As a 20-year English teacher I felt I had to point out this blatant inaccuracy about Maupassant's story "A Mother of Monsters." This nonsensical attack on the story is based on the most juvenile of misunderstandings. The character "demonstrating individuality" in the face of outside pressure is the narrator, a member of the bourgeoisie himself, not the two evil mothers. I wrote a lengthy reply, "Bourgeois Monstrosities," for my hometown newspaper, The Democrat Argus of Caruthersville, MO, and it was printed in the Feb 5 issue of this year. Seems Ms. Dana R Casey has been propagating this idiocy all over the nation. Why I haven't seen more English profs step in to refute her contentions about the associated writing assignment, I don't know, but I've done my research on this story. I also haven't seen the curriculum designers do any defending of their writing assignment, which in my judgement is actually a good one, not the Pollyanna platitudes I believe Ms Casey might want from her students.

http://duckworthsam.wordp...

Sam J Duckworth
Safari Woman
Hi and welcome aboard. In order to better understand your position, I tried to find anything on the attack of this story as related to a common core curriculum online and was unable to  find much more than a link to the story itself.
 
Would you have a link to something that might give me a better ide...
  • May 7, 2014
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Walter D.
I see your point.
  • May 8, 2014
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Sam J Duckworth
I am not endorsing Common Core per se. Still have reservations about Fed Dept of Ed prescribing specific content in public schools. In the past the feds and the state depts of ed tried to reach a consensus on common curriculum goals, and that seems to be the better approach to me. On the other hand...
  • May 8, 2014
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Sam J Duckworth
Just do a search for Ms. Casey's "A Monstrous Story for a Monstrous Curriculum:The Ugly Heart of Common Core." You'll find the article in several venues, including this social network and several WordPress venues.
  • May 9, 2014
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