Alt. Title: Idiots, Imbeciles, and Morons.
I must say, other than a brief review of the facts, and stumbling across some common business procedures, I’ve been doing a spectacular job of not paying attention to “Common Core”– the system by which Federal Government Initiatives guarantee future generations will star in Idiocracry.
During the prologue, a narrator explains the story’s premise: while science fiction often imagines future civilizations being peaceful, prosperous and technologically advanced, in actuality, the 21st Century seemed to be tacking [sic] directly opposite. Natural selection is indifferent toward intelligence when there are no threats such as wars or predators that put the stupid at a disadvantage. As a result, stupid people, who have sex whenever they want, will outbreed the intelligent, who limit their sex due to foresight of having to take responsibility for the forthcoming babies.
Fun movie.
I’m stupidly working to get things in order for forthcoming changes here at the Farm. This involved moving some crappy old books, and rearranging some crappy old Readers. Readers, as you may recall, are books kids read in school in the crappy olden days. Those Readers sure did sidetrack me.
For example,
 |
| here is Johnson’s 4th Reader. 1897. |
|
|
 |
| Click to enlarge & read. |
Oh my goodness! Did you read that? Fourth graders who are “deeply interested” in Greek mythology? Kids who never go beyond fifth grade are exposed to the classics?
 |
| Statue of Diana. No. Not that Diana. |
And get this:
… the chief ends of a reading lesson– the development of a taste for good literature, and the enlargement of the vocabulary…
Mind you, this is just the Preface. Wait until you see some of the crappy old stuff the poor little 4th graders had to read in this Reader.
 |
| A poem about Maidenhood |
Maidenhood!? What does that word even mean?
Maiden, with the meek brown eyes,
In whose orbs a shadow lies
Like the dusk in evening skies.
Thou, whose locks outshine the sun,
Golden tresses, wreathed in one,
As the braided streamlets run!
Good Lord! It just goes on and on. Who in the Modern World thinks a kid has any interest in reading this long-winded Longfellow fellow? To ask nothing of Bryon, Tennyson, and John Greenleaf Whittier?
And then there’s the Pro-Country Pro-God Prose. Good Lord! I ask you, in this day & age, who cares about Washington’s Rules of Conduct?
Labor to keep alive in your breast that little spark of celestial fire called conscience.
Undertake not what you cannot preform, but be careful to keep your promise.
Be not tedious in discourse.
Let your recreations be manful, not sinful.
Associate yourself with men of good quality, if you esteem your own reputation.
When you speak of God or His attributes, let it be seriously, in Reverence.
Seriously? A 4th grader is supposed to worry about his reputation? Discover he has a conscience? Learn to keep promises? Be succinct? Manful? And to learn to not say, “F*&^ing Jesus Christ” every time the lights go out?
Each evening, as I lay my little head down to sleep with a bag of peanuts at my feet I thank the Good Lord Almighty on High that this nonsense has been dispensed with.
4th graders need to read:
a variety of genres including poetry and fantasy, first and third person narratives, and traditional stories from different cultures. .
Including (forgot the link when posting, sorry ’bout that)
| Book Title / ISBN | Author | Binding | Fiction/
Nonfiction | Interest
Level | Reading
Level | Alpha
Level | List Price /
Your Price | Quantity |
|---|
| DiCamillo, Kate | PB | F | 4-8 | 4 | R | $6.99 $5.24 | |
| Cleary, Beverly | PB | F | 3-5 | 4 | O | $6.99 $5.24 | |
| Farley, Walter | PB | F | 5-8 | 5 | T | $6.99 $5.24 | |
| Norton, Mary | PB | F | 3-6 | 5 | S | $6.99 $5.24 | |
| Selznick, Brian | PB | F | 3-8 | 4 | R | $6.99 $5.24 | |
| Thayer, Ernest Lawrence | PB | F | 1-5 | 2 |
| $5.99 $4.49 | |
| Dahl, Roald | PB | F | 3-6 | 6 | R | $6.99 $5.24 | |
| Catling, Patrick Skene | PB | F | 3-6 | 3 | N | $5.99 $4.49 | |
| Mora, Pat | PB | F | P-3 | 3 |
| $8.95 $6.71 | |
| Yep, Laurence | PB | F | 2-5 | 3 | P | $6.99 $5.24 | |
| Yolen, Jane | PB | F | 3-6 | 4 | N | $7.00 $5.25 | |
| Winkler, Henry | PB | F | 3-6 | | R | $5.99 $4.49 | |
| Banks, Lynne R. | PB | F | 4-7 | 6 | R | $6.99 $5.24 | |
| Babbitt, Natalie | PB | F | 4-7 | 5 | S | $6.99 $5.24 | |
| Wilder, Laura Ingalls | PB | F | 3-6 | 3 | Q | $6.99 $5.24 | |
| de Saint-Exupery, Antoine | PB | F | 6-12 | | X | $10.00 $7.50 | |
| Hamilton, Virginia | PB | F | 3-6 | 5 | X | $6.99 $5.24 | |
| DiCamillo, Kate | PB | F | 3-6 | 4 | U | $11.99 $8.99 | |
| Henry, Marguerite | PB | F | 4-6 | 4 | R | $5.99 $4.49 | |
| Cameron, Ann | PB | F | 2-5 | 3 | O | $5.99 $4.49 | |
| O’Brien, Robert C. | PB | F | 3-8 | 4 | V | $6.99 $5.24 | |
| Coerr, Eleanor | PB | F | 2-5 | 4 | R | $5.99 $4.49 | |
| Dorris, Michael | PB | F | 4-7 | 4 | T | $4.99 $3.74 | |
| Woodson, Jacqueline | HC | F | K-5 | 3 | P | $17.99 $13.49 | |
| Blume, Judy | PB | F | 3-5 | 4 | Q | $5.99 $4.49 | |
| Ringgold, Faith | PB | F | K-3 | 4 | P | $6.99 $5.24 | |
| White, E.B. | PB | F | 3-6 | 3 | R | $6.99 $5.24 | |
| Fleischman, Paul | PB | F | 1-5 | 3 | P | $6.99 $5.24 | |
| St. John, Lauren | PB | F | 3-7 | | X | $6.99 $5.24 | |
| Aardema, Verna | PB | F | K-3 | 3 | N |
I like a few of these books. Most likely, the ones I like will not be on next year’s list.
But here’s A QUESTION. If your are in the 4th grade, why do you have a 2nd grade book on your reading list, you moron? And look at that last book. K-3. You are in 4th grade now, dude. I would expect that by now you would be able to explain to me why mosquitoes are buzzing in ears.
It ain’t all that complicated.
Get back to me when you’ve figured it out and we’ll talk.
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