Jake Ross
Catholic education…the way we were
I came across this interesting post on the goings on with Common Core in our Archdiocese. It appears in Catholics United for the Faith’s February newsletter. It should be noted that, of all the dioceses in Wisconsin, Milwaukee is the only one giving the green light to Common Core.
Please! – Ask Archbishop Listecki to remove “Common Core” from diocesan schools!!
Mary Jo Anderson, who writes for Crisis Magazine and has appeared frequently on EWTN, reveals in the title of her December 17 Crisis article that, “Common Core Sexualizes American School Children.” She explains that “Across the nation, in public and Catholic schools, parents and teachers have found sexually inappropriate materials in the exemplars recommended by Common Core State Standards (CCSS).” She asks, “Should a small cadre of unelected ideologues have nationwide power to decide that American first graders should be exposed to homosexual “families,” or that ninth graders be given pornography in the guise of literature?” Two of the books she cites, Black Swan Green and The Bluest Eye, contain graphic sexual description, and are recommended by Common Core for ninth graders. (visit cufmilwaukee.org for Common Core articles.)
Fr. Joseph Shimek, in the most recent diocesan promotion of Common Core, claims that where Common Core standards are relevant, “their integration…is directly managed by the Archdiocese, making sure that nothing unacceptable is embedded in them.” Really? For almost 15 years the diocesan “Valuing Your Sexuality” (VYS) program required middle school boys and girls to draw pictures of genital, body parts and sexual activity! In VYS, birth control, abortion and sex acts were “opinion” questions, judged through moral relativism. After being exposed on national TV in 1985, VYS was finally canceled in the early 1990s. In addition, in the early 1980s, eighth graders in a local Catholic school were given a Planned Parenthood book (with 12 pages of contraception instruction, including pictures) by the parish priest! Around that same time, a senior English class at a local Catholic high school was assigned The World According to Garp, until stopped by a parent. (Would not Quo Vadis, or Ben Hur, have been a better novel for Catholic seniors?) And, now parents are being asked to trust the diocese?
Make of it what you will.
Check out our earlier post on Common Core here.