Death of Reading, Part 2? Not if I can help it!

A future homeschool librarian discovered this article today which has caused quite a stir among those of us who have a passion for getting living ideas into the minds of the next generation.  The new "education"  standards state that at least 70% of books studied must be non-fiction in order to prepare students for the workplace.

"Suggested non-fiction texts include Recommended Levels of Insulation by the the US Environmental Protection Agency, and the Invasive Plant Inventory, by California's Invasive Plant Council."

Sounds thrilling, huh!

I have lots of non-fiction in my library.  Books such as Whitetail by Robert McClung and String, Straight-Edge, and Shadow:  The Story of Geometry by Julia Diggins.  My young patrons feast on these books and thousands more like them, filling their hearts and minds with great ideas that will change the world, I pray.

Somehow we do not trust facts enclosed within "story."  But God speaks to us through story by feeding not only our minds, but our spirits as well.  I'll reiterate this quote from Charlotte Mason:

"A great danger is threatening the country, and even the world. We're losing our faith in ideas. We're replacing guiding principles with mechanical practices. As I've said in previous Letters to the Editor, the trend in popular education these days is to have contempt for knowledge, and for the books that contain the knowledge of mankind."  What would Miss Mason have to say about the new standards?  Cogs in a system...is that all our children are?

Parents, hear me.  We are at a crossroads in our culture.  We will either fall in with the sheep led astray, or we will instill in our children the truth to proclaim to a dying culture!  My purpose in collecting and sharing the best books I can find is not to create warm fuzzies as we snuggle on the couch.  It is to enable parents to raise warriors for the cause of Truth!  We must be intentional and we must be serious...and we must be about the business now.  We must equip our children with this truth.  The world they will inherit will be one we won't even recognize.  Will they be ready?

For the sake of the children...