Catholic 'Common Core' initiative drops 1st-grade texts on divorced, same-sex couples
December 19, 2013
An effort to promote the Common Core educational standards in American Catholic schools has quietly altered a 1st-grade unit to eliminate books that encouraged acceptance of divorce and of same-sex households.
The Common Core Catholic Identity Initiative (CCCII) removed three texts from its study plan, without any public acknowledgment of the changes, the Cardinal Newman Society reports. Still, the Cardinal Newman Society noted that the CCCII program for the 1st grade lists only 3 books (among 31 included in the plan) that appear to have any Christian content.
The CCCII and the National Catholic Education Association, which helped to launch the initiative, have strongly endorsed the adoption of the Common Core standards in Catholic schools. The Common Core has come under fire from other Catholic organizations who seek to protect the independence and distinctive identity of Catholic schools.
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Posted by: FredC -
Dec. 20, 2013 10:18 AM ET USA
If Catholic schools accept the government's Common Core, the government could make it mandatory for all schools, then gradually introduce its moral and devotional errors -- probably starting with freedom of belief replacing freedom of religion.
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Posted by: unum -
Dec. 20, 2013 6:32 AM ET USA
Most Reverend Blase Cupich, Bishop of Spokane, and Chairman of the Board of NCEA ought to pay some attention to Common Core, which is being promoted by the Obama administration (hardly a Christ-centered group).
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Posted by: Defender -
Dec. 20, 2013 1:08 AM ET USA
One of the things the NCEA has said is that there is local control of the books to be used - guess this list of 31 is something else? As for dropping the pretense of impartiality, the NCEA should have owned up to it long ago. This still doesn't explain, however, why they have ignored the precept that "parents are the prime educators of their children" - but, of course if they had, perhaps Common Core would already be a dead issue with Catholic schools.
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Posted by: JimKcda -
Dec. 19, 2013 7:58 PM ET USA
Well then, why not just send our kids to a (free) public school? If we are fooled into accepting these common core standards in our Catholic schools, there will be no difference except the cost. This may well be the final destruction of the Catholic school system in America, not to mention the dumbed down educational level of the common core standards in all schools. How stupid are the Catholic educators and Bishops who are accepting these?
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Posted by: [email protected] -
Dec. 19, 2013 7:01 PM ET USA
Such books celebrating divorce or same sex marriage should not be in any Catholic education units regardless of grade.
