Obama Has Lost the Catholics on Common Core: ". . .a recipe for standardized workforce preparation"

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