Before Superintendent Huppenthal cries "Foul" about my title, I would like to remind him of his own title and the responsibility it carries. The buck stops with him. The Common Core curriculum appears in every nook and cranny on the Arizona Department of Education website. Embedded within that curriculum are suggested readings for 16-year old children that could not be read in any school board meeting, because they are too explicitly sexual and pornographic.
Do you remember the Gilbert Watch article Common Core: Pornography, Incest, Rape, and Pedophilia made Normal for your Child? Featured in the article was "The Bluest Eye," which is a suggested reading in the Common Core State Standards for English/Language Arts and Literacy in History/Social Studies, Science and Technical Subjects: Appendix B: Text Exemplars and Sample Performance Tasks.
Later, I learned that the Georgia Governor announced that he was pushing the pause button regarding Common Core, due to the response from infuriated parents. Next, an Arizona School district removed a Common Core-approved reading Dreaming in Cuban. So, what action, if any, was the Arizona Department of Education taking? I visited the AZDOE website to find Appendix B, where these 2 readings are listed. It wasn’t there! I found Exemplars A and C, but not B! I couldn’t believe that the AZDOE had the power to delete an entire 183-page list of readings that had been dictated to them by the NGA/CCSS. Turns out, I was right. The AZDOE, headed by Superintendent Huppenthal, buried it where it couldn’t be easily found. It took me an hour to unearth.
Here is how you find Appendix B. (I took screen shots in case the AZDOE slithers it somewhere else.) First, you follow the link that appeared in the original post, which is this one:
You can see that Appendices A and C are there, but not B. Next, see the blue box? Click on "English Language Arts and Literacy in History/Social Studies, Science and Technical Studies Subjects."
Then, below the Orange box which reads, "Literacy in History/Social Studies Explanations and Examples," click on Grades 1-12." .
There is a link to Appendix B on page 9.
Huppenthal, the Governor, the board members of the Arizona Department of Education, and all the king’s horses and all the king’s men are powerless over the content that has been handed down to them by the CCSS Regime.
What were the criteria/standards used by those experts who approved pornography for 11th graders? Anyone who believes "The Bluest Eye" and "Dreaming in Cuban" are comparable to "Beowulf" and "Romeo and Juliet" is proof of a morally bankrupt judgment.
Here’s one way of discerning the difference between high quality literature and pornography:
Read excerpts from each at your next local board meeting. Or read them at the next meeting of the Arizona State Board of Education (to be held on Oct. 28):
Here are a few excerpts from "The Bluest Eye". Surely it’s ok for me to publish something that is taught by Arizona teachers in a class of 16-year olds. Bring a video recorder.
Pages 162-163: “A bolt of desire ran down his genitals…and softening the lips of his anus. . . . He wanted to f*** her—tenderly. But the tenderness would not hold. The tightness of her vagina was more than he could bear. His soul seemed to slip down his guts and fly out into her, and the gigantic thrust he made into her then provoked the only sound she made. Removing himself from her was so painful to him he cut it short and snatched his genitals out of the dry harbor of her vagina. She appeared to have fainted.
Page 181: “The little girls are the only things I’ll miss. Do you know that when I touched their sturdy little t*** and bit them—just a little—I felt I was being friendly?—If I’d been hurting them, would they have come back? . . . they’d eat ice cream with their legs open while I played with them. It was like a party.”