Maybe I'm just cold and cranky!

According to The Telegraph from England "Schools in America are to drop classic books such as Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird and JD Salinger's Catcher in the Rye from their curriculum in favour of 'informational texts'. American literature classics are to be replaced by insulation manuals and plant inventories in US classrooms by 2014. A new school curriculum which will affect 46 out of 50 states will make it compulsory for at least 70 per cent of books studied to be non-fiction, in an effort to ready pupils for the workplace. Books such as JD Salinger's Catcher in the Rye and Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird will be replaced by "informational texts" approved by the Common Core State Standards. 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. The new educational standards have the backing of the influential National Governors' Association and the Council of Chief State School Officers, and are being part-funded by a grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation." What happened to being a kid? What about reading for fun? What about learning about new worlds? Being taken to new realms by using only words and imagination? What becoming curious and feeling the need to learn more? How imagination will be developed? Do we really want to discurage kids from reading? From exploring? From expanding their horizons? They're KIDS!! Let them be kids! They're going to have more than enough time to be adults!