Oddities of the Federal Core Curriculum for Public Schools

I am challenging writers to investigate a topic that affects children of all ages in public schools - the national education core curriculum. The national program, seeking a large measure of conformity across participating states, is called the common core curriculum. It operates in participating states through education departments, state/county-parish/community. Five states, including my state's neighboring Virginia, remain outside this system. The Virginia education site on this topic gives links for comparing English and math standards plus college prep. The Virginia state department of education is satisfied they are able to do a better and more cost-effective job. The opt-out states appear to prefer the option on the basis of their priority for different or higher standards for their students, with more flexibility.
     This is a new area of study for me, and I expect to use my local library soon. Information on the Internet is somewhat sketchy regarding specifics. Here are a few of this morning's discoveries. My search began with fiction that has been chosen or recommended in the national program. 

First link of today. I found a site of a publisher claiming affiliation with the national core curriculum. Check out that link for yourself. You will note that all titles in "fiction" are recent. There are no children's classics. All "fiction" titles are in the same genre: horror/thriller. Strikingly, the titles are no older than 2006, with most being 2012 and 2013. There is no attempt to introduce new titles considered "children's literature." Most are elementary through middle school readers. See for yourself: 

"Fiction" titles are in one genre and include:

Monstrous Morgues of the Past

Creepy Castles

Haunted Hotels

Cursed Grounds (Children’s Choices 2012)

Zombies and Other Walking Dead

Spooky Schools

Ghosts and Other Spirits of the Dead

Vampires and Other Bloodsuckers

Spooky Cemeteries

It appears that recent books are more favored than classics, and I have heard that  Huckleberry Finn is banned from a national list. Is that so? 

     The third link for today, where you can judge for yourself whether leadership/principles are expected to focus on initiative, thinking for one's self, academic standards...to name a few missing from the leadership/principal graph. Also, note the lack of emphasis on the child rather than on groups/economics.

    Why not research this topic for yourself?




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