National Council for Teachers of English

Tonight, while reading thru the KISS Grammar Site, there were several mentions about NCTE.

NCTE is the National Council of Teaching English.  It's a rather big player in the intellectual arena of English education.  The mission of NCTE is:

The National Council of Teachers of English is devoted to improving the teaching and learning of English and the language arts at all levels of education. This mission statement was adopted  in 1990:

"The Council promotes the development of literacy, the use of language to construct personal and public worlds and to achieve full participation in society, through the learning and teaching of English and the related arts and sciences of language.“

I walked away understanding the fragmentation of English Arts as a "science."

Not a lot of agreement; no constitutional rights or wrongs in the outlay, progress or method.

This poses a problem for me.

The problem is that mastering skills in English Arts all depends on intended goal.  Is the goal one of learning to explore literature with a mixture of opinions; or is it a goal of mastering the skills to apply to testing?

Most parents who foresee in the future academic testing such as the AP or SAT as vital components of college entry will face this two-faced coin.

There is no agreement; there is no alignment, and a very palpable division of thought and approach.  It was interesting to stumble upon and leaves my mind wondering about it.