The Choice between Common Courtesy and Virtue as seen through Sir Gawain (theme)

In JRR Tolkien’s translation of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, the introduction to Sir Gawain contains some interesting thoughts. This introduction is taken from a radio broadcast Tolkien did in 1953. At one point  on the topic of Gawain, Tolkien says, “We see him at the crisis of action forced to distinguish in a scale of value the elements of his code, preserving his chastity, and his loyalty on the highest plane to his host; finally rejecting in fact (if not in empty words) absolute worldly ‘courtesy,’ that is, complete obedience to the will of the sovereign lady, rejecting it in favor of virtue.” In Tolkien’s mind, Gawain, a very flesh and blood character with very human weaknesses, shows the battle between being courteous versus being virtuous. And what is virtuous about Gawain? “The noblest knight of the highest order of Chivalry refuses adultery, places hatred of sin in the last resort above all other motives, and escapes from a temptation that attacks him in the guise of courtesy through grace obtained by prayer.” Gawain rejects sin, but blind to the reverse (which is good) at the time uses hatred of sin in order to reject it. Gawain concludes that although courtesy is a good thing, it can also be used to tempt people to do something severely wrong. He feels ashamed at the end of the story. Perhaps Tolkien’s analysis gets us closer to knowing why Gawain gives himself a lifelong penance.

Reflection:

What a fantastic theme! Couldn’t this also be applied today? Isn’t there a temptation to give into political or social correctness in place of seeking the higher good? Are we blinded sometimes by something that seems good because it’s the courteous thing to do?

Let’s make another connection:

One of the things that seemed to make “chivalry” seem like such a bad thing, especially in the 20th century, was the misuse of the concept in the Old South. Southern white gentleman claimed a code of chivalry as the reason (or excuse) for their elite status. Thus, they could own slaves; they could be racist; they could be sexist. However, it could be argued that the Old South version of chivalry was far different from Sir Gawain’s chivalry. What are some ways that the social environment of the Old South was different from Europe in the Middle Ages? What are some things that were the same? Why is important to know that there was no slavery and that women were allowed an education in Middle Ages Europe when discussing this point? Is it possible to confuse chivalry with “common” courtesy?

Multi-literacies for connections:

The Watsons Go to Birmingham–1963 by Christopher Paul Curtis (1995)

Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell (1936)

“Letter from Birmingham Jail” by Martin Luther King, Jr. (1963)

Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass by Frederick Douglass (1845)

See also lyrics from Heather Dale’s version by visiting youtube and compare/contrast with the poem.

 

“Sir Orfeo,” a Middle English poem, translated by JRR Tolkien

Imagine a man who gives up his kingdom, becomes a beggar, and finds solace only in song, the earth, and the animals that surround him. He becomes bearded, in rags and earthy. And he does all of this because he has lost his wife. But lo! In his exile, he finds his wife, captured by the fairy world. He wins her back. They travel back to his kingdom. Not revealing who he is, wanting to know if his steward is still loyal to him, he gives his steward a test. A faithful steward he finds. The king reveals himself and with his queen he can take his rightful place. The kingdom rejoices! Such is the tale of Sir Orfeo.

If you need poetry from the Middle Ages but do not want to do one as lengthy as “Sir Gawain and the Green Knight” or Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales, you might find “Sir Orfeo” to be just right. The Tolkien translation is 604 lines long and is not only easy to understand but also comes with a great story, a story with a happy ending. The story of Orfeo, according to Norton, comes from a retelling of Ovid’s tale about Orpheus. However, Orfeo is in the tradition of a Breton lay, something commonly used during the Middle Ages in northern Europe for song and story. That means it is short, likable, and easily communicated. It has elements of tragedy, romance, and fantasy; virtues of fidelity, chastity, and courage; a plot that includes exile and return with a beginning, middle and end. If you want to take a step further, students could also find character traits from Sir Orfeo that compare with Tolkien’s Aragorn from his well-known Lord of the Rings trilogy. Thus, from building a simple lesson on poetry to using a poem that could set the stage for a unit on literature and culture from the Middle Ages, teachers could definitely use the fantastic story of “Sir Orfeo.”

This translation of “Sir Orfeo” from WW Norton comes with an introduction and more background information and is written in middle English, the kind you would find in reading a Chaucer original. While I might use this as a fun supplemental (so that students can see Middle English language), I prefer the Tolkien translation.

 

Quick Book Review: Cathedral, Forge, and Waterwheel; Technology and Invention in the Middle Ages

Authors: Frances & Joseph Gies

Year Published: 1994

Reading Level: High School. As with other non-fiction works, students should be encouraged to assess bias and assumptions.

Morality Level: Non-fiction.

Summary: While it can’t be said that this book contains all of the accomplishments of Europeans in the Middle Ages, it does go a long way to begin an investigation into the development of technology through the Middle Ages. It’s great for a reference book, giving names of documents, places, people, and artifacts that would help with any Middle Ages research project. However, the Celtics are left out of this reference book, so some of the information has the typical gaps seen in most histories written in the US. I strongly suggest reading books on Ireland in the Middle Ages in order to fill these gaps.

*Unfortunately, in my search to find a video for this post, I found a lot of historical errors in many of the videos on the Middle Ages. This persistent attachment to errors and biases about the Middle Ages will be hard to overcome. I even found some that claimed that they had come up with a radical “new” idea–perhaps the Gothic cathedrals used specific numeration and geometric. Really? I thought that as obvious. Anyway, I decided on the humorous rather than the factual.

 

Quick Book Review: A Modern Reader’s Guide to Dante’s The Divine Comedy by Joseph Gallagher (1996)

Author: Joseph Gallagher

Year Published: 1996

Reading Level: Moderate

Morality Level: Profound (Dante clearly had a sense of morality, philosophy, and theology, giving imagery to evil, that which lies between good and evil, and good; Gallagher creates a simple overview so that readers can get the big picture without getting lost in the details)

Summary: Because The Divine Comedy overflows with aesthetic qualities, symbolism, and meaning and because Gallagher uncovers some of them in his book, I decided it would be redundant to talk about the aesthetic qualities and symbolism of this book. Gallagher’s writing, however, is easy to follow, steering clear of the elitism of some scholars in academia. His book stands upon his expertise as a professor at Oxford, Loyola, Notre Dame, Johns Hopkins, and St. Mary’s, and he is also a priest. If you need the background knowledge, especially since Dante has influenced so many writers through the ages, then I would begin with his book. Gallagher begins each of the three parts with an outline and brings out points of interest. Of course, I wouldn’t stop there. This is the map. Reading Dante’s Divine Comedy would be the journey. Because Dante’s work is so rich, packed with knowledge, I would also suggest The Divine Comedy  and Gallagher’s commentary just to have a better grasp of Catholic and European history, and literature.

Sample Quotes:

“Worldly fame is nothing but a breath of wind/ that blows now here, now there,/ and changes its name when it changes its path” (Purgatorio, Canto XI).

Dante certainly grants poetry and poets a special place in his Comedy (Gallagher 102 on Canto 21 of Purgatorio).

Self-controlled people actually experience pleasure more sharply than others. Describing the angel’s motion, Dante stresses his own purified, heightened sensitivity by ending his canto with four uses of the word “feel,” two of them quite unusual (Gallagher 108 on Canto 24 of Purgatorio).

On Canto I of Paradiso–A natural instinct moves all creatures toward  their proper goal: “they move to diverse ports over the great sea of being” (Gallagher 135)

It has been said that a true scholastic seldom affirms, never denies, and always distinguishes. . . “Let us not be too sure in judging,” Aquinas summarizes (Gallagher 160 on Canto 13 of Paradiso).

Reference:

Gallagher, J (1996, 1999). A Modern Reader’s Guide to Dante’s The Divine Comedy. Liguori: Missouri.

 

 

Don’t fear the culture: Help students learn how to analyze problematic literature/films/music (quote)

And if, when occasion arises, it be deemed necessary to have the students read authors propounding false doctrine, for the purpose of refuting it, this will be done after due preparation and with such an antidote of sound doctrine, that it will not only do no harm, but will an aid to the Christian formation of youth. –Pius XI, Divini illius magistri, 86

 

Book Review: Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte (1847)

Author: Emily Bronte
Year Published: 1847
Reading Level: 9
Morality Level: cautious PG (dysfunctional families, immature responses to marriage, depression, consanguineous marriages, temper-tantrums, envy, bitterness, lying, vengeance, oppression, gossip)

About the Author: Born in England in 1818, her father was a clergyman. The fifth of six children, her mom died when she was 3 years old. Her two oldest sisters died when she was young as well. When she was six, she went to a school for the daughters of clergy but was treated so poorly that she only remained for a year. Most of her social life included her sisters and her servants, living a very quiet life. Some suggest that besides her sisters, her family members isolated themselves from each other even when they lived in the same house, and her older brother was abusive. In 1835, she attended another school for three months so was mostly educated at home. She enjoyed writing poetry with her sister Anne and wrote only one novel, Wuthering Heights. Anne and Charlotte also published books. Emily died when she was 30 years old.

Aesthetic Qualities: The book is written in the style of a framework story. Mr. Lockwood learns about the people who have lived at Wuthering Heights from meeting Heathcliff, Cathy Jr., and Hareton, and from the stories of Nellie, their housekeeper/nursemaid. In addition, there are stories within the stories that Nellie tells. It is like investigative work to figure out who Heathcliff and Catherine really are. However, because each part we learn of these two comes from different “story-tellers,” this novel also plays with perception. How reliable is the information from the one who tells? How could that person’s assumptions and biases being framing the characters? Does the story being told tell more about the storyteller than the people she speaks about?

Gleanings (educative, relatable themes and topics): healthy vs. unhealthy friendships, biases (class, race, and background), perspectives, assumptions, boredom, confinement, superficial vs. deep questions, servant vs. master, servant/master perspective, nature vs. nurture OR nature and nurture, making assumption on external appearances, dysfunctional behaviors, superstition, problems with elitism (snobbery), problems with isolation, does this novel have a Christian perspective?

Symbols: distance, wealth, poverty, hunger, books, heath, moor, houses, emaciation, kitchen, dogs, Heathcliff (the name), dark, light

Summary: The story begins with the framework of Mr. Lockwood, who has just rented a place owned by Heathcliff. Mr. Lockwood desires to be anti-social; that is, he desires to have limited contact with humans, so the area surrounding Wuthering Heights seems to be the perfect place. However, once he begins to interact with other “anti-social” people, he begins to think that it is not as ideal as he thought it would be. From his interactions with Heathcliff and his family and from the gossip that Nellie, their old housekeeper, provides, Mr. Lockwood constructs an image of Heathcliff and the people around Wuthering Heights.

Points of confusion/concern: The main characters, in my opinion, act like spoiled children. Spoiling a child can come from abuse (physical and psychological) or from giving into a child’s every want. The characters make use of both types of parental abuses. The families are isolated and have little contact with the rest of the world, which may contribute to their dysfunctional and self-centered behaviors. In addition, a consanguineous relationship is encouraged and seen as the most noble, the height and hope of what these families have to offer.

Opinion: In hopes that I do not hurt Emily’s feelings pr yours, dear reader, I thought that although I was intrigued in the beginning and found the shifts in perspective pleasant, sometimes almost funny, I did not enjoy this book overall. I was hoping for something akin to Shakespearean drama based on what opinions I had already heard, but my expectations went unfulfilled. Other than the style, I could not find anything else to like about this book. None of the characters were intriguing—there was no character development, but most of this book was a character sketch of other characters, according to another character. For me, it is really hard to stay with a book when I do not have at least one character to connect with in some way. There wasn’t any depth in their thinking; there was no struggling with moral decisions; there were just a lot of reactions and overreactions at that. And the story drove nowhere. I had to force myself to read this book but would not have persisted if it were not a requirement. I was bored and disappointed. In the end, the book seems like glorified gossip or a commentary on how people who are highly dysfunctional and flat can become legend merely by talking about them.

Research for connecting context:

• Framework stories: The framework is the story that connects all the stories, external like a decorative frame around a picture. A framework story is the story within the framework story—a story within a story. The framework and the framework stories are connected or interwoven with each other. It is told in a narrative that sometimes employs multiple genres; finding the main character may not be that simple but is often the person in the framework who also travels; this style is close to conversation (oral tradition); it is a common method for telling stories in all parts of the world through the centuries.
• Other examples are the following: the Book of Job (700’s BC), Gospels contain frames and framework stories (1st century AD), Echtrae Conli (Irish, 2nd century), Ramayana (Valmiki, 4th century), Urashimo Taro (Japan, 8th century), The Voyage of Brendan (Irish, 8th century), One Thousand and One Arabian Nights (10th century), Acallam na Senorach (Irish, 11th century), Decameron (Italy, 14th century), Canterbury Tales (England, 14th century), Utopia (England, 16th century), Frankenstein (England, 1818), The Sketchbook (United States, 1819), The Turn of the Screw (United States, 1898), Heart of Darkness (England, 1899), Citizen Kane (United States, 1941), It’s A Wonderful Life (United States, 1946), Princess Bride (United States, 1987), Titanic (United States, 1997), investigative or detective TV shows like Sherlock might also be considered frameworks with framework stories.
• Books in 19th century England: Compare Wuthering Heights with Pride and Prejudice—where books for the characters seemingly are a means to nobility in Bronte’s book, the main character in Austen’s novel seems to see books as a means to escape bad relationships and boredom. How do you see books? Find out who read a lot of books in the 19th century England and why.
• History of England (mid-19th century): Charles Dickens wrote A Christmas Carol in 1843, which may have been a commentary on Malthus’ economic policies from 1826; the Brownings are widely read; the British Empire continued to expand during this time; tired of the oppression of the British Empire (causing a famine in 1846), millions of Irish folk immigrated to the United States and other areas of the world; this immigration to the United States would make Catholicism the largest denomination in the US from that time forward; Karl Marx, though German, would become one of the European correspondents to the United States (New York) while working in England—his and Engels’ Manifesto would appear one year after the publication of Wuthering Heights; Charles Darwin and his cousin, Francis Galton, begin to propose that aristocracy (genius) is inherited and that they are meant to be in the top class (second half of the 19th century), adopting Gobineau’s theory that there is a superior race.
• US History: the US government makes public school compulsory, using textbooks that are in many cases anti-Catholic (1852); MacMillan publishing company is established in the British Empire (Scotland); after much criticism, Frederick Douglass finally publishes his narrative in 1845; the Mexican-American War begins in 1846, a time when the term “manifest destiny” is used for the first time; the Associated Press takes control of several smaller newspaper companies in New York; African Americans petition a Boston public school to be allowed enrollment, but they are denied; the American Medical Association is established in 1847; the Gold Rush begins one year later, and Mother Cabrini arrives in the US in 1849 to help Italian immigrants; a French Catholic scientist, Fizeau measures the speed of light; the Know-Nothings begin to cause riots and burn Catholic churches in anti-Catholic and anti-Negro protests in 1851; in that same year, Foucault, a French Catholic scientist, creates a pendulum to show the rotation of the earth while Mr. Singer from New York patents the sewing machine; in 1856, the American, Horatio Storer, begins to convince the American Medical Association that there are serious complications to a woman’s health when an abortion is performed—his main concern is women’s health; Poe, Cooper, Longfellow, Stowe, Melville Thoreau, and Hawthorne are American writers/novelists from this mid 19th century time period; Alexandre Dumas, French/African, was publishing many books at this time as well.
• Is it more likely for you to have read an English work or an American work from this time period? How about Catholic works from this time period? Have you read any works by Catholic writers from this time period? Explain.
• Article 8, the Eighth Commandment (Living in the Truth), CCC paragraphs 2464-2513

Striking Quotes:

“Well, if I cannot keep Heathcliff for my friend—if Edgar will be mean and jealous, I’ll try to break their hearts by breaking my own.” (Chapter 11)

“I hardly knew what to hide, and what to reveal.” (Chapter 26)

“[H]e was a model of a jailer—surly, and dumb, and deaf to every attempt at moving his sense of justice or compassion.” (Chapter 27)

Film Adaptation: Wuthering Heights, directed by Andrea Arnold (2011); Wuthering Heights, directed by William Wyler (1939). These two adaptations are very different. Analyze how biases can change how a story is conveyed.

Ref:

Biography-Emily Bronte. Retrieved from http://www.haworth-village.org.uk/brontes/emily/emily.asp

Emily Bronte (2011). Retrieved from http://academic.brooklyn.cuny.edu/english/melani/novel_19c/wuthering/

Dooley, Ann & Roe, Harry (1999). Tales of the elders of Ireland, a new translation of Acallam na Senorach. Oxford University Press: Oxford.

Harmon & Holman (2006). A handbook to literature, tenth edition. Pearson Prentice Hall: New Jersey.

Prosser, J (2014). A handbook of US Catholic history: Timeline, compilation, and reflection, 2nd edition.

 

Communication takes place when two minds meet (quote)

Because communication involves the simultaneous exercise of logic, grammar, and rhetoric, these three arts are the fundamental arts of education, of teaching, and of being taught. Accordingly, they must be practiced simultaneously by both teacher and pupil. The pupil must cooperate with the teacher; he must be active, not passive. The teacher may be present either directly or indirectly. When one studies a book, the author is a teacher indirectly present through the book. Communication, as the etymology of the word signifies, results in something possessed in common; it is a oneness shared. Communication takes place only when two minds meet.

–Sister Miriam Joseph, C.S.C., PhD. The Trivium: The Liberal Arts of Logic, Grammar, and Rhetoric, Understanding the Nature and Function of Language, p. 7

 

Book Review: Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury

Author: Ray Bradbury (1920-2012)

Year Published: 1951

Reading Level: 10

Morality Level: PG-13 (problems with drug abuse, depression and suicide, burning people, rage and violence, mentions abortion, ambiguity); some might consider the content R

About the Author: Born in Illinois. When he was 14, he and his family moved to Los Angeles, and he graduated from a high-school there. Most men during this time usually only finished the 8th grade, so he was able to extend his education longer than most. After finishing high-school, he sold newspapers during the day and went to the library at night to read and write. Like most men of his time, he did not go to college. Because of poor eyesight, he was not able to join the military during WWII. He became a full-time writer in 1943, starting by submitting short stories to magazines. He married in 1947 and remained married to his wife, Maggie, till death—they had four children. He is known for both his short stories and his many science-fiction novels (mostly dystopic).

He was also able to conceptualize the varying topics science-fiction could safely encounter, discuss, and handle, and perhaps even manipulate—religion, morality, politics, psychology, sociology, philosophy, history. (Wikipedia, the Ray Bradbury website, “The Day After Tomorrow: Why Science Fiction?” and the cover biography of Fahrenheit 451 published by Simon and Schuster Paperbacks).

Aesthetic Qualities: I think this was a great book. Bradbury is very good writer–he brings in certain details of beauty that contrast with the superficial qualities his main character begins to hate; he writes in a confusing way when the character is confused; and he references and alludes to so many other pieces of great literature, I lost count. This last aspect adds a lot of layers that could be further studied. There were also some very memorable quotes. This book is also not very long, which high-school students might appreciate. However, just because there are fewer words does not mean that there is not a lot of meaning to unfold.

Gleanings, or related topics and themes: problems of tyranny, importance of knowledge, importance of history, the importance of rest in contrast to recreation and work, connecting with others, problems of behaviorist psychology, indoctrination, and pleasure-stimulus/response methods of control (optimism minus reality), problems with addictions (technology and drugs), superficial versus deep happiness, problems with propagandized media, problems with censorship

Symbols: books, names of characters (Faber, Montag, Black, Clarisse), the Eye, salamander, phoenix, fire, city, nature, technology, light, darkness, noise, silence

Summary: Guy Montag is a fireman in a city. Firemen in his time do not put out fires and save people; rather, they start fires and sometimes burn people; they are hired primarily to burn books because books, not being politically correct, make people angry, conflicted, and sad, according to the government. Meanwhile, no one in the city really knows what is going on outside the city because everyone is constantly viewing and hearing superficial media that keeps them “happy;” thus, there are jingles playing over the loudspeaker on trains, large TVs on every wall, and electronic earpieces (like today’s earbuds) that people wear most of the time. In other words, no one talks to the person in front of him or her. And, on top of that, no one really cares that bombers are frequently flying over the city.

One day, however, Guy is confronted by a teenager (17), Clarisse, who talks to him. She asks questions and talks about feeling things, like rain. It feels strange to Guy to have someone connect with him. He feels confused and inspired at the same time. Incidentally, he has also been secretly hiding books but has not yet been brave enough to read them. One book in particular gets mentioned frequently—the Bible (Job, Ecclesiastes, Matthew 6:28/Luke 12:27). After a while, he realizes that he wants something deeper from life. He wants to take time to think about things, analyze them. He wants to connect with people. He wants to learn. He wants to read books. However, his wife, Mildred (more like a doll), is unwilling to detach from her fake ‘family’ whom she hangs out with every day in their living room via three life-size TV screens, so she alerts the Firemen and the chase begins.

Guy, with the help of Professor Faber, makes it out of the city, floating down a river into the countryside. He meets other people who read books and who try to memorize books in order to pass on the knowledge via oral tradition. The city, sadly, is flattened by a nuclear bomb, but Guy wonders if anyone within the city even realized that an explosion occurred.

Points of confusion/concern: While I think this book would be a great springboard for discussions on any of the gleanings I mentioned above, there does seem to be the tendency to be overly pessimistic with technology. The author, as many thinkers of his time did, falls into the dichotomous either/or method of thinking. So, the main theme seems to be that technology is all bad while nature is all good. Then, there is the contrast in behaviors: either you are full of rage or extremely passive. There is also image versus printed word. Another one that seems to appear is that intellectuals are all good while the masses are all dumb and therefore bad. And another, the majority is evil while the minority knows best. That is, I think Mr. Bradbury writes a little bit like an elitist, perhaps a dash of Nietzsche (?). I am open to discussing this point.

He also mentions the Anglican martyr, Nicholas Ridley (1555), which also might mean that his historical knowledge came mostly from England, which can lead one to the erroneous conclusion that Catholics hated knowledge, books, and history. This also might illuminate why he used dualistic thinking. His main character also remembers images of Saints and religion, both seeming so superficial and empty to him. Thus, I would be careful on this point since Catholics have been seen in a negative light in public education textbooks because England’s version of Catholic history changed for political reasons once the Anglican Church came into being and many publishers of textbooks had more loyalty to the English (dualistic) perspective rather than to the Catholic comprehensive perspective. Too, eventually publishers began to shine a negative light on religion and Christianity altogether because they thought Christians were backwards or unenlightened. This thought seems to be on the verge of emerging in this book. That said, there are several references to the Bible that counter this thought as well.

Some contradiction I found was in the education methods that were used on Guy Montag when he was a child; they were clearly indicative of an indoctrination type education (stimulus-response and memorization program), something that was really being experimented with in the 1950’s. But, in the end, the ones who find the books memorize books word for word. I am not sure that Guy has really escaped the main problem then.

There is no mention of man’s search for God from the heart. Guy wants to be able to read the Bible, yes, but only because he thinks he is missing out on knowledge and thinking. That might suggest, too, that Mr. Bradbury, or his main character, had a more gnostic view of God, i.e. you had to actually read about God in order to have superior knowledge of God. This would circle back to that sense that intellectuals are cast as the good people in the book while everyone else is not good.

I was also wondering how Guy could read the more complex words in the books he picked up since it sounded like he was only taught to read directions. Books had been banned since before he was born. Maybe I missed something. How would he know what the beautiful words mean or imply if he has never read them? How would he understand the allusions? How did his poetry reading make his wife’s friend cry?

And finally, the contest between printed word and image–this goes back to the dualistic thinking I discussed earlier. Words are symbols just as images are symbols. In fact, we usually create images in our mind as we read. I understand the potential fear people had of the newly growing medium of the 1950’s—TV—so this contest makes sense. However, people can read just as superficially as they can view film and shows. Thinking comes from the person, not from the printed word. However, the fear of images is somewhat balanced by the fear of psychiatry underlying the story. In point of fact, the main character fears a lot of different things in this story.

Opinion, actually more opinion: Now that we can look at the past 60 years in hindsight (he intended the setting to be around 1999), we can see that some people do tend to have addictions with technology BUT not all people do. After looking at educational philosophies over time, under the ambiguous umbrella of progressivism, I would say that the constant deletions and censorships in education has little to do with technology, as Mr. Bradbury implied, and more to do with politics. In fact, it is a good cautionary tale on what happens when politicians continuously delete or derange historical information and literature—people no longer know why certain actions have bad consequences nor do they know how to solve problems. Overall, I think you can have great discussions in the high-school classroom with this book.

Research that would help with the context of this book are the following:

• BF Skinner and behaviorist psychology (stimulus-response)
• On Free-Choice of the Will by Augustine
• Happiness: Catechism of the Catholic Church, paragraph 1720
• Atheism: Catechism of the Catholic Church, paragraph 2123-2128
• McCarthyism
• Propaganda, communism, materialism, and consumerism
• Post-WWII cultural identity issues
• Ray Bradbury’s writings on science fiction, for example, “The Day After Tomorrow: Why Science Fiction?”

Referenced Literature and Historical Persons: Benjamin Franklin, Plato, Whitman, Swift (Gulliver’s Travels), Milton, Shakespeare, Pope, Sydney, Shaw, Dante, Uncle Tom’s Cabin, Little Black Sambo, Jefferson, Socrates’ cave to name a few.

Striking Quotes:

“The home environment can undo a lot you try to do at school. That’s why we’ve lowered the kindergarten age year after year until now we’re almost snatching them from the cradle.” (57)

“If you don’t want a man unhappy politically, don’t give him two sides to a question to worry him; give him one.” (58)

“Cram them full of non-combustible data, chock them so damned full of ‘facts’ they feel stuffed, but absolutely ‘brilliant’ with information. Then, they’ll feel they are thinking, they’ll get the sense of motion without moving.” (58)

“When do I start working things out on my own?”
“You’ve started already, by saying what you just said. You’ll have to take me on faith.”
“I took the others on faith!”
“Yes, and look where we’re headed. You’ll have to travel blind for awhile. Here’s my arm to hold onto.”
“I don’t want to change sides and just be told what to do. There’s no reason to change if I do that.”
“You’re wise already!” (89)

“Go home.” Montag fixed his eyes upon her [Mrs. Phelps, his wife’s friend], quietly. “Go home and think of your first husband divorced and your second husband killed in a jet and your third husband blowing his brains out, go home and think of the dozen abortions you’ve had, go home and think of that and your damn Caesarean sections, too, and your children who hate your guts! Go home and think how it all happened and what did you ever do to stop it? Go home, go home!” he yelled. (98)

Film Adaptation: Fahrenheit 451 (1966); I think it would be interesting if this film were remade. A film story-telling versus book story-telling of this book about books essay might make for a fascinating compare/contrast essay, too:)

 

Catholic and Jewish Literary Inventions and Conventions (information)

Background

Without getting too much into history and theory, I just wanted to clarify a couple of points. These are all conventions that Catholic and Jewish writers adopted in addition to some actual writing inventions by Catholic and Jewish writers. Writing conventions were usually adopted from the oral traditions of cultures—the ways in which people taught, told stories, sang songs, and communicated information. In most cases, people speak or express a new literary invention before it becomes a writing convention. Here, in addition to contributions from Eastern writing concepts (i.e. paper, imagists, iconography), I must mention the influence of the Greek and Latin traditions. So much of what we still use today in the English language can be attributed to the Greeks and Latin speakers. However, an often overlooked group in why we say what we say also comes from the Hebrew language tradition. I go back and forth, wondering if it is actually English I speak and write or if it is actually an English version of Greek, Latin, and Hebrew. We, all human beings, are heirs to a language tradition that has roots that reach far, far back in history.

Word.

Anyway, it is erroneous, then, to think that whoever wrote something down first was the first to tell a certain story or think a certain thought in a certain way. Words travel faster and more expressively through people than through print. Oral tradition has been and probably still is a much more common way to tell stories and pass on information. People talk more and listen faster than what can be written and read. Dialogue is still the best way to effectively communicate something to others if you hope for understanding. From this source of communication, language continues to change and be shaped by human beings based on what people want to convey and how people understand what is being conveyed. That is, spoken language is very dynamic and living, expanding through time.

The language we use today is built upon the labor and capital of those who labored before us, so to speak. That said, language still tries to convey the same fundamental questions humans have today as those questions of yesterday—life, death, happiness, pain, goodness, trial, triumph, exile, confusion, growth, exploration, desire, relationship, freedom, oppression, love. In ancient times, many people used mythology to explore these questions. Today, we do the same just in new forms. Even if we can’t understand the words and images our ancestors of the past used, we understand the questions they had.

That means that written work immediately becomes an artifact, language captured as it is known in the historical moment. It is akin to technology, which is ever changing. Not many people use an Apple II computer because computers have changed dramatically through human innovation. In the same way, not many people communicate through ballads. Writing innovation creates and employs new technologies in order to communicate with others through time and space. Innovative writing comes when a person consciously shapes a written work in order to communicate to others—writers make the shaping of words an art form just as sculptors make the shaping of elements of the earth an art form—a creative act of the human being, inspired. The wonderful thing about writing is that it is a process of reciprocation—you learn more as you write more because you are inspired to wonder more.

Note: For the most part, I tried to put these inventions and conventions in chronological order under each subtopic. I also tried to give the earliest example of each. Many of the earliest examples are, of course, from Jewish writers; after Jesus, most examples of developments in writing come from Catholic writers; a few examples are from Protestant contributors (American writers).

Word: Which comes first? The word or the idea? Could both happen simultaneously?

The Primary and Most Important Instrument of Language: The Human Being

• Thought—what we think and how we think
• Perception—what we perceive and how we perceive it
• Voice—what we say and how we say it; what we hear and how we hear it
• Body Language (Vision)—what we express and how we express it; what we see and how we understand it

How do you communicate what is said and perceived?

What else do you need to know?

• Who says what
• When it is said
• Why is it said

Early Human Expression, Questions, and Understanding

Creation story: One that fairly accurately explains the order in which things and people were created.

Genealogies: One that connects people that exist today with people of ancient times. Couples to families to tribes to nations to kingdoms to the entire earth.

Why me, God? Literature: Narrative of the relationship between humans and One God, One that connects to all three major, monotheistic religions still in action today.
Feminine literature: A book dedicated entirely to the memory of one real woman–Ruth.
Prayers to God: Prayers that include all the varying emotions that humans have, from despair to hope, fear to strength, hatred to love, confusion to clarity. Jewish writers were not indifferent but heartily involved.

Law: One that combines ethical standards and religion. Many other polytheistic religions often had unethical gods.

Ecclesiastical Information: How should a priest be and act?

Maxims and Wisdom: Like Confucius (6th century BC, China), Solomon a few hundred years earlier developed several maxims, proverbs, that were the fruits of his own wisdom-seeking.

Love Poetry: The Song of Songs from Solomon’s time is still considered to be one of the most imagery-rich love poems of all time. Its historical significance and its timelessness fascinates poets even today. Not only is it full of imagery, unlike Egyptian love poetry, Song of Songs contains a definitive strain of hope interwoven throughout.

Prophecy: From the pagan, who could not help but give the “face the reality” prophecy to the last minor prophet in the Old Testament, Jewish writers thought prophecy important enough to log in their records.

The Word: He walks; He talks; He sleeps; He eats; He dwells; He inspires; He manifests what He speaks; He was in the beginning, is now, and ever will be.

Technological Advances

Phonetic Symbols: an invention from the Phoenician traders and merchants, a Semitic people (800-1000 BC). Whereas other cultures were using picture symbols, the Phoenicians decided to create symbols that would represent sounds. This opened up the possibilities for combinations, which could exponentially multiply and transform, opening an even bigger door that would help people develop and adopt concepts that had not yet been seen or spoken. This way of writing would be adopted first by the Greeks, then by the Latin speakers. Arabic linguists also adopted this way of writing. However, in addition to the consonants, which the Phoenicians used, the Greek and Latin speakers would create vowel sound symbols. The sound symbols that people in the West (from Europe to the Americas) use today are Latin symbols. Incidentally, most of the vocabulary we use in the West uses roots from both Greek and Latin languages. Catholics adopted playwriting, epic poetry, dialogue philosophy, and cataloguing from the Greek and Latin traditions.

Author’s Overview, Purpose, Method, and Apology: Not only does the author of Maccabees give an overview of what he will talk about, he talks about his purpose and the method he will use in telling the story. After he tells the story, he writes an apology because he cannot tell if he wrote well or not. Indeed, this was a very scientific approach to story-telling. See Maccabees, 2nd century BC.

The Book or Codex (1st century): Rather than keeping with the tradition of scroll-writing as the Hebrews, Greeks, and Romans had done or with the tradition of tablet-writing as other cultures had done, Christians decided to keep everything they wrote down in something called a book. It travels well; it won’t come unrolled; it can hold a collection of works; it doesn’t take as much time to write a word as it would engraving on a tablet. Fast, efficient, mobile—the book, next to phonetic symbols, was another of the highest, most influential inventions.

Illuminated texts: Gold-plated, illustrious letters and images, all wrapped into one book. St. Brigid is sometimes attributed as starting this tradition, 525.

Cyrillic alphabet: After encountering people who did not have their language written down, Saints Cyril and Methodius decided it would be a good idea to develop a printed version of all the languages they heard different tribes speaking, 800s.
Paper mills began to be introduced in the 1000’s in Spain.

Fibonacci patterns and numbers: Seeing patterns in nature and adopting Arabic numerals is attributed to Fibonacci. How much easier would it become for Catholic mathematicians to grapple with more difficult problems (early 1200’s).
Printing press: Johannes Gutenberg, 1436.

Gregorian Calendar: Peter Chaco, Christopher Clavius, Ignatius Dante, 1582.

Technical writing: Although Aristotle covered fairly well the art of categorization, several Catholic scholars adopted his methods in order to advance theories. For example, Isidore of Seville, (doctor of the Church) 600’s; Albertus Magnus (doctor of the Church), 1200’s; Fr, Luca Borga, 1494; Leonardo da Vinci, 1480’s; Father Nicolaus Copernicus, 1514; Vesalius, Fallopius, Eustachius (saint), 1543; Audubon, 1830’s.

Scientific treatise: Montaigne actually developed the essay as a genre in 1580; however, Catholic scientists were writing about science before that convention; Agricola, 1550; Casalpinus, 1583; Galileo, 1586; Sanctorius, 1611; Kepler, 1615; Descartes, 1637; Torricelli, 1643; Pascal, 1653; Steno, 1664; Grimaldi, 1665; Picard, 1666; Castelnuovo, 1667; Galvani, 1771; Jusseui family, 1772; Father Gregor Mendel, 1856.

Newspapers: Johann Carolus, 1605.
Magazines: 1663 in Germany.
Telephones: Manzetti, 1864.
Record players (phonographs), Thomas Edison, 1877.
Radio: Marconi, 1894, music, news, talk shows by 1920.
Newsreel: Pathe Freres, 1908.
Television: 1950’s, genres include episodic, saga, games, news, reality, market, sitcoms, etc.
Video games: 1970’s, genres include competitive, puzzles, saga, episodic.
Personal Computers: 1980’s.
The Internet: 1990’s.
Social media: 2000’s.
Online research: dictionaries, encyclopedias, music, games, bookstores and libraries that use Latin symbols, Greek and Latin roots, and phonics from the Phoenicians.

Writing Words, Creating Literature Genres

Autobiography: Augustine, late 300’s.
Mystery Plays: started as early as the 400’s.
Fenian Lay: Also called the Gaelic or Breton Lay, this is a type of lyric poem that writers had heard poets develop in Celtic cultures.

Framework Story: A device used in Job as well in stories in the Gospels of Mark and Luke, the framework became a good way to knit stories together. Examples are Echtrae Conli (2nd century Ireland), The Voyage of Brendan (Ireland, 700’s) The Tales of the Elders of Ireland (1100’s, Ireland), Decameron (1300’s, Italy) and Canterbury Tales (late 1300’s England). It was also used in the East and is still used today, as in, for instance The Princess Bride.

Afterlife Stories: Dante’s The Divine Comedy, early 1300’s; the Irish also have stories that contain visions and interaction with the Otherworld, seen a few hundred years before Dante.

Romance: Darmait and Grainne, Tristan and Isolde, the Knight’s Tale

Novel: Although not typically attributed to the Irish, I would say that the novel was an Irish invention. They did not write their stories in poetic verse. They told their stories with prose, dialogue and description. They also inserted small lyric poems throughout their tales, like what is seen in Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings.

Fairy tales and fables: Rather than employing the fickle polytheistic gods, these tales were created to teach virtues, morality, and life-lessons through the metaphors of monsters, animals, nature, and magic. See also Fabiliaux and Ballads

Petrarchan Sonnet: mid-1300’s
Dark Night poetry: John of the Cross, late 1500’s.
Utopian Literature: Sir Thomas More, 1516.
English Sonnet: Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey (martyr), 1547.
Essays: Montaigne, 1580.
Villanelle: Jean Passerat, 1602
Heroic couplet: Alexander Pope, Catholic, early 1700’s.
Short stories: Washington Irving, 1819.
Graphic novel: Rodolphe Topffer, 1827.
Detective stories: Poe, 1841.
Swashbucklers: Dumas (1840’s)
Slave narratives: Frederick Douglass, 1845.
Sprung Rhythm poetry: Father Gerard Manley Hopkins, late 1800’s.
Science-Fiction: Jules Verne, 1864.
Science-Fiction film: A Trip to the Moon by Melies, 1902.
Narrative film: The Life and Passion of Jesus Christ by the Pathe Brothers, 1905.
20th Century Mythology (science fiction in comic strip, cartoon, TV, film): Superman, Spiderman, Captain America, Star Wars, Star Trek, starting in the 1930’s.

New Concepts Conveyed; Old Concepts Adopted and Expanded

Translations between languages: Because missionaries encountered so many different cultures with so many different languages, they needed to develop “keys” in order to move from culture to culture. While some Catholics are given the gift of tongues, these Catholics know that others could be helped with translation guides, for instance, English, Promptorium Parvulorum (1440) by Galfridus Grammaticus, a Dominican monk.

Vernacular languages and mythologies: Missionaries from early Christian centuries to the Spanish and French exploration of cultures of the earth wrote down several hundred languages and mythologies. By 1758, Catholic missionaries had developed grammar books for 40 different languages in the Americas and had written 300 languages down. One extensive collection of vernacular stories starting in the 500’s comes from Ireland. However, it was a practice adopted by many countries who had been influenced by Christianity (see also King Alfred, Charlemagne, Snorri, Bridget of Sweden). Wherever Christian missionaries go, cultural vocabulary expands as it adopts words from other cultures that Christians interact with.

Fulfillment of the Old Testament: the New Testament writers tell that Jesus teaches through parables, analogies, and metaphors based on real life situations.

Journalism and Biography: Observations of a life from several first-hand sources as well as historical, contextual information from other sources.

Theological Treatise on Love: Starting with John, continued by many Saints through the centers even unto today.

Rapturous/Ecstatic/Mystical Union Literature: Revelations, Interior Castles, the Viewings, etc.

Letter writing: Not only were men writing letters, women were writing letters from a very early time in the Church’s history (1st century AD forward); see also Maccabees, which has copies of letters from the Maccabee time period (2nd century BC).

Hagiographies: Biographies of saintly people began early in the Church’s history. As time went on, scribes and writers began to integrate this with beautiful illustrations, perhaps developing what could be called the first picture books. The Canticle of St. Eulalia, 9th century France

Martyrology: A hall of fame of people who did heroic acts of love according to their time, space, and situation.

Creed: What is it that we believe?

Apologetics: How do we discern the difference between those who are authentically trying to be Christian and those who might just be faking it? Then, how do we defend our belief? Faith and reason. Many of the early Church Fathers created quite a repertoire of defense and reason to believe that the Word did really dwell among us.

Encyclopedias with anatomy, plant life, rock formations: In keeping with Greek philosophers, many Catholic writers wrote extensive encyclopedias on varying topics. Nature became an important topic to cover for several Catholic writers once Christianity became socially acceptable. See also Audubon, French American

• Medicines and healthcare became an important topic to uncover once Christianity became socially acceptable.
• Philosophy became an important topic to question once Christianity became socially acceptable.
• Human rights and law became an important topic to understand once Christianity became socially acceptable.

Iconography and the Greek Fathers: Where symbol and image meet. It is not a symbol that represents a sound nor a symbol that represents an image. It is an image that reveals theological mysteries. Irenaeus, Clement, Cyril, Athanasius, the Cappadocians, John Chrysostom, John of Damascus. Byzantium, 500’s to 1400’s.

The Consolation of Philosophy: St. Severinus Boethius, 524; he also translated Aristotle from Greek to Latin.

The Trivium: Conceptualized by Maurentius (Martianus) Capella in the 400’s, Catholic educational theorists adopted this profound understanding of language in order to continue study through language. In addition to those three aspects of the language, Catholic teachers via Boethius would teach the theory and application of number and the theory and application of matter (quadrivium). These seven aspects of human learning would be called the Liberal Arts Education.

Higher-learning, scholarly writing: The first colleges or educational centers began to open in Ireland. Because so many people begin to be educated, Ireland becomes known as the island of scholars and saints. Several cultures ask for Irish scribes to record languages and teach writing, beginning in the 500’s.

Libraries: Christian scholars also kept libraries (early 200’s); Christian merchants would also build bookstores.

Literature on the gifts of woman: Hildegard von Bingen, 1100’s; Juan Luis Vives, 1523, de institutione feminae christianae; Emilia Lanier, 1611; Sor Juana de la Cruz, 1690’s; Anna Laetitia Barbauld, 1795.

Reflection journals and diaries: Petrarch (1300’s); Samuel Pepys (1660-69); Anne Frank (1940’s), Sister Faustina (1930’s).

Extensive Dialogues with God: Catherine of Siena (1300’s), Julian of Norwich (1400’s), Catherine of Genoa (1400’s).

Scholastic thinking and writing: Ascertaining inconsistencies, gaps, and ambiguities in literature; making connections; analytical thinking. It should be noted that Aquinas, dictating his thoughts to up to five different scribes at one time, has still not been translated completely into English, 1200’s. Scholasticism really helped science and discernment advance.

Spiritual Exercises: Ignatius, 1522.
International law and issues of social justice: Vitoria, 1526-1540.
Informational pamphlets: St. Francis de Sales, early 1600’s.
Act of Toleration: Calvert, 1634.
Declaration of Independence: 1776.

Writing Music (Words and Melody)

Gregorian Chant: Pope Gregory, 590; plainchant was also and still is used in the Byzantine rite.

Folk music: From every culture with diverse instruments and lyrics; folk music has influenced the development of music from the piano sonata to today’s rock. It did not necessarily need to be written to be learned by another musician. However, in the 11th century, Guido of Arezzo developed a system of musical notation that would standardize the “letters” of music; in that way, music could be shared without having to be played and heard first.

Choir music: Old Hall Manuscript, 1420.
Operas: Dafne by Jacopo Peri, 1598
Arias, solo music: Caccini, 1602.
Symphonies: Sammartini, Brioschi, Galimberti, Lampugnani, Mozart, Haydn, Beethoven, beginning in the 1700’s.
Piano sonatas: Scarlatti, Bach, Handel, early 1700’s.
Musicals: Offenbach, Gilbert and Sullivan, Harrigan and Hart, Irving Berlin, Rodgers and Hammerstein, beginning in the mid-1800’s.
Southern Spirituals: began to be recognized in 1800’s but were developed before that time.
Ragtime: Ernest Hogan, 1895; Scott Joplin, 1899; jazz and rock ‘n’ roll develops from the southern spirituals and ragtime.

After that, well…we have movie soundtracks, country, pop, reggae, alternative, rap, heavy metal, hard rock, electronic, disco, and on…

Have you ever wondered what it would be like if Judeo-Christian tradition had not come into being? Where would the ideas that we so love today be?

What a beautiful flourishing of ways in which to communicate!

Don’t be afraid to try something new or renew something old:)

____________________________________________

References:
Calvert, JB (1999). The Latin Alphabet. Retrieved from http://mysite.du.edu/~etuttle/classics/latalph.htm
Dillon, Myles (1948). Early Irish literature. Four Courts Press: Dublin, Ireland.
Dooley, Ann & Roe, Harry (1999). Tales of the elders of Ireland, a new translation of Acallam na Senorach. Oxford University Press: Oxford.
Epistolae: Medieval Women’s Letters. Retrieved from http://epistolae.ccnmtl.columbia.edu
Harmon & Holman (2006). A handbook to literature, tenth edition. Pearson Prentice Hall: New Jersey.
Howatson, MC (1989). The Oxford Companion to Classical Literature. Oxford University Press: Oxford.
McTurk, R. (2005). Chaucer and the Norse and Celtic Worlds. Ashgate Publishing, Ltd.
Ni Bhrolchain, Muireann (2009). An introduction to early Irish literature. Four Courts Press: Dublin, Ireland.
Prosser, J (2014). A handbook for US Catholic history: Timeline, Compilation, Reflection, 2nd Edition.
Thamis (2012). The Phoenician alphabet and language. Retrieved from http://www.ancient.eu.com/article/17/
The Pathe Brothers. Feature film, multi-reel. The Life and Passion of Jesus Christ (1905) http://www.decentfilms.com/reviews/lifeandpassionofjesus Science fiction feature, A Trip to the Moon. The newsreel. Lumiere (1896), Melies (1897), the train ride.
TimeMaps (2014). The Phoenicians were a Canaanite people…. Retrieved from http://www.timemaps.com/civilization/Phoenicians

 

Weighing the Common Core (opinion piece)

I admit it. I am dumbfounded. No, maybe I am confounded. Maybe it is bewildered or perplexed or confused. It’s all just been so fascinating to me–this controversy over the Common Core.

Many states have been adopting the Common Core standards. Several governors got together and decided that American children were too far behind other children in developed countries. They decided that they needed to create some standards so that schools would know what children might need in the future, a future that increasingly requires an ability to talk with people from other countries because of the advances in technology. I am actually not in favor of comparing ourselves with other countries to see who is best since innovation seems to be one of America’s best attributes and since many states did do as well as some of those top countries, but it does concern me that many Americans know so little about other people in the world, about philosophy, about history, about economics (math), and about language on average.

Today, the Common Core contains standards that many teachers use to build daily, weekly, and unit lessons. Some would say these standards are goals–children need to know this and that’s it. Done. Others would say standards serve as a baseline to reach then go above and beyond–at the very least, children need to know this by the end of the school year but we can expand or deepen our lessons, challenge our students. Many states have adopted the Common Core standards, but in places like Colorado, there are many additions. Colorado’s standards are far more elaborate. Though elaborate, the standards are rather general. Teachers can do a lot with, for example:

 i.    Analyze how a modern work of fiction draws on themes, patterns of events, or character types from myths, traditional stories, or religious works such as the Bible, including describing how the material is rendered new. (CCSS: RL.8.9)

This is Common Core State Standard for Reading, Writing, and Communicating for grade 8. They do not say which stories to pick, which interpretation to use, or what to do with the standard. I could compare, let’s say, Thor from the Avengers to the Saxon mythology of Thor. Sounds fun to me. Students, however, need to learn how to analyze modern fiction by comparing it or even connecting it to stories from the past. What’s the same. What’s different. Making connections; compare/contrast–those are both good ways to analyze story.

As a side note, some think that Common Core addressed science and social science as well, but according to the Common Core site, they only addressed literacy and math. Any standards that states employ that go beyond reading, writing, and arithmetic have been found from some other source, such as the National Science Teachers Association. It would be good to find out what their worldview is.

Let’s ask a few questions, though, to see if we can try to understand the controversy.

• Where do standards come from?
• Where do assessment tests come from?
• What is a standard?
• Who decided it was a standard?

Before jumping into that, however, I would like to point out a couple of problems that educators are facing–one, literacy; two, math. I won’t deal with the math issue, but I will deal with the literacy issues since this site is for Language Arts. Math teachers can tackle the math problems:) I am happy to tackle language issues.

Literacy. We have serious problems with literacy in the United States. If we think staying with the status quo, keeping the same bad methodologies and standards, will eventually help students figure out how the language works…some day, then we (average Americans) must be okay with not being able to read very well.

Where did these bad methodologies come from? The 1950’s and 60’s. Educators became increasingly experimental with their approaches abandoning phonics, explicit instruction in grammar, the revealing of text patterns, and whole host of other things that teachers had used to help Americans become highly literate. The 1930’s and 40’s 8th grade student had a far higher literacy ability than probably a lot of college students today. If you look at bestsellers for adults from the 1950’s, you can see that these folks were reading at a 13th grade readability level at least. These folks from the past didn’t go to high-school, but they were really able readers. Today, bestsellers for adults are on average written to a 5th grade readability level. Note, more people (a higher percentage) go to college today than they did in the 1930’s. That means: More school. Less knowledge. Sorry to say. The other sad fact is that African Americans were at 84% literacy by the 1930’s, but, today, this group of Americans is barely hanging onto 55% literacy and based on lower standards at that. That is, they are at the same level or below the level of literacy that African Americans were at during Reconstruction in the late 19th century, a couple decades post-slavery (Sweet 2004). Thus, in general, because of poor literacy instruction for most American students over several decades and because of lowering standards to accommodate lowering norms, many Americans are far less literate and far less able to read higher level material.

How susceptible are Americans to those who are strong in higher level thinking, in higher level literacy, in higher level standards? Can Americans read legal jargon if they can only read at a 5th grade level? What kinds of laws can be passed when someone can only read at a 5th grade level? How well can Americans, today, understand what the media, the Pope, a documentary, a commentary, or an advertisement really means if they can only read at a 5th grade level?

With Common Core, teachers are required to know several aspects of the language. How can a person tell if a person is using the tools of persuasion to convince people of his argument? This is an example of a Common Core standard for reading and writing. What are the tools of persuasion? Were you taught that in middle school? How about high-school? Will teachers try to use the standards to meet their own worldview? It is definitely general enough that teachers, schools, and school boards can teach a very strange worldview. Is that new? How long have some educators been pushing their own agenda? But, Common Core is also general enough to teach a very good worldview. You just need to be creative, and you need to be able to see it as a baseline, a place where students can begin to meet others in a highly literate forum.

These standards feel different to teachers and parents, but I would imagine that many of the teachers might not even be able to teach some of the standards because they themselves were never taught, for instance, dangling modifiers. Parents, on the other hand, are not used to being able to see the standards so explicitly stated. Standards have always existed; they’ve just never been so explicit. If standards had not existed, there would be no need to test students for admission to college or career-entry. But, that leads to an opinion piece for another time.

College. Anyway, explicit grammar instruction has been missing from a lot of schools for many decades. When I went to ADVANCED GRAMMAR class in COLLEGE, the majority of English majors there did not even know the names of the parts of speech. English majors did not know parts of speech! Keep in mind, 40% of college students today need remediation before they can take regular college courses, then they need a couple more years of college level English classes to even get to these sorts of classes–this was an upper level course. This is what professors are seeing in college. They have classes full of students who do not know how to write, how to discuss topics, and probably are not proficient at reading. What about researching a piece of literature, an author, or an event? How can that happen when students can only read at a 5th grade level?

Career-options. For those who want to drive right into a career instead of college, 40% of those students, who graduate from high-school, do not have enough literacy to be employable–they cannot understand training manuals, directions, etc. (Marchand-Martella, et al.) Thus, it is not only in college that students are struggling–it’s in their jobs. How can a population who cannot get a job ever support themselves?

It’s at this point that I get a little, no, pretty perturbed. What have educators been doing to Americans for the past several decades? How did we get here? Why did they have to throw so much goodness out the window? Why did they have to experiment with something as important as education? Who benefits from a population of illiterate and dependent people? Does anybody? Really? Have you ever had an English instructor that knows less about creating an essay than you? Have you had an English instructor who does not know how to read your paper because you use too many complex sentences? Is that really where we want to be?

Standards. So, where do these standards for literacy come from? Some states use norms to create literacy standards. That is, wherever 50% of students can do better and 50% of students do worse is the standard–the middle. The problem with that sort of standard is that the 50th percentile today is at about the 10th percentile of yesterday. How hard would it be for a student to read something from the past if they can barely understand the higher level writing?

Other state standards used certain criteria to base their standards–for instance, what does someone need to know in order to be able to have a job or go to college in the future? These standards are far more goal oriented. The only difficulty with these types of goals is that no one knows for sure what kind of jobs will be available in the future. We can make educated guesses on what kinds of skills future people may need, but we cannot imagine what kinds of jobs a person will create in that future. It’s good to remember at this point that assessments test artifacts or historical realities–they test for skills that people already use and have used and for criterion-based standards that people have historically met. For example, it would be hard for a person in the 1700’s to know what kind of technological skills a student would need in the 21st century when faced with building a car. The 18th century person would be ill-equipped to build a criterion-based test for a 21st century student. That said, these criterion-based standards are usually far higher than norm-based standards because they are goal-oriented rather than norm-adjusted.

Assessments. Assessments that test standards, however, originally came from textbook surveys. I think a better questions would be, where do textbooks get their information? Who makes textbooks? Since many science and social science standards come from textbooks that have been made in the past, I would definitely ask these questions: Who are the authors? What were their beliefs? What is their worldview? In English class, I would ask, who made the canon? Why did they choose these authors? I think it is fair to say that now parents can read the math and literacy standards, made explicit on Common Core sites, and know what their students are being taught to an extent. Prior to this time, everyone just accepted what the textbook said, as if it were a dogmatic proclamation on knowledge. If nothing else, the Common Core standards have made explicit what has been taught implicitly in some states for decades.

It is also helpful to know that the standards have no “do-not-teach-this or thats” in them. For those teachers who think they needed to stop teaching cursive because the standards do not say that specifically, I think, is a cop-out. Of course, cursive is useful and necessary for reading historical documents. My son’s teacher still teaches it even with the Common Core standards because she know it helps in subsequent grades. Any teacher who reads the standards and thinks that the standard is all she needs to teach has set the bar too low; she could probably wrap up class in a couple weeks, too. There is also no source that says you must use Houghton-Mifflin, Prentice Hall, or Saxon in order to teach these standards. School boards choose the publishers they think best suits their schools. Again, look at the textbooks! That is where worldviews are taught. And, for goodness sake, get know your school board, your principal, and your teachers–the school board chooses curriculums; the teachers are hired to implement them. That reality can be attributed to Horace Mann from the 19th century.

Assessment frenzy. Are students over-assessed? Yes! People in general are. How many assessment tests have you taken recently? How many ways are you assessed everyday? In addition, the assessment tests via computer are probably the most limited way to assess students–they are boring and mostly multiple choice. It can only grasp at a superficial knowledge, or memory knowledge. Now, we could say that this is all the educator’s fault, but I would venture to say that it is advances in technology that have brought this onslaught of assessment promises to the front. Test your mood; test your personality; test your friends; test your dog; test your credit score; test your IQ; test, test, test. Computer assessments are cheaper and quicker, which is probably why they have been so widely used. Some educators and philosophers had already been warning about the dehumanizing effects of assessment technology–to make students mere input and output numbers is just not a good thing (Facer, 2012; John Paul II, 1995). We definitely can do a better a job with our balance in the arena of technology. We can either let it control us; or, we can use it as a tool and be the master of technology for the common good. This overemphasis on assessments is a late-20th and 21st century problem we need to address as humans.

Wrapping-up. So today, we have assessments and standards. Standards come from textbooks, employer expectations, college expectations, and norms–some, one, or all of those. We have literacy problems in the US that makes it hard for students to hold an intelligent conversation with someone on the other side of the world, of the country, or of the city. These students who are not literate are also more susceptible to manipulation by those who are strong in the language (Sister Miriam Joseph). Additionally, they cannot express themselves because they have not acquired enough vocabulary to express the intricacies of human thought (Edith Stein). And unfortunately, they won’t be able to get a decent job because they do not know how to read the training manuals (Marchand-Martella, et al.). Some people thought that if we assessed students with the latest technology, students might figure out how to read better. The problems, however, are much deeper.

My honest opinion, the education system has had serious problems for several decades. It’s beginning to show. Some people are trying to fix it, but they didn’t realize how deep and serious the problems actually are and were.

If you are having problems with the Common Core standards today, I would have you ask these questions:

• Did you ever have problems with what teachers were teaching before the Common Core?
• Did you know that teachers never could pick the curriculum–your school board did?
• Did you know that many standards, especially from science and social science, came from textbooks from authors who have been read for decades?
• Do you know the worldview of the authors of these textbooks?
• Did you know that teachers have only been required to use methods that actually work in order to teach that curriculum for the past ten years?
• Did you know that only a small percentage of money for your state-run schools comes from the Federal government?
• Did you know that your state officials agreed to take the money and uphold some sort of standard in return for the money?
• Did you know that your state officials are the ones who supported Common Core?
• Can you see how knowing the explicit standards might actually help you as a parent?

Some do not like Common Core because they think the standards are far too advanced for their students.

Some do not like Common Core because they think the standards are watered-down.

Some do not like Common Core because they see what the schools actually teach.

Some do not like Common Core because they think we are heading to a nationalized curriculum.

I think that last concern, a national curriculum, is the only valid concern, but states do not have to accept federal money. Once you depend on someone else for finances, you’ve allowed them to take a step into your life. But, this lends to an entirely different sort of article.

People from both sides of the political spectrum are struggling with the standards, but for very different reasons. I am just wondering why people were not this concerned with what was being taught before the Common Core came into existence.

Let me know your thoughts!

*Note, Core Knowledge is a whole different beast, which may or may not integrate into Common Core. I may tackle that one at a later date.

References:

Common Core State Standards Initiative. Retrieved from http://www.corestandards.org/resources/frequently-asked-questions

CDE state standards–reading, writing, and communication. Retrieved from http://www.cde.state.co.us/coreadingwriting/statestandards

Facer, K. (2012). Personal, relational and beautiful: education, technologies, and John MacMurray’s philosophy. Oxford Review of Education, 38(6), 709-725.

John Paul II (1995). Evangelium Vitae. Retrieved from http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/john_paul_ii/encyclicals/documents/hf_jp-ii_enc_25031995_evangelium-vitae_en.html

Joseph, M. (2002, revised). The Trivium: The Liberal Arts of Logic, Grammar, and Rhetoric, Understanding the Nature and Function of Language. Paul Dry Books: Philadelphia.

Marchand-Martella, N. E., Martella, R. C., Modderman, S. L., Petersen, H. M., & Pan, S. (2013). Key Areas of Effective Adolescent Literacy Programs. Education & Treatment Of Children (West Virginia University Press), 36(1), 161-184.

Stein, E. (1932). “The Problem of Women’s Education.” Woman. ICS Publications: Washington, D.C., 1996.

Stein E. (1929). Knowledge and Faith. Walter Redmond, trans. ICS Publications: Washington, D.C., 2000.

Sweet, RW (2004). Where we are nationally on the reading front and how we got here. The Voice of Evidence in Reading Research. McCardle & Chhabra, eds. Paul H. Brooks Publishing Co.: Baltimore.

Vacca, R.T., Vacca, J.L., & Mraz, M. (2011). Content Area Reading: Literacy and Learning Across the Curriculum. Pearson: Boston.