Common Core vs. Classics

We've all been hearing about Common Core, the newest government-based idea of what education should be, and we have probably taken a stand in one way or another. We either care or we don't, right? As people delve deeper into what books, textbooks, testing, and criteria are covered in Common Core, we find more and more to like or dislike about the program.

Some feel assured that Common Core has higher levels of expectations and that our children, through being required to perform at these higher levels, will automatically be more educated. Some are deeply concerned with the content required in Common Core and the apparent tracking methods that will be implemented. "The Great Conversation: The Substance of a Liberal Education", which was published in 1952, touches on many of these very same arguments that abound in today's conversations about education.

Questions such as:

• What are the Traditions of the West and do we need to still uphold these traditions?
• Can we expect the same level of education for all citizens in America?
• If we do expect the same level of education for all, can we provide to all equally?
• What should be included in a person's education?
• Is government responsible for providing a person's education?
• Do the classics of the past have anything to offer the modern day student?
• What standards does the current educational program transmit to our youth?
• What will the student lose/gain by a set curriculum rather than a diverse reading of the Classics?

There are many more, but these questions beg to be answered. Are we doing a disservice by adopting Common Core? What will be lost if we do adopt Common Core? What will be gained?

I have not extensively researched Common Core, but what I have learned is disturbing. We need more time as a society to study the materials presented and approve or disapprove of the content. What the experts are presenting to us leaves most of us questioning their motives. Is everything in Common Core bad? Probably not, but we are finding some things which should be questioned.

Such articles as these give a glimpse into some of the negative information surfacing about the materials included in Common Core:

• "10th Grade Class Reads Erotic Novel Recommended By Common Core Proponents"
• "You Won't Believe What We Found in Another 'Widely Adopted' High School Textbook"

What Common Core is missing the Classics have!

While we groan over what we feel Common Core is missing, or even worse, adding to the education of our children in the terms of pornographic material and bad character building, there are tried and true documents and books that have already been read by millions of people and deemed appropriate. These materials have all that develops the higher thinking that the government says they are trying to provide with this major educational change.

Why are we deviating from the Classics?

Why are we re-inventing education again in the wrong direction?

Why is the government spending millions to produce something that cheapens education?

In my humble opinion, they feel they have to do "something" so they choose anything over doing nothing. Yes, there are those that feel Satan has a plan and is using our corrupt government officials to do his dirty work (I am in that camp, but for the secularist I will continue to discuss facts as well.) Many also believe that these individuals may be misguided or even just really want our children and youth to learn this particular set of materials which they value themselves.

Whatever the reasoning behind it, WE have a choice. WE have a voice. I encourage everyone to invest in building your home library with the Classics from the TJED lists, get a set of The Great Books of the Western World, and any other books you feel can be added to your personal Classics list. Some day, this may be the only place to find them...

..and then READ THEM!

"There are worse crimes than burning books. One of them is not reading them." - Ray Bradbury