Comic Book Curriculum?

Debbie Schlussel has an interesting post today.  Apparently, schools in the US have started using comic books as textbooks and teaching tools in the classroom.  Seriously?  I am a fan of comics.  My kids like them too.  But they also read books.  Real books.  At school, I expect them to read books.  Not comics.  Comics are for summer afternoons in the tent in the backyard, or in the bathroom soaking in the tub…or whatever.  

Educators are bringing comics to class, and they’re using them to teach kids to get along, appreciate literature and learn more effectively.

Since Dark Horse teamed with Columbia University in New York seven years ago to create the Comic Book Project, the curriculum has spread from one after-school class in Queens to 850 schools across the United States, including at least two Oregon schools, Glenfair Elementary in Portland and Ash Creek Elementary in Monmouth.

Dark Horse says libraries and schools are among its fastest growing markets, with sales rising about 25 percent a year. Comic-book-based curricula include such topics as environmentalism, anti-bullying, teamwork, child abuse, vocabulary, grammar and understanding epilepsy.

OMG!  They have GOT to be kidding.  And I agree with Debbie 100% :

[...] why are environmentalism, anti-bullying, teamwork, child abuse, and epilepsy part of any curriculum in elementary schools?

[...] why the heck are fifth-graders taking courses in anti-bullying? That’s fluff. Can they read? Can they add, multiply, and do division? Can they write and spell?

Based on my experience so far, anti-bullying rhetoric in elementary school appears to go in one little monster’s ear and out the other.  Schools spend way too much time teaching social skills that should be taught at home.  If anyone thinks that teaching socially acceptable behaviour in the classroom is going to end up changing the behaviour of the little sociopaths-in-training, they are highly delusional. 

On “teamwork” – why the hell do you need to teach teamwork??  Again.  If a kid is unable to work with other children in a cooperative way in elementary school, then there is a problem bigger than what could be fixed by a mere “course”.  And personally, I hated nothing more than “working in a group” with other kids.  Inevitably, the smart kids end up doing all the work, the slackers and morons sit back and coast on the others’ coat-tails and the really smart ones latch onto someone who they know is smart and let them do all the work, confident of a good mark in the end.  I know.  I have had to deal with all three “types” in my life. 

On “environmentalism” – OMG!  Enough already with the leftist crap that teachers are feeding the kids.  If I see another science fair project on “global warming”, I’ll slit my wrists.  Did you know that one of the most annoying songs in existence is the Reduce, Reuse-Recycle song by Jack Johnson?  Just saying.  I don’t hate the planet, but let the parents teach environmentalism and elementary teachers stick to math, reading and writing, ‘kay? 

Say good-bye, America. I guarantee you that in China, in Japan, in India, in our most successful industrialized competitors’ countries, they are NOT learning from comic books.

And they aren’t taking dumb courses in anti-bullying and environmentalism either. They’re learning how to beat us.

They’ll be producing the best products, and we’ll be . . . reading Archie and the Green Hornet.

RTWT