[grundle]

Obama also wants public schools to replace "Catcher in the Rye" with a book window insulation:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/12/10/common-core-nonfiction-reading-standards_n_2271229.html

Common Core Nonfiction Reading Standards Mark The End Of Literature, English Teachers Say

But the new guidelines are increasingly worrying English-lovers and English teachers, who feel they must replace literary greats like The Great Gatsby and Catcher in the Rye with Common Core-suggested "exemplars," like the Environmental Protection Agency's Recommended Levels of Insulation and the California Invasive Plant Council's Invasive Plant Inventory.

[JoeFromSidney]

who feel they must replace literary greats like The Great Gatsby and Catcher in the Rye with Common Core-suggested "exemplars,"

When I was teaching in Turkey, one day I was talking with the daughter of the Dean of Engineering, who was then in high school. She was complaining about the English books she had to read, like "Catcher in the Rye." She thought they were so depressing. Frankly, they are depressing. So I went to a bookstore, found some English books that I thought she might find more uplifting, and bought them for her. One I bought her was "The Red Badge of Courage." I can't now remember the others, but that one I recalled as an inspiring book.