In 1854, Charles Dickens began to publish his novel, Hard Times. It reminds this reader of a commentary on the Common Core Curriculum. It begins thus:
Chapter One. The One Thing Needful
“ ‘Now, what I want is Facts. Teach these boys and girls nothing but Facts. Facts alone are wanted in life. Plant nothing else, and root out everything else. You can only form the minds of reasoning animals upon Facts: nothing else will be ever be of any service to them. This is the principal on which I bring up my own children, and this is the principle on which I bring up these children. Stick to Facts, sir!’
“The scene was plain, bare, monotonous vault of a schoolroom, and the speaker’s square forefinger emphasized his observations by underlining every sentence with a line on the schoolmaster’s sleeve. The emphasis was helped by the speaker’s square wall of a forehead, which had his eyebrows for its base, while his eyes found commodious cellarage in two dark caves, overshadowed by the wall. The emphasis was helped by the speaker’s hair, which bristled on the skirts of his bald head….”