New Common Core State Standards in English are gradually being unveiled and it is anticpated that these standards will take effect in 2014. Specifically these new common core standards require that nonfiction texts represent 50 percent of reading assignments in elementary schools. By the time students reach grade 12 the requirement grows to 70 percent. Among the suggested nonfiction pieces for high school juniors and seniors are Alexis de Tocqueville’s “Democracy in America,” “FedViews,” by the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco (2009) and “Executive Order 13423: Strengthening Federal Environmental, Energy, and Transportation Management,” published by the General Services Administration.
According to the informative Washington Post piece by Lyndsey Layton, English teachers are increasingly growing concerned that the focus on nonfiction is crowding out class time and limiting exposure to classic literature. While primary source readings give you facts, opponents of the nonfiction requirement argue, they do not promote creativity and critical thinking to the degree that literature does. In the article, one English teacher made the point concisely, "“Reading for information makes you knowledgeable — you learn stuff. But reading literature makes you wise.”
Supporters of the Common Core argue that the nonfiction reading requirement was intended to reflect reading in all classes, not just English. Primary documents in science and social studies would count toward this requirement. However, in application, English teachers are being left to fill in gaps in the reading requirement left by other classes.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/common-core-state-standar…