Catholic scholars rap Common Core as 'disservice to Catholic education'
September 25, 2014
A group of 130 Catholic scholars have joined in a statement that adoption of the Common Core standards is “a grave disservice to Catholic education.”
Lamenting that more than 100 dioceses in the US have already adopted the Common Core, the scholars argue that those dioceses should reverse their policies, while other dioceses should resist the pressure to implement the program. They charge that the Common Core is “a recipe for standardized workforce preparation,” in sharp contrast to the liberal education that should be the norm for Catholic schools.
“Common Core is innocent of America’s Catholic schools’ rich tradition of helping to form children’s hearts and minds,” the scholars argue. “In that tradition, education brings children to the Word of God.”
The statement was signed by noted Catholic academic leaders including Gerard Bradley, Robert George, Anthony Esolen, Patrick Deneen, James Hitchcock, Christopher Wolfe, Janet Smith, Francis Beckwith, and David Schindler.
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Posted by: shrink -
Sep. 27, 2014 9:25 AM ET USA
What's going on?? This letter was published a year ago.
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Posted by: jimr451 -
Sep. 26, 2014 11:27 AM ET USA
I agree that education in general has been moving toward "workforce preparation" for a long time - way before CC came along. So it might be nice to revert - but I don't think that would get us to "traditional catholic education" - we lost that a long time ago.
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Posted by: Defender -
Sep. 26, 2014 3:22 AM ET USA
Generally, K-12 teachers have had Common Core (CC)rammed down their throats, sometimes by shear intimidation. There was little, if any, discussion about its adoption and many schools hired ed. companies to try to bring them up to speed (more like the blind leading the blind). The NCEA (taking Gates Foundation money) "suggested" CC and the mostly Jesuit Cristo Rey Network has taken some $20 million from Gates. A dumbed-down CC-based curriculum will only keep many students from attending college.
