Educational Curricula

[Gerry Clinchy]

http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2012/12/27/why-all-cool-kids-are-reading-executive-order-13423/?intcmp=obnetwork

What a hoot! Kids will have to read such things as Executive Order 13423 & this will make them literate?

Kudos to those teachers who believe that there is still something more to be learned from great works of literature than from some of the written material that will now become mandatory ...



Literacy experts point out that The Common Core denigrates the value of teaching literature in the classroom. Instead, English teachers are being told that 50 percent of their course material must be derived from “informational texts.” (Actually, the informational text requirement starts at a “mere” 25 percent of reading material for kindergarteners. It rises to 70 percent for high school seniors.)

What, exactly, meets the definition of informational texts? Among those recommended on the national standards list we find The Federal Reserve Bank’s “FedViews,” “The Evolution of the Grocery Bag,” and “Health Care Costs in McAllen, Texas.” And, roll over “For Whom the Bell Tolls” it’s time to make way for that GSA classic: “Executive Order 13423: Strengthening Federal Environmental, Energy, and Transportation Management.”



These "informational texts" could turn kids off from reading for the rest of their lives! Shouldn't this stuff be part of curricula in what we used to call "Civics" or "Social Studies" ... not English class?

[charly_t]

.................................................. ..................................Shouldn't this stuff be part of curricula in what we used to call "Civics" or "Social Studies" ... not English class?

Yes ! Your post was very good.

[HPL]

English teachers are being told that 50 percent of their course material must be derived from “informational texts.”

Being told by whom? Does whoever is telling them this have the authority to force it as the term "MUST" would seem to imply?

The University of Arkansas’ Sandra Stotsky argues that an emphasis on informational texts actually prevents children from acquiring “a rich understanding and use of the English language”............. Dry government documents such as those recommended in the Common Core’s are “hardly the kind of material to exhibit ambiguity, subtlety, and irony,”

Not too sure about that last part. If you are looking for ambiguity and want to develop a true appreciation for irony, I think that reading governmental regulations might be an excellent place to start ;-).