Ge r a r d V. Br a d l e y , Pr of e s s or of L a w
c/o University of Notre Dame, The Law School
3156 Eck Hall of Law, PO Box 780
Notre Dame, IN 46556
October 16, 2013
This letter was
sent individually to each Catholic bishop in the United States. 132 Catholic
professors signed the letter.
Your Excellency:
We are Catholic scholars who have taught for years in
America’s colleges and universities.
Most of us have done so for decades.
A few of us have completed our time in the classroom; we are professors
“emeriti.” We have all tried throughout
our careers to put our intellectual gifts at the service of Christ and His
Church. Most of us are parents, too, who
have seen to our children’s education, much of it in Catholic schools. We are all personally and professionally devoted to Catholic
education in America.
For these reasons we take this
extraordinary step of addressing each of America’s Catholic bishops about the
“Common Core” national reform of K-12 schooling. Over one hundred dioceses and archdioceses
have decided since 2010 to implement the Common Core. We believe that, notwithstanding the good
intentions of those who made these decisions, Common Core was approved too
hastily and with inadequate consideration of how it would change the character
and curriculum of our nation’s Catholic schools. We believe that implementing Common Core
would be a grave disservice to Catholic education in America.
In
fact, we are convinced that Common Core is so deeply flawed that it should not
be adopted by Catholic schools which have yet to approve it, and that those
schools which
have already endorsed it should seek an orderly withdrawal now.
Why – upon what evidence and reasoning – do we take such a
decisive stand against a reform that so many Catholic educators have endorsed,
or at least have acquiesced in? In this brief letter we can only
summarize our evidence and sketch our reasoning. We stand ready, however, to
develop these brief points as you wish.
We also invite you to
view the video recording of a comprehensive conference critically examining
Common Core, held at the University of
Notre Dame on September 9, 2013. (For a
copy of the video, please contact Professor Gerard Bradley at the address
above.)
News reports each day show that a lively national debate
about Common Core is upon us. The early
rush to adopt Common Core has been displaced by sober second looks, and
widespread regrets. Several states have decided
to “pause” implementation. Others have opted out of the testing consortia
associated with Common Core. Prominent educators and political leaders have declared their
opposition. The national momentum behind
Common Core has, quite simply, stopped.
A wave of reform which recently was thought to be inevitable now isn’t. Parents of K- 12 children are leading today’s
resistance to the Common Core. A great
number of these parents are Catholics whose children attend Catholic schools.
Much of today’s vigorous debate
focuses upon particular standards in English and math. Supporters say that Common Core will “raise academic
standards.” But we find persuasive the
critiques of educational experts (such as James Milgram, professor emeritus of
mathematics at Stanford University, and Sandra Stotsky, professor emerita of education at the University of Arkansas) who have studied
Common Core, and who judge it to be a step backwards. We endorse their judgment that this “reform”
is really a radical shift in emphasis, goals, and expectations for K-12
education, with the result that Common Core-educated children will
not be prepared to do authentic college work. Even supporters of Common Core admit
that it is geared to prepare children only for community-college-level studies.
No doubt many of America’s Catholic
children will study in community colleges. Some will not attend college at all.
This is not by itself lamentable; it all depends upon the personal vocations of those
children, and what they need to learn and do in order to carry out the unique set of good works entrusted to them by
Jesus. But none of that means that our
Catholic grade schools and high schools should give up on maximizing the
intellectual potential of every student. And every
student deserves to be prepared for a life of the imagination, of the
spirit, and of a deep appreciation for beauty, goodness, truth, and faith.
The judgments of Stotsky and Milgram
(among many others) are supported by a host of particulars. These particulars include when algebra is to
be taught, whether advanced mathematics coursework should be taught in high
school, the misalignment of writing and reading standards, and whether cursive
writing is to be taught.
We do not write to you, however, to start an argument about
particulars. At least, that is a discussion for another occasion and
venue. We write to you instead because
of what the particular deficiencies of Common Core reveal about the philosophy
and the basic aims of the reform. We
write to you because we think that this philosophy and these aims will
undermine Catholic education, and dramatically diminish our children’s
horizons.
Promoters of Common Core say that it
is designed to make America’s children “college and career ready.” We
instead judge Common Core to be a recipe for standardized workforce preparation.
Common Core shortchanges the central
goals of all sound education and surely those of Catholic education: to grow in
the virtues necessary to know, love, and serve the Lord, to mature into a
responsible, flourishing adult, and to contribute as a citizen to the process
of responsible democratic self-government.
Common Core adopts a bottom-line,
pragmatic approach to education. The
heart of its philosophy is, as far as we can see, that it is a waste of
resources to “over-educate” people. The basic goal of K-12 schools is to provide
everyone with a modest skill set; after that, people can specialize in college
– if they end up there. Truck-drivers do
not need to know Huck Finn. Physicians have no use for the
humanities. Only those destined to major
in literature need to worry about Ulysses.
Perhaps a truck-driver needs no acquaintance with Paradise Lost to do his or her day’s
work. But everyone is better off knowing
Shakespeare and Euclidean geometry, and everyone is capable of it. Everyone bears the responsibility of growing
in wisdom and grace and in deliberating with fellow-citizens about how we
should all live together. A sound education helps each of us to do so.
The sad facts about Common Core are
most visible in its reduction in the study of classic, narrative fiction in
favor of “informational texts.” This is
a dramatic change. It is contrary to tradition and
academic studies on reading and human formation. Proponents of Common Core do not disguise their intention to
transform “literacy” into a “critical” skill set, at the expense
of sustained and heartfelt encounters with great works of literature.
Professor Stotsky was the chief
architect of the universally-praised Massachusetts English language arts
standards, which contributed greatly to that state’s educational success. She describes Common Core as an incubator of
“empty skill sets . . . [that] weaken the basis of literary and cultural
knowledge needed for authentic college coursework.” Rather than explore the creativity of man,
the great lessons of life, tragedy, love, good and evil, the rich textures of
history that underlie great works of fiction, and the tales of self-sacrifice
and mercy in the works of the great writers that have shaped our cultural
literacy over the centuries, Common Core reduces reading to a servile activity.
Professor Anthony Esolen, now at Providence College, has
taught literature and poetry to college students for two decades. He provided testimony to a South Carolina
legislative committee on the Common Core, lamenting its “cavalier contempt for
great works of human art and thought, in literary form.” He further declared: “We are not programming machines. We are teaching children. We are not
producing functionaries, factory-like.
We are to be forming the minds and hearts of men and women.”
Thus far Common Core standards have
been published for mathematics and English language arts. Related science standards have been recently
released by Achieve, Inc. History standards
have also been prepared by another organization. No diocese (for that matter, no state) is
bound to implement these standards just by dint of having signed onto Common
Core’s English and math standards. We
nonetheless believe that the same financial inducements, political pressure,
and misguided reforming zeal that rushed those standards towards acceptance
will conspire to make acceptance of the history and science standards equally
speedy – and unreflective and unfortunate.
. . . .
Common Core is innocent of America’s Catholic schools’ rich
tradition of helping to form children’s hearts and minds. In that tradition, education brings children
to the Word of God. It provides students
with a sound foundation of knowledge and sharpens their faculties of reason. It nurtures the child’s natural openness to
truth and beauty, his moral goodness, and his longing for the infinite and
happiness. It equips students to
understand the laws of nature and to recognize the face of God in their fellow
man. Education in this tradition forms men and women capable of discerning and
pursuing their path in life and who stand ready to defend truth, their church,
their families, and their country.
The history of Catholic education is rich in tradition and
excellence. It embraces the academic
inheritance of St. Anselm, St. Augustine, St. Thomas Aquinas, and Blessed John
Henry Newman. In contrast to such
academic rigor, the Common Core standards lack an empirical evidentiary basis
and have not been field-tested anywhere.
Sadly, over one hundred Catholic dioceses have set aside our teaching
tradition in favor of these secular standards.
. . . .
Because we believe that this moment in history again calls
for the intercession of each bishop, we have been made bold to impose upon your
time with our judgments of Common Core.
Faithfully in Christ, we are:
Gerard Bradley
Institutional
Affiliations Are for Identification Purposes Only
Ronald J. Rychlak
Professor of Law
University of Notre Dame
Robert P. George
McCormick Professor of Jurisprudence
Princeton University
Anthony M. Esolen Professor of English Providence College
Anne Hendershott
Professor of Sociology
Franciscan University of
Steubenville
Kevin Doak
Professor
Georgetown University
Joseph A. Varacalli
S.U.N.Y. Distinguished Service Professor
Nassau Community College-S.U.N.Y.
Patrick McKinley Brennan
John F. Scarpa Chair in Catholic Legal
Studies
Villanova University School of Law
Robert Fastiggi, Ph.D.
Professor of Systematic Theology
Detroit, MI
Duncan Stroik
Professor of Architecture
University of Notre Dame
Thomas F. Farr
Director, Religious Freedom Project
and
Visiting Associate Professor
Georgetown University
Matthew J. Franck, Ph.D.
Director, Simon Center on Religion and the
Constitution
Witherspoon Institute
Butler Snow Lecturer and Professor of Law
University of Mississippi, School of
Law
V. Bradley Lewis
Associate Professor of Philosophy
The Catholic University of America
Patrick J. Deneen
David A. Potenziani Memorial Associate
Professor of Political Science
University of Notre Dame
E. Christian Brugger, D.Phil.
J. Francis Cardinal Stafford
Professor of
Moral Theology
Saint John Vianney Theological
Seminary,
Denver
Kenneth L. Grasso
Professor of Political Science
Texas State University
James Hitchcock Professor of History Saint Louis University
Maria Sophia Aguirre, Ph.D.
Director of Economics Programs and
Academic Chair
The Catholic University of America
Fr. Joseph Koterski SJ
President, Fellowship of Catholic Scholars
Fordham University
Francis J. Beckwith
Professor of Philosophy and Church-State
Studies
Baylor University
Thomas V. Svogun
Professor of Philosophy and
Administration
of Justice and Chairman of the
Department of Philosophy
Salve Regina University
Scott W Hahn
Professor of Theology
Franciscan University of
Steubenville
Eduardo J. Echeverria, Ph.D., S.T.L. Professor of Philosophy
and Systematic Theology
Sacred Heart Major Seminary
Ryan J. Barilleaux, Ph.D.
Paul Rejai Professor of Political
Science
Miami University (Ohio)
Brian Simboli, Ph.D. Science Librarian Lehigh University
John A. Gueguen
Emeritus Professor, Political
Philosophy
Illinois State University
G. Alexander Ross
Institute for the Psychological
Sciences
Suzanne Carpenter, Ph.D., R.N. Associate Professor of
Nursing Retired
Patrick Lee
McAleer Professor of Bioethics
Franciscan University of
Steubenville
Peter J. Colosi, PhD
Associate Professor of Moral Theology
St. Charles Borromeo Seminary
Dr. Robert Hunt
Professor of Political Science
Kean University
Matthew Cuddeback, PhD Assistant Professor of Philosophy
Providence College
Dr. Joseph H. Hagan President Emeritus Assumption College
John A. Cuddeback, PhD Professor of
Philosophy Christendom College
Dr. Michael J. Healy
Professor and Chair of Philosophy
Franciscan University of
Steubenville
Thomas Hibbs
Dean of the Honors College
Baylor University
Susan Orr Traffas
Co-Director, Honors Program
Benedictine College
Michael J. Behe
Professor of Biological Sciences
Lehigh University
Thomas R. Rourke Professor of Politics Clarion University
Robert H Holden
Professor, Dept. of History
Old Dominion University
Philip J. Harold
Associate Dean, School of Education and
Social Sciences
Robert Morris University
David T. Murphy, Ph.D.
Dept. of Modern & Classical
Languages
Saint Louis University
W. H. Marshner Professor of Theology Christendom College
David W. Fagerberg
Associate Professor, Theology
University of Notre Dame
Melissa Moschella
Assistant Professor of Philosophy
Catholic University of America
Daniel J. Costello, Jr.
Bettex Professor of Electrical
Engineering, Emeritus
University of Notre Dame
Brian Scarnecchia, Associate Professor of Law Ave Maria
School of Law
Thomas Behr
Assistant Professor of Comparative
Cultural
Studies
University of Houston
Bernard Dobranski
Dean Emeritus and Professor of Law
Ave Maria School of Law
Daniel Philpott
Professor, Political Science and Peace
Studies
University of Notre Dame
Anne Barbeau Gardiner
Professor emerita, Dept of English
John Jay College, CUNY
C.C. Pecknold
Assistant Professor of Theology
The Catholic University of America
Anthony Low
Professor Emeritus of English
New York University
Heather Voccola
Adjunct Professor of Church History
Holy Apostles College and Seminary
Raymond F. Hain, PhD
Assistant Professor of Philosophy
Providence College
Catherine Abbott Professor of
Mathematics Keuka College
Thérèse Bonin
Associate Professor of Philosophy
Duquesne University
Dr. Francis P. Kessler Prof. Political Science Benedictine
College
Christopher Wolfe
Co-Director, Thomas International Center
Emeritus Professor, Marquette
University
Carson Holloway
Associate Professor of Political Science
University of Nebraska at Omaha
Stephen M. Krason, J.D., Ph.D.
President
Society of Catholic Social
Scientists
Laura Hirschfeld Hollis
Associate Professional Specialist and Concurrent Associate
Professor of Law University of Notre Dame
Wilson D. Miscamble, C.S.C.,
Professor of History
University of Notre Dame
Stephen M. Barr Professor of Physics University of Delaware
D.C. Schindler
Associate Professor of Metaphysics
and
Anthropology
The John Paul II Institute for
Studies on
Marriage and Family
Jeanne Heffernan Schindler
Senior Research Fellow
Center for Cultural and Pastoral Concerns
David L. Schindler
Gagnon Professor of Fundamental
Theology
Pontifical John Paul II Institute,
Catholic
University of America
Rev. Edward Krause, C.C.C.
Professor of Social Sciences,
Emeritus
Gannon University
Christopher O. Tollefsen Professor of Philosophy University
of South Carolina
Paige E. Hochschild
Assistant Professor of Theology
Mount St. Mary's University
Robert C. Jeffrey Professor of Government Wofford College
Rev. Anthony E. Giampietro, CSB Executive Vice President and
Academic Dean
Saint Patrick's Seminary &
University
Dr. Roger Loucks Associate Prof. of Physics Alfred
University
J. Daniel Hammond Professor of Economics Wake Forest
University
Kenneth R. Hoffmann, Ph.D. Professor of Neurosurgery SUNY at
Buffalo
Timothy T. O'Donnell, STD, KGCHS
President Christendom College
Thomas W. Jodziewicz Department of History University of
Dallas
Sr J. Sheila Galligan IHM Professor
of Theology Immaculata University
Maura Hearden
Assistant Professor of Theology
DeSales University
Robert Gorman
University Distinguished Professor of
Political Science
Texas State University
Steven Justice
Professor of English
University of California, Berkeley and
University of Mississippi
Carol Nevin (Sue) Abromaitis
Professor of English
Loyola University Maryland
Dr. Sean Innerst
Theology Cycle Director,
St. John Vianney Theological
Seminary
Robert A. Destro
Professor of Law & Director
The Catholic University of America
Richard Sherlock Prof. of Philosophy Utah State University
Adrian J. Reimers
Adjunct Assistant Professor in Philosophy
University of Notre Dame
Dr. Jessica M. Murdoch
Assistant Professor of Fundamental and
Dogmatic Theology
Villanova University
Mary Shivanandan, S.T.L., S.T.D.
Professor of Theology Retired
John Paul II Institute for Studies
on
Marriage & Family at the
Catholic
University of America
Alice M. Ramos Professor of
Philosophy St. John's University
Dennis J. Marshall, Ph.D. Professor of Theology Aquinas
College
Dennis D. Martin
Associate Professor of Theology
Loyola University Chicago
Janet E. Smith
Father Michael J. McGivney Chair of Life
Ethics
Sacred Heart Major Seminary
Leonard J. Nelson,III Retired Professor of Law Samford
University
Charles D. Presberg, PhD Associate Professor of Spanish University
of Missouri-Columbia
Brian T. Kelly
Dean
Thomas Aquinas College
Michael F. McLean
President
Thomas Aquinas College
Philip T. Crotty
Professor of Management (Emeritus)
Northeastern University
James Matthew Wilson
Assistant Professor of Literature
Villanova University
R. E. Houser
Bishop Wendelin J. Nold Chair in
Graduate
Philosophy
University of St. Thomas (TX
Gary D. Glenn
Distinguished Teaching Professor
Emeritus
Department of Political Science,
Northern
Illinois University
Cynthia Toolin, Ph.D.
Professor of Dogmatic and Moral
Theology
Holy Apostles College and Seminary
Virginia L. Arbery, Ph. D. Associate Professor of Humanities
Wyoming Catholic College
Maryanne M. Linkes, Esquire
Adjunct Professor
University of Pittsburgh & Community
College of Allegheny County
James Likoudis, M.S.Ed. Education
writer
Montour Falls, NY 14865
Dr. Emil Berendt
Assistant Professor of Economics
Mount St. Mary's University
David F. Forte
Professor of Law
Cleveland State University
Anthony W. Zumpetta, Ed.D.
Professor Emeritus
West Chester University (PA)
Thomas D. Watts
Professor Emeritus
University of Texas, Arlington
Catherine Ruth Pakaluk, PhD Assistant Professor of Economics
Ave Maria University
Craig S. Lent
Freimann Professor of Electrical
Engineering
University of Notre Dame
Christina Jeffrey, Ph.D.
Lecturer on the Foundations of
American
Government
Wofford College
Robert G Kennedy
Professor of Catholic Studies
University of St Thomas (MN)
Holly Taylor Coolman
Assistant Professor, Dept. of
Theology
Providence College
Raymond F. Hain, PhD
Assistant Professor of Philosophy
Providence College
David Whalen
Provost
Hillsdale College
David M. Wagner
Professor of Law
Regent University School of Law
John G. Trapani, Jr., Ph.D. Professor of Philosophy Walsh
University
Tina Holland, Ph.D. South Bend,
Indiana
James F. Papillo, J.D., Ph.D
Former Vice President of Administrative Affairs and
Associate Professor in the Humanities
Holy Apostles College and Seminary
Dr. J. Marianne Siegmund
Theo. Department and SCSS member
University of Dallas
Dr. Daniel Hauser Professor of Theology University of St.
Francis
Joshua Hochschild
Mount St. Mary's University
William Edmund Fahey, Ph.D. Fellow
and President
The Thomas More College of Liberal
Arts
John C. McCarthy
Dean, School of Philosophy
The Catholic University of America
Christopher O. Blum Academic Dean Augustine Institute
Chiyuma Elliott
Assistant Professor of English and
African- American Studies
University of Mississippi
Mark C. Henrie
Senior V.P., Chief Academic Officer
Intercollegiate Studies Institute
Jeffrey Tranzillo, Ph.D. Professor,
Systematic Theology
Craig Steven Titus, S.Th.D/Ph.D.
Associate Professor
Director of Integrative Studies
Institute of the Psychological Sciences
Rev. Peter M.J. Stravinskas, Ph.D.,
S.T.D. Executive Director
Catholic Education Foundation
William W. Kirk
Vice President for Student Affairs
and
General Counsel
Ave Maria University
Curt H. Stiles, Ph.D. Professor of Business Policy Cameron
School of Business University of North Carolina
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