Something very disturbing is happening to America’s education system. Something so disturbing that most people don’t even know that it’s going on.
I personally just happened to see the small, stub-like article in The Telegraph that was entitled “Classic Literature to be Dropped from High Schools in Favor for More ‘Informational Texts.’” Bothered, I further read that in 46 out of 50 states, Common Core State Standards (otherwise known as state curriculum) in 2014 will require that 70% of books used in English classes will be be purely “informational” texts to prepare students to enter the workplace. This means that classic texts, poetry, and short stories will be virtually eliminated and replaced with government manuals, plant inventories, and dated dispatches. As Shakespeare’s plays, Emerson’s prose, and Frost’s poems will be removed for titles such as “FedViews from the San Francisco Federal Reserve” and “Executive Order 13423: Strengthening Federal Environmental, Energy, and Transportation Management,” we can’t help but to feel that something very, very wrong is happening here. But what?
On the most basic level, this new curriculum shows that we have become too focused on our workplace “success” than on our humanistic “understanding.” These new Common Core Standards aren’t thinking of the people, they are thinking for the people, as our society is now determining our “success” in the workplace is THE singular definition of our personal “success.” From this viewpoint, we are being reinforced, both directly and indirectly, at young ages that if we don’t become the mighty CEO or the empowered politician, then we are considered failures. Achievement has become a truly artificial term, as it now only describes what we did with our growth, instead of what we have done to be able to grow.
This, unfortunately, is not the only step back for Our New Cultural Story. As a result of the new Common Core Standards, future teens are losing exposure to understanding their core. As literature throughout the ages and the pages have inspired brilliant insights on the Human Experience, we cannot help but feel our soul be moved by the first word of William Blake or the last verse of Emily Dickinson. The reason why these works are considered classics in the first place is that their message has spoken to generation after generation, sparking imagination and illumination in teens of all ages. Future teens might be more prepared for the workplace, but will they truly be more prepared for life? Some of our greatest insights on what our New Cultural Story should look like will be lost to a government pamphlet or investment guidebook. Is that really what we want for ourselves?
We need to revise this book, and write our New Cultural Story. As Samuel Taylor Coleridge once wrote,
“What if you slept?
And what if,
In your sleep,
You dreamed?
And what if,
In your dream,
You went to heaven
And there plucked
A strange and
Beautiful flower?
And what if,
When you awoke,
You had the flower
In your hand?”
The classics challenge us to use our imagination, to think beyond traditional logic, and become even more of Who We Are. Continue to question your description of truth, to analyze you life’s deeper meaning, to interpret your motivations, and to create your ever-changing perspective of life. Let’s not lose this valuable piece of humanity.
There are literally volumes that could be written about this subject. If you have ever felt moved by any book, any poem, or anything period, continue to rewrite this rough draft of Our New Cultural Story. We are only our next greatest revision.
(Lauren is a Feature Editor of The Global Conversation. She lives in Wood Dale, IL, and can be reached at Lauren@TheGlobalConversation.com.)
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