i am curious how common core is removing fiction from the language arts. so sayeth the teacher on back-to-school night. fergus and i are both published fiction authors - and i don't mean blogging on our own sites. we are not famous. i was published only once, but PUBLISHED nonetheless. how can fiction be removed from everyday life? and why would the basic tenet of education want to do that? don't we live enough nonfiction every day? why can't our children be allowed to escape into a good fiction novel for schoolwork? no dickens? no huxley? no poe? no isamov? no beowulf?? no shakespeare??? what the ever-loving hell? lemme see how common core manages to get daily life into iambic pentameter. someone is gong to have to get published right quick on that one. go on. i am waiting.
yet... the first novel of the 7th grade year is to be a nonfiction autobiography about a man who thinks a magical sky fairy bestowed upon him the power to become a doctor. were it not for the magic fairy, he would not have managed. the author self-admits there is no way he could have taken this path without the guidance of the magic fairy. sounds pretty fictional to me. oh, but because it is a god and some people believe that kind of thing is real... makes it nonfiction. so we will be reading all about zeus too. and odin. and kokopelli. well... some people believe that is truth. so that makes those nonfiction as well, by the common core standards written right here.
what this novel really is about is a man who overcame stereotypical poverty and adversity, making his own path away from the people in his environment and becoming more than he ever thought possible through hard work and determination. he then used his great gifts to challenge not only the medical field, but the youth watching his path. he showed them that you are your own creator. you make your path and your choices define you. you can become greatness through your efforts and you can lead others that way as well. what a great message.
last year it was really tough to get my son to answer his required discussion questions. "god isn't real. he had the talents without praying about it. why can't he just take credit for his own hard work?" daughter watched this last year and has already decided to tell teacher "i decline to participate in this discussion. call my mother if you choose." good for her. i wouldn't want that nasty fiction messing up her view on reality, you know.
*rolls eyes* see, what i am upset about is the double talk. go ahead, read about gods and myths. learn about which ones are associated with which countries and their customs. i am ok with that. many generations of peoples have thrived with their religions. we might be really boring civilizations without them, what with no gods to argue about. but don't sit here and tell me that "fiction has been removed from the language arts curriculum" and then present a god as fact in the first novel. just don't.
