General Discussion

LisaLynne

(14,554 posts)

21. The thing about art or music or literature ...

Reply to proud2BlibKansan (Original post)

Mon Dec 10, 2012, 09:17 AM

Dec 2012

is that it opens your mind. The results are not always measurable perhaps, but cultivating an imagination and a sense of what may be possible can change a child's (or adult's) entire life. Art and music classes have been being chipped away for years now. Very practicle people are sometimes fooled into thinking this is a good thing, because it saves money, but I think the quality of the education drops. I think the student's quality of life is improved by having been exposed to art and literature in a classroom setting, early on. It teaches you to think. It really does.

But, without going too conspiratorial here, many of the powers that be don't want a free-thinking, inspired, and creative populous. They want robots who don't know their lives could be more.

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Catcher in the Rye dropped from US school curriculum [View all] proud2BlibKansan Dec 2012 OP

I'm sure the English Classes will at least read a couple of novels and at least one Shakespeare. WCGreen Dec 2012 #1

No. Probably not. proud2BlibKansan Dec 2012 #4

But 70% of my High School reading was Non-Fiction.... WCGreen Dec 2012 #27

That was then. This is now. proud2BlibKansan Dec 2012 #64

That's a bit like unifying everyone's immune systems... AtheistCrusader Dec 2012 #82

Yes. And scripted lessons too. proud2BlibKansan Dec 2012 #112

I read that piece on Friday about the automated burger making machine... AtheistCrusader Dec 2012 #116

My high school required 3 years of english. AtheistCrusader Dec 2012 #80

I, too, didn't understand Catcher in the Rye when I read it at 16. And I was a pretty SharonAnn Dec 2012 #99

That is one hallmark of a great work of literature, i.e., that one can "re-read coalition_unwilling Dec 2012 #148

I believe we had English all through six years of Jr. High and High School hfojvt Dec 2012 #109

100 books? progressoid Dec 2012 #158

I was always a rabid reader and read far more than what was required. WCGreen Dec 2012 #160

not according to the program's website dlwickham Dec 2012 #79

It's not just the notion of reading a couple of pieces of fiction here or there. Skidmore Dec 2012 #14

How many history classes did you take? How many "history" books did you read? AnotherMcIntosh Dec 2012 #22

We were taught History by looking at the great themes that ran through certain ages... WCGreen Dec 2012 #51

. AnotherMcIntosh Dec 2012 #70

This message was self-deleted by its author HiPointDem Dec 2012 #25

This is obscene. Skidmore Dec 2012 #2

Common Core. It's awful. proud2BlibKansan Dec 2012 #5

the dumbing down of americans spanone Dec 2012 #3

Continues.... SammyWinstonJack Dec 2012 #8

Americas' Number One Product. STUPIDITY! n/t RKP5637 Dec 2012 #17

my sentiments exactly! Dalai_1 Dec 2012 #76

I find this really reprehensible lunatica Dec 2012 #6

Doesn't matter whether teachers are outraged or not. Smarmie Doofus Dec 2012 #11

The 70% is not restricted to English classes alcibiades_mystery Dec 2012 #7

This is not nonsense. CC emphasizes non-fiction. proud2BlibKansan Dec 2012 #13

I not sure that is true. Look at the Common Core website. Jennicut Dec 2012 #26

Thanks AlexSatan Dec 2012 #31

look here as well: HiPointDem Dec 2012 #37

This is great literature and English Class is the best way to talk about WCGreen Dec 2012 #41

I have no problem with analyzing these texts. But that used to be done in history/social studies, HiPointDem Dec 2012 #44

It is great writing that has a deep meaning. WCGreen Dec 2012 #45

Regardless, reading historical documents in english class takes class time away from reading HiPointDem Dec 2012 #53

I am of the opinion that Social Studies and English should be integrated exboyfil Dec 2012 #129

They were when I was in high school, all taught in "home room." Eleanors38 Dec 2012 #153

They tried to integrate history and English at my high school XemaSab Dec 2012 #171

I agree the Constitution et al is crucial – but what are they studying in the Poli Sci class? snot Dec 2012 #58

Those things are specifically legal and political documents, they are not literature. Spider Jerusalem Dec 2012 #192

They are, indeed, legal in nature, but the choice of words make them, to me, at WCGreen Dec 2012 #193

Are you sure it won't still be? Just because it's called "reading" doesn't mean pnwmom Dec 2012 #115

Maybe this is more of a "reading across the curriculum" thing. The items here would all fit into pnwmom Dec 2012 #111

Or talk to the teachers who know what's in this curriculum proud2BlibKansan Dec 2012 #66

CC includes a 'set' of base items. AtheistCrusader Dec 2012 #86

The person who are responding to is a teacher duffyduff Dec 2012 #106

Thank you proud2BlibKansan Dec 2012 #174

Do we really want a national curriculum? marions ghost Dec 2012 #68

Not me! n/t pnwmom Dec 2012 #113

Don't we want equality? oldhippie Dec 2012 #137

Teachers involved could answer this Q better than I can marions ghost Dec 2012 #154

Bill Gates needs to butt out of education policy duffyduff Dec 2012 #100

Indeed, he only went to elite private schools TexasBushwhacker Dec 2012 #163

We've had almost a national curriculum for a long time... jmowreader Dec 2012 #194

shop classes have nothing to do with common core. HiPointDem Dec 2012 #30

Ah--the Edumaction threads!!! Now, using the Torygraph! nt msanthrope Dec 2012 #75

This of course is not true duffyduff Dec 2012 #105

Killing creativity marions ghost Dec 2012 #9

I just read the English Curriculum for English and it is spelled out very well. WCGreen Dec 2012 #43

you 'just' read all 66 pages of the standards (not a curriculum, btw)? why do i doubt that? HiPointDem Dec 2012 #49

USA, Incorporated, preparing Americas' future serfs and lemmings for their RKP5637 Dec 2012 #10

You forgot the 2nd Commandment: Thou shalt diddle thy smartphone incessantly. - n/t coalition_unwilling Dec 2012 #83

Definitely, and that could get one life for disobedience of the 2nd Commandment! n/t RKP5637 Dec 2012 #91

They have been teaching keyboarding and data entry for years in grade school. RC Dec 2012 #12

The Common Core Standards melm00se Dec 2012 #15

Thanks for the link. Very informative Freethinker65 Dec 2012 #23

Goddamned phonies! JVS Dec 2012 #16

Nicely done! Tom Ripley Dec 2012 #19

When will they start recommending that we burn books as in the book "Fahrenheit 451".... OldDem2012 Dec 2012 #18

Didnt Sarah Palin have a banned books list? davidn3600 Dec 2012 #35

Short list - she only "wrote" one book, IIRC JustABozoOnThisBus Dec 2012 #56

It's ironic that book is one of the books studied under this English Language Curriculum. WCGreen Dec 2012 #48

Farenheit 451 Brainstormy Dec 2012 #61

The study of "yellow journalism" should be part of the English curriculum FarCenter Dec 2012 #73

Couldn't students just pick up a copy of any Gannett paper from today and coalition_unwilling Dec 2012 #84

The objective should be to analyse the rhetorical techniques of yellow journalism in a class setting FarCenter Dec 2012 #90

I can't imagine what use the California Invasive Plant Inventory would serve XemaSab Dec 2012 #20

The thing about art or music or literature ... LisaLynne Dec 2012 #21

Tough call. sadbear Dec 2012 #24

I'm of a few minds on this XemaSab Dec 2012 #32

Great Expectations. progressoid Dec 2012 #157

I Think It Comes Down RobinA Dec 2012 #110

To be fair, "Invasive Plant Inventory" is a lot more interesting than you might think jberryhill Dec 2012 #28

. XemaSab Dec 2012 #33

you sound bullish on invasive plant species Enrique Dec 2012 #47

I, for one, welcome our Oriental Bittersweet and Porcelain Berry masters FarCenter Dec 2012 #63

Bravo! Instant DUZY! Tip of my hat! - n/t coalition_unwilling Dec 2012 #89

Here is where parental involvement Aerows Dec 2012 #29

Yup, but every spring and fall they should be voting the fuckers out that support this horseshit TheKentuckian Dec 2012 #38

Was it ever in the curriculum? Brickbat Dec 2012 #34

To Kill a Mockingbird is standard reading in middle schools around the country, but duffyduff Dec 2012 #59

I've never read either one. We had "Moby Dick" and "Beowulf". TwilightGardener Dec 2012 #87

The prudes will probably zero in on MD next, for all the latent coalition_unwilling Dec 2012 #152

Hell, if I had known there were ANY interesting themes in Moby Dick, TwilightGardener Dec 2012 #155

MD is a wonderful novel and bears repeated readings. Unfortunately, its length and complexity coalition_unwilling Dec 2012 #165

Good TuxedoKat Dec 2012 #181

Moby Dick is the greatest book I've ever read CrawlingChaos Dec 2012 #190

In My School RobinA Dec 2012 #114

We read To Kill a Mockingbird in 6th grade in a Catholic school proud2BlibKansan Dec 2012 #119

I just went through the list of the Fiction for the high school aged kids and there was a lot of WCGreen Dec 2012 #36

The book is titled 'The Catcher in the Rye' and the article gets that wrong... Bluenorthwest Dec 2012 #39

"Catcher in the Rye" is an acceptable short-form title in popular parlance, methinks. Not coalition_unwilling Dec 2012 #92

It seems like they want to kill all beauty, art, and the human imagination. sinkingfeeling Dec 2012 #40

They want a nation of compliant worker drones woo me with science Dec 2012 #132

"The Catcher in The Rye" is a horrible book. FarCenter Dec 2012 #42

We read A Separate Peace instead.... WCGreen Dec 2012 #50

I read both... sadbear Dec 2012 #52

I Suppose If Someone Has To Explain It To You... WiffenPoof Dec 2012 #54

What percent of public HS students have the experience to relate to Holden Caulfield? FarCenter Dec 2012 #65

Yeah, but that goes for pretty much every piece of literature they make kids read. sadbear Dec 2012 #77

Oh, I'd guess about 99%. But I'm assuming that the prevalence of phonies is coalition_unwilling Dec 2012 #95

Phonies... sadbear Dec 2012 #97

This Minute Percentage RobinA Dec 2012 #118

Me too...^^This^^! Surya Gayatri Dec 2012 #128

(*sigh*). WiffenPoof Dec 2012 #122

I imagine many people believe the reading lists should indeed be dumbed down LanternWaste Dec 2012 #166

Our English class read The Sound and the Fury junior year. Starry Messenger Dec 2012 #179

Ha-ha. I get to tell my Faulkner joke. Turns out William sent the galleys of coalition_unwilling Dec 2012 #186

OMG. Starry Messenger Dec 2012 #189

I didn't like it either, far better options out there. KurtNYC Dec 2012 #62

Ever since Charles Manson, the Beatles' "Helter Skelter" has been on my coalition_unwilling Dec 2012 #98

Your reading assignment this week, should you accept it, is to coalition_unwilling Dec 2012 #94

I'm busy with "Union 1812: The Americans Who Fought the Second War of Independence" FarCenter Dec 2012 #169

OK, you're excused this week. But I will expect it re-read over the holidays and coalition_unwilling Dec 2012 #176

"Thinking Fast and Slow" and "Physics of the Future" are already in queue FarCenter Dec 2012 #180

i didn't have to read it for school ... chose to read it on my own ... wanted to slap that spoiled Scout Dec 2012 #96

OMG. Holden is John Lauber to Stradlater's Mitt Romney. You coalition_unwilling Dec 2012 #101

LOL Scout Dec 2012 #142

OK. I live my life vicariously through the protagonists of novels and histories, I confess. But coalition_unwilling Dec 2012 #144

Second your sentiment exboyfil Dec 2012 #172

Joyce more overrated than, say, Horatio Alger? More overrated than, oh, coalition_unwilling Dec 2012 #175

Most best novels list exboyfil Dec 2012 #178

Technical note: JC and RandJ are 'plays,' not 'novels'. If I were going coalition_unwilling Dec 2012 #185

My daughter loved Julius Caesar exboyfil Dec 2012 #188

"Midsummer Night's Dream" is an eminently watchable play. I vastly prefer seeing it to coalition_unwilling Dec 2012 #191

I don't think that was part of the reading list when I went quinnox Dec 2012 #46

Long before there was DU, there was 'Catcher in the Rye Underground.' I went coalition_unwilling Dec 2012 #104

I didn't read it at school either. And I can just imagine the complaints that classmates would have JVS Dec 2012 #136

This sounds incredibly misguided frazzled Dec 2012 #55

Common Core is a Bill Gates scam duffyduff Dec 2012 #57

curriculum is definitely one of the issues that needs to be addressed liberal_at_heart Dec 2012 #60

Has always been this way. One of the most read and most banned books for harun Dec 2012 #67

yeah you can't have controversial books in the school curriculum liberal_at_heart Dec 2012 #85

This is outrage! RoccoR5955 Dec 2012 #69

i just figured out what to give my grandsons for christmas. barbtries Dec 2012 #71

Ridiculous, uninformed hysteria. There's no such thing as a "US school curriculum" Bucky Dec 2012 #72

Not here in Texas... sadbear Dec 2012 #78

Ironically, I teach in Texas. Plenty of them assign Catcher in the Rye to read. Bucky Dec 2012 #146

you're a teacher and you've never heard of common core? no, it's not a curriculum -- but HiPointDem Dec 2012 #139

They probably keep Bob Ueker's Catcher in the Wry. n/t brewens Dec 2012 #74

Heretical notion here. "Catcher in the Rye" should not be 'taught' in coalition_unwilling Dec 2012 #81

These people are frickin' mental. jonthebru Dec 2012 #88

Yeah, 'cause fuck the arts Matariki Dec 2012 #93

Maybe we could find a way to sneak Smedley Butler's "War is a Racket" in to the curriculum... cascadiance Dec 2012 #102

Or any article by Chris Heges in the past 10 years.- n/t coalition_unwilling Dec 2012 #107

It's the Telegraph. Say no more. Say no more. struggle4progress Dec 2012 #103

And of course this news comes from offshore, but thank God for it! ReRe Dec 2012 #108

Other than saying that Catcher in the Rye has been banned in many schools, can anyone explain why AnotherMcIntosh Dec 2012 #117

I Can Tell You Why RobinA Dec 2012 #121

It's not. It's just a lousy whinefest Arkana Dec 2012 #124

It's just a lousy whinefest about some overpivileged white kid . . . who suffers coalition_unwilling Dec 2012 #127

Yeah, I read Huck Finn and Grapes of Wrath, and those are different Arkana Dec 2012 #138

Have you ever known someone whom you saw headed for potential coalition_unwilling Dec 2012 #141

Holden stands among giants like Ignatius Reilly, he doesn't need redemption. JVS Dec 2012 #145

Holden stands on the shoulders of Huckleberry Finn, imho. - n/t coalition_unwilling Dec 2012 #149

What precisely leads you to that conclusion? LanternWaste Dec 2012 #167

Both Huck and Holden are willing to throw themselves away to rescue coalition_unwilling Dec 2012 #170

Hmm, not sure I can answer why the book is "important." I can tell you that I have read it coalition_unwilling Dec 2012 #140

This message was self-deleted by its author Surya Gayatri Dec 2012 #120

I can see dropping Catcher in the Rye Arkana Dec 2012 #123

Sad commentary on the state of American education--true education Surya Gayatri Dec 2012 #125

Big Brother hates the Arts. Rex Dec 2012 #126

I did bother to go to the site and print out and read these new curriculum standards. Not as bad as kelliekat44 Dec 2012 #130

this article is bullshitty. Warren Stupidity Dec 2012 #131

This message was self-deleted by its author devilgrrl Dec 2012 #133

Read that, didn't think much of it but had a great time. JVS Dec 2012 #134

This message was self-deleted by its author devilgrrl Dec 2012 #135

Remind me to avoid your DU movie coalition_unwilling Dec 2012 #143

I don't give the 42 'fucks' that are in it; I'd teach it anyway. Point of view, irony are crucial to ancianita Dec 2012 #147

LOL Ever hear of Camazotz? Puglover Dec 2012 #150

I was a book worm as a kid in the 50s HockeyMom Dec 2012 #151

George Carlin put it best once.... AnneD Dec 2012 #156

Yet another reason to homeschool your chilren if possible. nt kelly1mm Dec 2012 #159

Ugh - informational texts? Politicub Dec 2012 #161

Everyone should be able to read and understand IRS Publication 17 before they can graduate FarCenter Dec 2012 #162

Lots of literature, lots of writing in high school Thirties Child Dec 2012 #164

I read Catcher in the Rye during my first year of High School. bluestate10 Dec 2012 #168

Yeah. Wouldn't want to stimulate anyone's imagination now, would we? WhoIsNumberNone Dec 2012 #173

it's all about militaristic schooling Mothdust Dec 2012 #177

"Facts. What I want are facts. Nothing but facts." Um, that was from coalition_unwilling Dec 2012 #183

Teach kids to be slaves to the machine instead of enriching their creative senses. Roland99 Dec 2012 #182

Read Dickens' "Hard Times." He nailed it 150 years ago. - n/t coalition_unwilling Dec 2012 #184

sad news njcamden_25884 Dec 2012 #187