Here are some questions for people who believe that the Maine Learning Results with Common Core Math and English Language Arts standards are the best for workforce development.

Do we want our children spending precious time on just any random complex text that the Common Core authors decide to slip into standardized exam, or that textbook publishing giants dig out of their bottomless bins of mediocre writings?

Do we want young minds to be programmed with highly suspect political and cultural propaganda?

Do we want our children to be lured into reading of modern authors whose works revel in a jaded, anti-heroic and often morally debased view of human life?

Or do we want students reading the classics?

Which will they get more out of, which will better prepare them for the world, which will more likely contribute to their own virtue and happiness?

Should not children read and study the great books of literature written by such authors as Mark Twain, Homer, Shakespeare and Jane Austin, just to name a few? The intent of Common Core is to erase any remnant of traditional learning in the English classes of our public schools. They are deliberately killing off what is left of the great stories of Western literature.

Learning math is not key-padding with a calculator. The aim of education is truth, beauty, goodness and virtue. Literature teaches us the most important things about life, about how the human condition contributes to character development. Learning is the activity of assertiveness and humility of pursuing knowledge.

I urge people to contact their legislators and tell them to restore education by supporting L.D. 1396 “An Act Regarding Educational Standards for Maine Students” (The Common Core repeal bill. The committee, 12-1, voted ought not to pass.

Gordon Draper

Bowdoin

Copy the Story Link