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Books as Christmas Gifts: The Story-Killers
You have heard about the Common Core and no doubt know that it is controversial. If you want to know why or if you have a loved one who ought to learn why, I suggest the purchase of Terrence O. Moore’s book The Story-Killers: A Common-Sense Case Against the Common Core.
Terrence is a former Marine. He did his BA at the University of Chicago and later received a PhD from the University of Edinburgh for work he did on the Scottish Enlightenment. Thereafter, he was the founding principal of Ridgeview Classical Schools in Fort Collins, Colorado. After that, he did a stint teaching in my department at Hillsdale College, where he became (and remains) the principal adviser to the Barney Charter School Initiative. After a few years here, he went off to Atlanta to found another charter school. He’s a real scholar and knows just about everything that there is to know about K-12 education.
Terrence is acutely sensitive to something of vital importance — that the way we understand our past has a profound impact on the way we view the present — and he is aware that the history curriculum embedded within the Common Core is aimed at making young Americans ashamed of their country and at subverting the American regime. Early in this book, he poses a question: “What will be the results of this educational regime?” Then, he gives an answer:
