Catholic Scholars Denounce Common Core Standards

Dr. Wendy Ghiora – Posting #128 - November 15, 2014
 

I had a close friend as a child growing up in Long Beach, California.  She attended a local Catholic School, St. Anthony’s.  It always seemed like she had much more homework that I did and that she was learning about a lot more subjects.  Later, when I began my teaching career and had school-aged children of my own,  I met parents who had enrolled their children in Catholic Schools.  Many of these parents were not Catholic, but were certain their children would receive a better education in Catholic School than in Public School.  Students who have attended Catholic schools say they were more disciplined and the approach to academics was more regimented. For the most part, students from Catholic schools are still receiving higher scores on performance tests than students in public schools. 

This brings me to the article by Valerie Strauss in The Washington Post, regarding the Common Core Standards.  According to the article, “about 130 Catholic scholars around the country have signed a hard-hitting letter to U.S. Catholic bishops denouncing the Common Core State Standards as doing “a grave disservice to Catholic education” and urging the bishops to ignore the standards or, in the more than 100 dioceses that have already adopted them, to give them up.”

The letter was signed by 132 scholars from various disciplines and institutions.  This well thought-out and compelling letter was sent by Gerard V. Bradley, a law professor at the University of Notre Dame, to every Catholic bishop in the country.  “The document blasts the standards, saying they are ‘contrary to tradition and academic studies on reading and human  formation, ‘and accuses Core proponents of seeking to “transform ‘literacy’ into a ‘critical’ skill set, at the expense of sustained and heartfelt encounters with great works of literature.”

“The letter, which calls the Core  a recipe for standardized workforce preparation,” cites criticism of the standards by academics including James Milgram, professor emeritus of mathematics at Stanford University, and Sandra Stotsky, professor emerita of education at the University of Arkansas. They have both testified before various state legislatures against the Core, saying the standards aren’t strong enough to prepare students for college. “

This letter was sent individually to each Catholic bishop in the United States. 132 Catholic professors signed the letter.

The authors of the letter are devoted teachers; many of whom are now professors’ emeriti.  They state the reason for the letter is their devotion to teaching and caring for what children are learning and being prepared to do.

Here is a summary of the main reasons these esteemed educators oppose Common Core:

1.The early rush to adopt Common Core has been displaced by sober second looks, and widespread regrets. Several states have decided to “pause” implementation.

2. Prominent educators and political leaders have declared their opposition..

3.Much of today’s vigorous debate focuses upon particular standards in English and math. Supporters say that Common Core will “raise academic standards.” But we find persuasive the critiques of educational experts (such as James Milgram, professor emeritus of mathematics at Stanford University, and Sandra Stotsky, professor emerita of education at the University of Arkansas) who have studied Common Core, and who judge it to be a step backwards. We endorse their judgment that this “reform” is really a radical shift in emphasis, goals, and expectations for K-12 education, with the result that Common Core-educated children will not be prepared to do authentic college work. Even supporters of Common Core admit that it is geared to prepare children only for community-college-level studies.

4.Every student deserves to be prepared for a life of the imagination, of the spirit, and of a deep appreciation for beauty, goodness, truth, and faith. 

5.The judgments of Stotsky and Milgram (among many others) are supported by a host of particulars. These particulars include when algebra is to be taught, whether advanced mathematics coursework should be taught in high school, the misalignment of writing and reading standards, and whether cursive writing is to be taught.

6.Common Core adopts a bottom-line, pragmatic approach to education. The heart of its philosophy is, as far as we can see, that it is a waste of resources to “over-educate” people. The basic goal of K-12 schools is to provide everyone with a modest skill set; after that, people can specialize in college – if they end up there. Truck-drivers do not need to know Huck Finn. Physicians have no use for the humanities. Only those destined to major in literature need to worry about Ulysses.

7.Perhaps a truck-driver needs no acquaintance with Paradise Lost to do his or her day’s work. But everyone is better off knowing Shakespeare and Euclidean geometry, and everyone is capable of it. Everyone bears the responsibility of growing in wisdom and grace and in deliberating with fellow-citizens about how we should all live together. A sound education helps each of us to do so.

8.The sad facts about Common Core are most visible in its reduction in the study of classic, narrative fiction in favor of “informational texts.” This is a dramatic change. It is contrary to tradition and academic studies on reading and human formation. Proponents of Common Core do not disguise their intention to transform “literacy” into a “critical” skill set, at the expense of sustained and heartfelt encounters with great works of literature.

9.Professor Stotsky was the chief architect of the universally-praised Massachusetts English language arts standards, which contributed greatly to that state’s educational success. She describes Common Core as an incubator of “empty skill sets . . . [that] weaken the basis of literary and cultural knowledge needed for authentic college coursework.” Rather than explore the creativity of man, the great lessons of life, tragedy, love, good and evil, the rich textures of history that underlie great works of fiction, and the tales of self-sacrifice and mercy in the works of the great writers that have shaped our cultural literacy over the centuries, Common Core reduces reading to a servile activity.

10.A rich, classical, traditional education forms men and women capable of discerning and pursuing their path in life and who stand ready to defend truth, their church, their families, and their country.

11.In contrast to such academic rigor, the Common Core standards lack an empirical evidentiary basis and have not been field-tested anywhere. Sadly, over one hundred Catholic dioceses have set aside our teaching tradition in favor of these secular standards.

12.Parents embrace traditional education and long for adherence to it – indeed, for its renaissance. That longing reflects itself in the growing Catholic homeschool and classical-education movements and, now, in the burgeoning desire among Catholic parents for their dioceses to reject the Common Core.

The professors end the letter with the following:

“Because we believe that this moment in history again calls for the intercession of each bishop, we have been made bold to impose upon your time with our judgments of Common Core.”

In my humble opinion, this letter minimally gives us “food for thought.”  What is the real purpose of Common Core? What are its benefits and which students are its beneficiaries? Is it another “panacea” which is merely a guise for teaching to the lowest common denominator? This is a common occurrence that plays out every day in our nation’s classrooms. Students with high aptitude (defined as the ability to learn/reason) and competence (defined as having documented success) are left languishing in classes taught to the lowest common denominator. Parents of children in both public and private schools want their children to be able to achieve and to be all they can be.

As a high school English teacher, I taught what was called “Basic English” to twelfth grade students. The curriculum I was given was comprised of reading material written at about fourth grade reading level, with ideas and themes that were of no interest to my students.  I sneaked into the bookroom and took a class set of Macbeth and several other works that were in the curriculum for the “regular” twelfth grade English classes.  Through scaffolding and other highly motivating techniques, I was able to teach all of the works these “basic” twelfth graders supposedly could not learn.  All I can say is, THEY LOVED IT! All children are capable of learning, if they have proficient and caring teachers. By teaching to the lowest common denominator, which seems to be what Common Core is doing,  we are not only failing those high potential students, but we are also sabotaging our own future as a country.