Thursday, December 27, 2012

NYC Educator: What Percentage of Crap is Appropriate?

NYC Educator: What Percentage of Crap is Appropriate?:


What Percentage of Crap is Appropriate?

I've been following a thread on Diane Ravitch's blog about the Common Core standards. This is written by a teacher who was "leary" of the standards. Perhaps this refers to Timothy Leary, who urged us all to turn on, tune in, and drop out. I myself am somewhat leery of this practice, as I fear the use of hallucinogenics might detract from my teaching. But I digress.

Apparently, it is vital that high school students read 70% non-fiction. This, of course, is because 69% is not enough and 71% is too much. David Coleman has reached into his extraordinarily gifted hind quarters and pulled out the perfect number. This is because students must be prepared to read things like train schedules and quarterly reports, and can't possibly do so unless we give them overt training.

I suppose that I am the exception to this rule. I can read all that stuff with no problem whatsoever, and none of