason to block this book?
Never mind.
Or Captain Underpants?
Somewhere in the Wrinkle in Time series the protagonists visited and resisted a world of government/social compliance where everybody did the exact same thing at the exact same time. The item I remember was where there was one kid in the driveway of every house in the neighborhood bouncing a ball in sync, with the one kid who botched the action it looking horrified at his non-compliance.
Reason enough for Authoritarians to want it banned as an example of what they strive to achieve.
Those books aren’t blocked. No books are blocked by the Common Core.
This is just another alarmist Dvorak entry. It’s driving me away from the site.
Don’t let the door hit you in the ass.
The school district I went to never inflicted Catcher in the Rye on us as a requirement, and a number of the books were presented to us on TVs in video format from movies and made for TV dramas.
Some of the traditional “classic” literature’s only real value today is not the story, but the window into the past that they depict in general terms some of the mindsets and life styles, and generally how Life Was Back Then.
Trying to blame this on Bill Gates is foolish. It is the Obama Administration that is pushing the Common Core on states, despite federal law to the contrary. What the article misses is that one of the replacement texts is an executive order issued by Obama. I am not making this up.
Oh yes you are making it up. I just looked and none of Obama’s executive orders do this. You really shouldn’t make things up that are so easy to check.
No silly, it’s not Obama’s executive order that put this into place, Obama’s executive order is the new recommended literature that school kids should be reading!
46 out of 50. I wonder who the 4 states are who told them to stuff it.
Not the good, people loving Democrats of California. They’d rather have kids read about “facts” than great literature that shaped the country. And book burning is a Republican thing, eh? Damn those backwards Republicans that run the state of California! Oh wait…
Texas is one. Alaska is another.
That’s enough reason to support CCS.
Probably Mein Kampf as ‘informational texts’. Or Agenda 21?
“Columbus didn’t “discover” the Americas, not even for the Europeons. And he doesn’t deserve a Wal-Mart Sale event.”
Yes, he does. He may not have discovered America, but he set off the chain of events that led to the formation of the greatest nation mankind has ever seen. A nation, that for a while, showed the rest of the world the right way to live and pointed mankind in the right direction. Not so much now, of course, since the nation is slowly being unmade and de-evolved.
I get so tired of the alarmist entries on Dvorak Uncensored. McCullough is one of the worst.
I’m a school librarians and well-aware of the Common Core Standards.
It is true that the CCS puts an strong emphasis on reading and understanding information materials but this is not a ban on literature.
Unless there is a physical shelf-space problem, no fiction will need to be removed. For starters, much informational materials is electronic.
I, personally, think that an emphasis on reading for information is long overdue.
Although I have my concerns about the new standards, Catcher in the Rye is safe.
You’re a school librarians? If true, your grammar and spelling are atrocious.
Point made.
GregAllen – Is it totally lost on you that I don’t write the articles that I post and then link to?
Well, our educational system is shot, anyway. This can’t make it any worse.
But – to ready them for the workplace? What workplace? How about this?
Lawn Mowing
House Cleaning
Burger Flipping
Basic Chinese
Our educational system is not shot.
But if Americans all become defeatist like you, it will surely be.
Been to California lately?
These are all novels, all about people that never existed, the people that read them it makes them unhappy with their own lives. Makes them want to live in other ways they can never really be.
These novels help kids develop a sense of themselves, something that informational textbooks can never do. They give insight to a person’s mind that is not your own and force you to question the way you think, thus helping you grow mentally. To Kill a Mockingbird shows how prevalent and disgusting racism was in the first part of the 20th century, and it does this better than any history book could. Catcher in the Rye is something that is not necessary but still it gives insight to teenage angst and helps a lot of kids understand they are not alone in how they feel. Taking fiction books out of curriculum will be the biggest mistake in education since No Child Left Behind. This is coming from a High School English Teacher.
Private education gets a shot in the arm? Or Americans get even duller.
Stupid people are easier to manipulate.
Makes sense to have more real world text that people would encounter at work. However, this shouldn’t replace classic literature. It basically removes the soul from reading and create a lack of knowledge about American and English literature.
Let’s learn about racism in the south through Harper Lee’s only novel and let’s read about totalitarian governments through 1984 and Brave New World. Knowledge of Animal Farm would have made everyone predict what would happen with this Arab Spring the Left was excited about.
We need literature to keep us alive and impart a common culture. R-values of insualation will turn us in to boring people. Instead, to add non-fiction to our reading, let’s learn more about the lives of famous Americans like George Washington Carver, George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, and Tesla and Edison. Let’s find ways to teach their virtues and learn from their vices.
Is there no time to teach about Insulation and Invasive Plants? We could find the time. Maybe they could fit it into the school day if they didn’t teach children to put condoms on bananas or sing hymns to Barack Obama. There is plenty of time in the school day to teach informational text without sacrificing English and American literature.