A review of fresh English language arts criteria has been approved by the Virginia Department of Education. They are tedious to read. If you care about poetry and works, if you believe that Walt Whitman and Emily Dickinson are important tones for young Americans, or if you believe that W. E. B. This new adaptation of ELA in the Old Dominion will simply lower you because of Du Bois ‘ claim that an afternoon with Shakespeare is a powerful ideas that you lift the miserable circumstances of life.
The file is an appearance of a pragmatic, 21st- century mindset. We have highfalutin speak of “multimodal literacies” and “media information”, but little on Hawthorne or Robert Frost. Instead of memorizing and reciting old poems and remarks, students are expected to “acquire the ability to problem solve and work in and across groups.”
Although it is true that students in the 12th grade are asked to study “universal themes” in” English literature from diverse eras,” we need much more than that lax demand, which can be satisfied with a few poems and novels from different eras. The standards ‘ writers care more about keeping literary history alive than they do about improving Virginia schools ‘ “better coincide with the demands of the present and future earth.” Students must” View and Submit an Application for Employment or College Admission,” according to one normal. There is no common for” Describe the main elements and styles of English Romantic writing.”
As I said, the fresh norms do mention intellectual past a couple of times, with one” Guiding Principle” stating that “our kids should be exposed to literary operate across cultures, periods, and beliefs”. It actually uses the words “foundational” and “masterpieces”:
Virginia students may be exposed to works of literature from diverse categories, cultures, geographies, and historical periods, such as Shakespeare and Homer.
This is not a common, yet, only an encouragement. It wo n’t be assessed. A teacher may satisfy the process with just three or four classics given for every 11th grade because it is so ambiguous. Visit it a sly obnoxious sly sly sly sly sly sly sly sly sly sly sly sly sly sly sly sly sly sly sly sly sly sly sly sly sly sly sly sly sly sly sly sly sly s
It’s not enough, not almost, and we also know what the numerous name” nations” means: less Jane Austen and more BIPOC reading. Virginia children may get a variety of reading instruction. There will be no common studying, no shared practice overall. Kids will not get what they really need: a great picture of the past, a great estate waiting to get claimed, the writings of Hawthorne, Melville, and Twain, the writings of Pope, Blake, and Keats, the performs of the Bard. This is what we created in Florida, Georgia, and Arkansas, whose governors understand the importance of literary tradition to the formation of young Americans.
The outcome is in line with what has happened to English over the past 40 years. The field has been drained of content, with no domain knowledge. Physics has Newton’s laws, civics has the Constitution, and English has reading and writing skills, which amount to no content at all. It used to be that English meant grammar, punctuation, and the Great American Novel, Charles Dickens and , Jane Eyre, some Shakespeare and modern poetry. Multiculturalists did n’t like the tradition because it was overly male and Eurocentric, while business- type conservatives preferred PowerPoint over , Hamlet. From the’ 80s onward, they won. As these Virginia standards advance, the text was dropped out, and it will continue to be that way.  ,
American youth struggle. Health indicators are down, and so is educational achievement. The causes are many, and one of them is under- recognized: the loss of a meaningful, stabilizing past. The average teen is flooded with social media and crass entertainment by the hour, all of it present- oriented, immediate, and pressing. They lack any sense of legacy or lineage, preventing them from entering the adult world without foundations or roots. They are existentially insecure. Life does n’t have much meaning beyond the daily rush.
The critic Matthew Arnold once remarked that those who read the old writers have a” steadying and composing effect upon their judgment.” Without them, the individual flounders to manage the flood of information, consumer messages, and social media. For the 15- year- old, the 21st , century is chaotic.  ,
The new English standards wo n’t help. They lack the stability that young Virginians require. The authors of those works do n’t really care about the past. The significant role education played in the government makes this particularly frustrating. Youngkin’s rise. Parents want a coherent, meaningful curriculum that prizes tradition, not trendy nonsense about multimodal literacies.
Youngkin claims to be a conservative, but this model conserves nothing. Would he be able to exclude conservatives from the process? Does he not comprehend that a traditional society only survives if it leaves a cultural legacy? Once again, a Republican champion on the campaign trail is turning out to be a disappointment. Now in office, Youngkin is failing English.
Emory University’s emeritus professor and First Things magazine’s editor are Mark Bauerlein and Emory University.
