High Schools Must Teach 70% Non-Fiction Books by 2014

It's a move some educators say lacks 'soul'

Parents: expect to see less homework on The Great Gatsby, and more on The Great Recession.

A joint effort known as the Common Core State Standards Initiative has prompted nearly every state in the union to mandate that 70% or more of high school reading material be non-fiction by 2014. That means less Twain, and more physics, explained. As Eric Owens at The Daily Caller informs, the non-fiction suggestions from CCSSI include classics like Alexis de Tocqueville's Democracy in America, but also the admittedly less high-spirited "FedViews" published by - you could have guessed - the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco.

It's a move not exactly being embraced by some experts in pedagogy. "We read literature because it's good for our souls," says Caity Doyle of education technology news site Technapex. Still, defenders of the shift toward facts and figures say they're of more importance in a brutally competitive global marketplace.

Prominent initiative supporter Bill Gates gave his take: "The more states that adopt these career based standards, the closer we will be to sharing innovation and becoming more competitive as a country."

Via The Daily Caller.

[Cool_voter]

Did I have these oppressive educational standards held on me when I was a child, no.
Do I have a decent job... Yes.
Why are they making kids learn more and more sooner and sooner?
Kids have honestly gotten dumber in recent years, an I blame the explosion of the learn everything today craze.

[Sonny]

There is nothing "oppressive" about teaching a kid some practical skills.

[martydotcom]

I shocked to see no one has brought up teaching Creationism as non fiction

[stepped_in_it]

@martydotcom My first thought...not the "comment", but that it would be brought up quickly. Maybe because it's Sunday? LOL

[martydotcom]

@stepped_in_it
Say Hallelujah and praise the Lord! You're from Tennessee isn't blasphemy a felony LOL

[stepped_in_it]

@martydotcom LOL....but originally from California. So, I guess if I believed in hell, I would be going there. LMAO

[twinertia]

Seventy (70%) percent of high schools must be eliminated by 2041.

[stepped_in_it]

Just 70%?

[sabbatical]

America's High Schools Must Teach 100% Target Shooting by 2024

[DogLady_1]

There is a trend toward looking at creativity as something our society doesn't need. Creative thinkers are deemed "idealists" and "naive" - and those terms are used as an insult rather than a compliment... Our congress has been rendered completely ineffective in problem-solving because no one dares think outside the box any more. Imagination is a gift... and imaginitive people are the greatest problem-solvers... they are also our greatest inventors. Take away a child's ability to create, you may as well groom him at an early age to perform the same task every day so he can contribute revenue... since that is the only contributions we value anymore...$$$

[FollowTheMoney]

Creativity grounded with common sense. To solve any problem one must first admit that there is a problem, then identify the problem. History gives us a factual base to help identify the problem, creativity give us the ability to solve the problem. History also give us the ability not to make the same mistake twice. ;-]

[DogLady_1]

@FollowTheMoney - I prefer common sense heightened by creativity. Creativity gives people insight and enhanced ability to see problems before they have a widespread impact on society. History simply reminds us of consequences of a problem not being solved. BTW, "common sense" is a product of creativity AND knowledge of facts. You can't have common sense if you can't imagine the impact of your behavior on your environment AND come up with a solution based on facts learned from consequences.

[FollowTheMoney]

@DogLady_1 Fair enough. I would only add that history can show us how a problem happened to start with.

[DogLady_1]

@FollowTheMoney - Yes, I alluded to that when I blatantly said: "come up with a solution based on facts learned from consequences."

[FollowTheMoney]

@DogLady_1 your right, my bad.

[FollowTheMoney]

I am often amazed by how little people know about our country, it's government and it's history. I really don't see why we aren't already doing this.

[kirbstomp1]

Understanding Edgar Allen poes crooked mind won't help our children understand economics and history (which always and I mean ALWAYS repeat themselves). I agree with you completely. Fantasy worlds in the mind that ate written on paper don't solve problems. Understanding the world how it works and the history of it allows you to stop the repetition of history and allows the to produce and provide a better future for their children. Sorry if people dislike that we are moving to a logical reasoning age.

[FollowTheMoney]

@kirbstomp1 Thanks for the vote up. But to be clear, I'm not against promoting creativity. I just think history and the three R's should come first. Moderation and balance are key, along with a heavy dose of reality and common sense.

PS. I can't stand Edgar Allen Poe... ;-]

[kirbstomp1]

@FollowTheMoney - I think creativity comes through education itself. Think of engineers, the most by the book people. But they also seem to (create) and engineer the most magnificent structures and mechanical machines. I believe every student should take an art class and a historical literary class. Everything ties into history, the different ages, and how science is accepted. Even fiction is good, but like this thing says, only 30 percent should be fiction. We don't like in a fiction world, we live in a realist world and our children need to understand how the real world works.

[FollowTheMoney]

@kirbstomp1 Agreed.

[cpeter133]

No nation is greater than its culture. A generation that is not encouraged to read, listen to music, view art and theater, etc, becomes a nation of drones, not thinking citizens.

[FollowTheMoney]

Food, clothing, shelter and security come first.

[RoyFloyd]

Indeed we've become a nation of drones because it fits the labor demand. Walfart doesn't need thinkers to fill at least 98% of its positions, they need meek robots. Independent thinking is likely to put such a job in jeopardy. Same with the vast majority of jobs nowadays.

[cpeter133]

@FollowTheMoney Which sounds good, but there is no guarantee of that happening by just cramming more facts into kids. What is that going to do for the artistic kids who will wither without the arts? Not to mention that the arts can be just as good a career as any other.

Are they similarly going to limit exposure to sports?

[FollowTheMoney]

@cpeter133 I'm sure there will be exceptions. But there has to be priorities. Obviously the current curriculum isn't working. I talk to young people all the time about government and politics, and most don't have a clue. Sports replaced by...what?.....work? I'd be cool with that.

[cpeter133]

@FollowTheMoney Ah, those halcyon days of child labor!

Priorities should be more schools and more teachers, resulting in smaller classrooms and more individual attention per student. What, btw, do you want schools telling kids out politics? More civics classes; perhaps even in-depth constitutional.

[Big-R]

I have a novel idea. How about make school year round, with short breaks spread throughout the year. Then you would have more time to focus on the things important to daily existence, while keeping time to focus on issues of national heritage. I remember as a kid, the only thing I cared about in the last three months of the school year was summer break.

Then after having three months off, it took two or three months to get back into the swing of things. So I was probably only really productive three to four months of the year. Not that I didn't learn things while there the rest of the time, but I remember not caring about any of it.

I am all for kids being kids, but when you go to a fast food place, or a gas station, and the teller can't even count change, something is definitely wrong with the educational system. I love technology as much as the rest, but people have gotten to the point where if they don't have technology, they can't function. Having tablets, and calculators introduced in school has its benefits for sure. But thirty years from now, if something happens to the technology, most of today's generation will be helpless. Some could argue they are helpless now, but that's another discussion!

[crusader]

the agrarian school calendar is rather outdated and have spoke to a High School Principal about it and he agrees. It would also give teachers a chance to take a vacation sometime other than the summer and change tourism spots as those summer months is the peak season mainly for that reason. Many teachers however use that time to take additional college classes and to make extra money to supplement their income. Summer school is used to help students get caught up to avoid repeating a grade, therefore this would have its drawbacks and probably as much opposition as support from teachers.

[Big-R]

@crusader All very good points. I would imagine an arguement could be made though, if school was year round, you would have more time to teach, thus eliminating the need for summer school. I can only speak to my experience, not stats in this one. I had a hard year in the ninth grade, and went to summer school that year to try and catch up. I had missed a lot of days due to illness, and needed the extra credit.

The percentage of students that were there to help themselves, was very low. We only had around 100 kids in it, give or take, out of a school of 2500. I remember the ones who were there trying to keep from falling behind, or failing completely. I can look through my year book, see them, and know that around 7 out of 10 in my grade, that went to summer school, ended up dropping out, or failing out anyway. I am sure every school is different, and everyone has seen different aspects, this is just my experience with it, be it ever so limited.

[crusader]

@Big-R I can definitely see the advantages of year round school and that is probably the best thing for the students. I however as a future teacher am not sure I would like that as the summers off could be used to make extra money and take graduate classes which would be possible but much harder during the school year. The summer is also used as a preparation period for teachers to plan lessons and the district to make repairs to the buildings. Most teachers I know have a basic schedule planned before that first day of school.

[Big-R]

@crusader I can understand your point. I am just looking from the outside in. No other business runs like that. The whole rest of the world operate's 12 months of the year. I can see your major concerns for the extra training time for yourself. I do at least 200 hours a year of continuing education for my career. On my days off mostly, so it can be done. I would rather use the time to make extra money as well, but you gotta do what you gotta do!

[crusader]

@Big-R I do agree that it would probably better overall as the agrarian calendar is outdated. As with any transition it would meet with opposition and have a unpleasant transition period but would probably be better in the long run. I am thinking they should get two weeks off after each grading period then a slightly longer time in the summer to all equal the same number of days off as they have now.

[NO-BAMA]

Who's view of "non fiction"? Especially for history class. The lib indoctrination that's being taught today or actual history of the country/world. This might be a good thing. If done correctly, the "nanny state" mentality might actually be gotten away from. That is, if schooling is actually still required by then. It seems as of now, the government wants everyone on full welfare once born until they die. That's the libs view of "non fiction".

[Sonny]

There is no "lib indoctrination" taught in any school that I am aware of...That stuff continues to be a myth by the right.

[NotReally]

@Sonny You have no idea what passes for history in a public school these days....

[NO-BAMA]

@Sonny It seems the only people that don't believe in the lib indoctrination are the ones that are indoctrinated themselves. The lib indoctrination starts with the "entitlement" mentality taught at home from the "taker" parents and continues on through the child's school years with the "cradle to grave nanny state" propaganda that gets pumped into them daily. The ones that do actually graduate and go onto college get a double dose of the socialistic process pounded into them from the lib professors that "teach" what their lib masters tell them to.
Here's something that puzzles me about the libs. If the libs are so anti business and corporations, why do the libs use their products,(cell phones, computers, cars) all the time? Why don't all of the libs gather together and go "without" the evil boss's products?
Or does it just boil down to another hypocritical stance from the left as with most other situations they get involved in?

[Sonny]

@NotReally Actually I do. I have a son in high school. So your assumption as to my knowledge of "what passes for history" is not correct.

[Sonny]

@NO-BAMA Once again, there is no such thing as any "liberal indoctrination". What some on the right get all bent out of shape about is the fact that so many people do not believe in their right wing theories. So they start making up stuff like "liberal indoctrination" and "black liberation theology"...LOL...What a crock of non sense...

No one is "anti-business"...It s just that, unlike the right, we don't "trust" each and every aspect of our lives to big business or the so-called free market...Can't understand why you would? They are the one's doing the so-called "taking"....not the poor family down the street trying to get by on a poverty-level income...because your "corporate takers" are too greedy to pay them a decent living wage.

So please if there is any attempt to "indoctrinate" anyone its you guys on the right who think that ALL of us have to either agree with you and your way of thinking or else....LOL Well if that is your definition of "liberal indoctrination" (not agreeing with you) then I would rather be "indoctrinated" any day!

[CCR]

As an educator, I know for a fact that our students do not know how to read technical manuals. In the area I live in, I have talked to plant managers of nationally known companies and they refuse to hire 80% of the local graduates because they cannot read directions and follow them correctly. I have called other school districts in other states and found this to be similarly true then as well. Fiction is wonderful. I think it allows students an opportunity to express their creativity. However, it's usefulness in helping students to become productive citizens in a majority of jobs is limited.

As for it being different when most of you were in school, I'd completely agree. The differences are the attitude of the students towards authority and the entitlement mentality of today's youth. Today's youth do not think they need to work because what they want will be given to them.

Common Core is getting students away from the ABCD answers of normal standardized tests and making sure students know the content.

[Dan_Tien]

As a man who has had to read many technical manuals and specs during my working life, I know for a fact that there are very few of them that are well written and easy to read. Engineers challenge writing courses in college if possible, because they are "irrelevant" soft courses. I agree that non-fiction books should be the focus of math, history, chemistry and any other course that requires them in K-12, but leave fiction for English and writing classes, please. Though I'm not sure how this would really effect students, since it seemed as if my kids were mostly expected to read and do research on the internet. The primary function of their required books appeared to be for weight training in backpacks between classes and home.

[CCR]

How can reading "Catcher in the Rye" lend itself to being a good citizen?

[Dan_Tien]

@CCR I am not sure if reading "Catcher in the Rye" will make anyone a better citizen, but it could make them a better writer. Some fiction books that might make you a better citizen: To Kill a Mockingbird, 1984, Animal Farm, The Fountainhead, The Grapes of Wrath, Lord of the Flies, The Sun Also Rises, Brave New World, I, Claudius, Henderson the Rain King, From Here to Eternity, Fahrenheit 451...

[CCR]

@Dan_Tien Reading non fiction books on history, politics, and finances.

[Dan_Tien]

@CCR About sentence fragments.

[Zazziness]

People can read literature when they're not in school. Folks in the article act like it's impossible for someone to read of their own free will.

[Denizen_Kate]

That's a good point. By the time I went to high school, I'd already read many of the novels on the English or American literature lists for my classes. My entire junior and senior years were "extra credit" where English classes were concerned.

That said, however, if we tip the scales too far towards non-fiction, aren't we creating a generation of automatons, skilled in whatever passes for labor but lacking in creativity, imagination, and abstract thinking? Also, I learned more history in high school by reading fiction than by reading the history textbooks. I also learned how to write by reading fiction. 70/30 may be a bit too far. I guess we'll see.

[FFX_VA]

Good! Now Mark Levin's book Liberty & Tyranny can be used in government courses. It's about time conservative literature other than the constitution is taught!

[Sonny]

No let's please leave this kind of partisan warfare out of our schools. And stick to things that a student can use, not more political rhetoric...

[WMCOL]

Sad, but it is all about survival, and with some semblance of a decent quality of life. Keeping in mind that we have not even tapped 10% of our brains ability.

[Sonny]

I see nothing wrong with teaching our kids a greater degree of practical skills & knowledge that they will need to compete in this very competitive world. I mean learning Yeats, Emerson, and learning to recite Moby-Dick, chapter by chapter is "nice"...but may not be all that practical for a young kid competing for some opportunity that requires more "technical skills"..It's a good move, and I think it should have been done long ago. In fact, I would like to see more of the building trades taught in our schools, as they once were in schools throughout Maryland. Good move on the part of schools, for a change.

[FFX_VA]

"We read literature because it's good for our souls," says Caity Doyle ...religion & values are good 4 souls, should they be taught in public school now too?

[Sonny]

Teach religion at home, thank you very much.

[SophieB]

The real issue is not the curriculum. The problem is a culture that doesn't value education and in which the parents hold no responsibility. They can alter the curriculum a million different ways, but until parents return to being interested in their children's lives and involved in their schooling our situation will continue to deteriorate.

[Sonny]

I think most parents are very much interested in their child's education. But you have to understand that parents (all of us) are under more pressure now more than ever before, to simply put food on the table. Many parents work several jobs, just to be able to send their kid to a good school, and may not have as much time as they would like to attend all PTA meetings, or help with home work every night. That does not mean they are not interested...its just a matter of practically using what little time is now available these days.

[woodtick57]

Wouldn't that be the case anyways? the only class one would have fiction books in would be english or related classes, wouldn't it? I can't think of any other classes that had fiction books in them.

[sabbatical]

The Shortest Book Of All Time: 'What Americans Know About The Rest Of The World'

[jamie91]

Nothing ruins a good book like being assigned it. I read for enjoyment, school is about learning.

[RedFloppyShoes]

History is written (or erased) by the those in power. Get ready for history and classic books to disappear from schools and libraries...what libraries are left.

[Kellso]

Let me ask everybody a honest question. Has any of you witnessed the facts in History? Any of you performed experiments? Any of you honestly know why we need to congigate a vedrb? I didnt think so....... So why do so many say the Bible isnt true facts??? I would believe it long before I would believe american history..

[Sonny]

Because, my dear friend, Kellso,...learning to conjugate a verb is something that would serve all educated Americans, in one capacity or the other, at some point in their professional life. Learning one form of religion and/or trying to force it upon all students (regardless of that child's personal beliefs) is not a good use of classroom time. At least in my opinion. I personally don't know if the bible is "true or factual" or not. I have my personal views on it. But kids can learn their faith or religion at home, or at the church, temple, etc., of their choice. But school needs to teach those basic skills, and sets of knowledge that we CAN all agree on, and are needed for that child to compete.

[Kellso]

@Sonny I aint worried about the basics of school if that is what the heart of the mater is.(Did you understand what I just said?)( I said aint and that isnt proper english but you understood it..) The Bible is more history than any man can imagine so it IS something that should be taught and not all the silly crap that the kids are burned out with today. and as for a child compete????? Comjpete with who? another kid that learned useless crap that has no usefulness in life except used to 'compete' in cliques? I was manager of public facilities for ALL my life. I had only a 12 grade level deploma. I still managed and taught college kids that had engineering degrees and they learned the facts of life and also how to live in todays world and MAKE MONEY by using their common sense and NORMAL abilities. College is mostly for the clique to go learn things that they teach to other clilquie kids in college so they can teach other clique kids and so on, and so forth. Trade schools are whats needed and all the useless clique subjects need to be put to bed somewhere.

If you doubt that the Bible is not true then research and then see how you feel. I researched the history of the wars and i come to the conclusion that they did infact happen. I reasearched the information given to us in teh Bible and have also come to the conclusion IT WAS AND IS REAL!

[Kellso]

And before you critique my typing abilities, with some extra letters in the words sometimes or dislexic letters in some words, I usually try to correct them before i post but sometimes I just let things fall as they come.

[WMCOL]

@Kellso
The Bible is the only record or proof for a lot of claims, and that in itself is troubling for independent academic inquiry, but okay for religion study where spirituality and belief is the driving force. Job, David and Goliath encounter, humans in a fiery furnace unharmed, there is no proof of any of that other than the Bible.

God is worshipped in spirit and truth and many of stories in Bible are devised to make a spiritual point. Lots of metaphors, parables, allegory, fictional stories to make a higher point. Then some of Bible is about cultures, customs, traditions, and practices attributed to be from God which have nothing to do with God.

If there was a diseae in pigs many people would not stop eating them just because someone said they were not healthy, rather it would take the invoking of God's name to dissuade the people from eating the diseased pigs. Then the people begin telling a story of unclean animals and citing God as forbidding the eating of them, which would contradict that everything God made is good, and later Jesus says same thing that it is not that which goes in the mouth that defiles the person but that which comes out of the mouth by the tongue, the words we speak.

Very important to determine if it is from God or mammon. That from God is consistent throughout the Bible. That from mammon is not.

[Kellso]

@WMCOL The Bible says the Jesus Christ was borned, Crusified and died, and when they looked in the toumb, it was empty! We know where the toumb is. Whe know where those cities or towns that were told about are today. The men and women of the Bible in many years prior to the actual appearance of Jesus told us He was coming. It was even told what He would say when He was on the cross and what the Roman souldiers would be doing at the time He was on the cross. What more proof does anyone want????
About the swine ( as is with all scavengers). They were created by GOD to help cleanse the earth and thus should not be eaten because they were poisonus by the filth they eat. GOD created everything we need for nourishment and for medication. So GOD created the scavangers for a purpose and thus THEY ARE GOOD! GOD also gave us all free will to kill ourselves if we were stupid enough to do so and I'm sorry to say, we are killing ourselves and eachother.

If anyone uses common sense that GOD gave us all, and if one reads and absorbs the meaning of the words and stories that GOD told the profits to put down, it is easy to understand. BUT dont take what mankind has rewritten over and over an overfor years that has clouded the actual wording and meaning of GODS word. Go to the OLDEST writing of the Holy Bible that you can find and it is far closer to the original writings. Even it had some misinterpetations and was warned about by the people that published it for King James.