{"id":3057,"date":"2012-12-13T06:54:40","date_gmt":"2012-12-13T11:54:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.theglobalconversation.com\/blog\/?p=3057"},"modified":"2012-12-13T22:29:10","modified_gmt":"2012-12-14T03:29:10","slug":"high-school-in-2014-where-information-doesnt-meet-imagination","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.theglobalconversation.com\/blog\/?p=3057","title":{"rendered":"High School in 2014: Where Information Doesn’t Meet Imagination"},"content":{"rendered":"

Something very disturbing is happening to America\u2019s education system. Something so disturbing that most people don\u2019t even\u00a0know<\/em>\u00a0that it\u2019s going on.<\/p>\n

I personally just happened to see the small, stub-like article in The Telegraph<\/em> that was entitled \u201cClassic Literature to be Dropped from High Schools in Favor for More \u2018Informational Texts.’\u201d \u00a0Bothered, I further read that in 46 out of 50 states, Common Core State Standards (otherwise known as state curriculum) in 2014 will require that 70% of books used in English classes will be be purely \u201cinformational\u201d texts to prepare students to enter the workplace. This means that classic texts, poetry, and short stories will be virtually eliminated and replaced with\u00a0government manuals, plant inventories, and dated dispatches. \u00a0As Shakespeare\u2019s plays, Emerson\u2019s prose, and Frost\u2019s poems will be removed for titles such as \u201cFedViews from the San Francisco Federal Reserve\u201d and \u201cExecutive Order 13423: Strengthening Federal Environmental, Energy, and Transportation Management,\u201d we can\u2019t help but to feel that something very, very wrong is happening here. \u00a0But what?<\/p>\n

On the most basic level, this new curriculum shows that we have become\u00a0too<\/em>\u00a0focused on our workplace \u201csuccess\u201d than on our humanistic \u201cunderstanding.\u201d \u00a0These new Common Core Standards aren\u2019t thinking\u00a0of<\/em>\u00a0the people, they are thinking\u00a0for<\/em>\u00a0the people, as our society is now determining our \u201csuccess\u201d in the workplace is THE singular definition of our personal \u201csuccess.\u201d \u00a0From this viewpoint, we are being reinforced, both directly and indirectly,\u00a0at young ages<\/em>\u00a0that if we don\u2019t become the mighty CEO or the empowered politician, then we are considered\u00a0failures<\/em>. Achievement has become a truly artificial term, as it now only describes what we\u00a0did<\/em>\u00a0with our growth, instead of what\u00a0we have done<\/em>\u00a0to be able to grow.<\/p>\n

This, unfortunately, is not the only step back for Our New Cultural Story. \u00a0As a result of the new Common Core Standards, future teens are losing exposure to understanding their core. As literature throughout the ages and the pages have inspired brilliant insights on the Human Experience, we cannot help but feel our soul be moved by the first word of William Blake or the last verse of Emily Dickinson. The reason why these works are considered classics in the first place is that their message has spoken to generation after generation, sparking imagination and illumination in teens of all ages. Future teens might be more prepared for the workplace, but will they truly be more prepared for\u00a0life<\/em>? Some of our greatest insights on what our New Cultural Story should look like will be lost to a government pamphlet or investment guidebook. Is that really what we want for ourselves?<\/p>\n

We need to revise\u00a0this<\/em>\u00a0book, and write our\u00a0New<\/em>\u00a0Cultural Story. As Samuel Taylor Coleridge once wrote,<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat if you slept?<\/p>\n

And what if,<\/p>\n

In your sleep,<\/p>\n

You dreamed?<\/p>\n

And what if,<\/p>\n

In your dream,<\/p>\n

You went to heaven<\/p>\n

And there plucked<\/p>\n

A strange and<\/p>\n

Beautiful flower?<\/p>\n

And what if,<\/p>\n

When you awoke,<\/p>\n

You had the flower<\/p>\n

In your hand?”<\/p>\n

The classics challenge us to use our imagination, to think beyond traditional logic, and become even more of Who We Are. \u00a0Continue to question your description of truth, to analyze you life\u2019s deeper meaning, to interpret your motivations, and to create your ever-changing perspective of life. \u00a0Let\u2019s not lose this valuable piece of humanity.<\/p>\n

There are literally volumes that could be written about this subject. If you have ever felt moved by any book, any poem, or anything period, continue to rewrite this rough draft of Our New Cultural Story. We are only our next greatest revision.<\/p>\n

(Lauren is a Feature Editor of The Global Conversation. She lives in Wood Dale, IL, and can be reached at\u00a0<\/em>Lauren@TheGlobalConversation.com<\/a>.<\/em><\/span><\/span>)<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Something very disturbing is happening to America\u2019s education system. Something so disturbing that most people don\u2019t even\u00a0know\u00a0that it\u2019s going on. I personally just happened to see the small, stub-like article in The Telegraph that was entitled \u201cClassic Literature to be Dropped from High Schools in Favor for More \u2018Informational Texts.’\u201d \u00a0Bothered, I further read that […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[160],"tags":[707,251,245],"class_list":["post-3057","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-the-younger-generation-take-on-things","tag-high-school","tag-lauren-rourk","tag-teen-spirituality"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theglobalconversation.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3057","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theglobalconversation.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theglobalconversation.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theglobalconversation.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theglobalconversation.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3057"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.theglobalconversation.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3057\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3108,"href":"https:\/\/www.theglobalconversation.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3057\/revisions\/3108"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theglobalconversation.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3057"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theglobalconversation.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3057"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theglobalconversation.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3057"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}