Common Core English language arts standards pushed by the Obama Administration and adopted in most states have been roundly criticized by experts for years. In particular, their emphasis on “informational” texts instead of literary texts.

By 2012, controversy erupted when it was revealed that examples of recommended informational texts under Common Core included a New Yorker article that was sympathetic to the Affordable Health Care for America Act, also referred to as Obamacare. President Obama’s Executive Order 13423, “Strengthening Federal Environmental, Energy, and Transportation Management,” was another featured informational text example (see here, here, here, here, here, and here, just for starters).

Politicizing schoolchildren is nothing new for the Obama Administration (see here, for example). But sexualizing them, too?

EAGNews’ Donna Garner shared an email from a concerned Arizona parent shocked about what passes as appropriate reading material for 10th graders under Common Core "college and career ready" national standards: Dreaming in Cuban by Cristina Garcia. The excerpt provided by this parent details a graphic sexual encounter that includes a misogynistic exchange. Garner shared the parent's reaction:

‘This is a 10th grade literature book that was used in my son’s class at Buena High School in Sierra Vista, Arizona. The whole class read this book out loud during class. Everyone in the class had a copy of this book.’ …

Yes, Dreaming in Cuban by Cristina Garcia is indeed recommended in the Common Core Standards for English Language Arts & Literacy in History/Social Studies, Science, and Technical Subjects. …found on page 152 of this recommended list. …

Along with this information in Appendix B is a link to which teachers and students are to refer: Media Text — Portal to selected interviews with author Cristina García.

By directing teachers and students to the interview with Cristina Garcia, it is easy to see that Common Core becomes basically a marketing tool to launch Cristina Garcia’s latest book – King of Cuba – which undoubtedly has more pornographic, raunchy, inappropriate, lascivious, prurient, and sexualized language in it.

Common Core recommends that teachers teach many multicultural, politically correct books and gives teachers and students web links to authors’ sites, thus influencing students to purchase more books by these same authors.

With Common Core demanding that teachers teach informational text from 50% to 70% of the time, the time-honored, character-building classics will be dropped because they take large blocks of time to teach.  In their place, offensive, sexualized books such as Dreaming in Cuban will take over students’ classrooms (and their minds).

Not only are such books highly offensive to those who hold traditional values (e.g., belief in personal responsibility, self- discipline, respect for authority, self-control, a solid work ethic, respect for other people, traditional marriage), but they also serve a purpose for those who are trying to indoctrinate this and future generations…

Parents have the right to opt their children out of Common Core to protect their children’s education, character formation, and basic privacy (see here, too).

State lawmakers may have rushed to adopt Common Core national standards, but that doesn’t mean parents have to go along with it.