The Common Core Shift: Which Direction?

High school sophomores should NOT be given in-class assignments to read, then annotate, articles that depict explicit pornographic trends and sexual behaviors in the Japanese culture.  Initially, it defies my approval for exposure to corrupt subject matter during school hours, but it inexorably illustrates a failed attempt to instill proper literary structure necessary for successful critical thinking.

Welcome to the Common Core State Standards Initiative, where "maximizing the Common Core involves a change in creativity, critical thinking, and a fundamental shift in relationships."

Did you catch that? A change!  I'm all about improvement.  But, my concern here is: in which direction?

According to novemberlearning.com "The Common Core State Standards (CCSS) are not intended to be new names for old ways of doing business.  They are a call to take the next step."  Huh?  That's not vague [insert sarcasm].  The old ways of reading, writing, and 'rithmatic, which have been established for centuries, are being dumped near the bottom of the stoop while we take the next step.  Where?  Upward...to fizzled potential?  Or, perhaps, downward...to a dismal and oppressed generation?


Study with real-world involvement text does not apply literary devices critical for improving logic and reasoning.

See the irony there?  Probably not, if you're a Common Core recipient.  So, let me break it down a bit.  Critical thinking is the new standard focus in ALL subjects, yet (ironically) it is quickly being twisted, corrupted, and extracted from the curriculum.  For example, if my son gets the wrong answer on a math equation, he can now receive full credit for the assignment...so long as he can "reason" his way to the incorrect answer.  Or, take the picture attached to this installment.  Comical, at first.  Yet, in Common Core curriculum, this mistake is acceptable...since you can "reason" that the person painting the word used all the correct letters; it does not matter that the letters are in the wrong order.  Is the light bulb turning on yet?  Probably not, if you're a Common Core recipient.  Let me just sound out this one:  children are being taught to rationalize (as opposed to critically think), with no respect to right or wrong.

A begging discussion regarding the chaos of raising a generation with no viable mathematical or writing skills is nipping at my heels, but will be reserved for a different blog.  The point for today is that valuable--key word, there--critical thinking skills require learning, gaining an understanding of, then applying an array of literary elements (such as plot, theme, dialogue) and techniques (like imagery, simile, allegory).  These devices are generally found in literature--AKA creative writing--not informative text given across all academic disciplines.

Critical thinking is discerning judgment based on standards.  It is the intellectual tool which improves quality of thinking, and in its simplest manifest is "the art of taking charge of your own mind"  (criticalthinking.org).

Common Core pursues the critical thinking platform while (again, ironically) diminishing and stealing the crucial reasoning (not rationalizing) processes of a child's mind.  When each individual child is leveled to the same playing field as all other children via reading only informational, real-world statistics, there is nowhere else for each child's imagination to soar:  no plot in which to plunge; no analogies to create; no escape from the facts. Classic literature is vital to understanding the possibilities of the future.

The Common Core shift poses numerous questions with no solid answers.  It literally removes the critical from 'critical thinking' skills...leaving each child destitute in mind.