Recent years have seen successive waves of book bans in Republican-controlled states, aimed at pulling any text with “woke” themes from classrooms and library shelves. Though the results sometimes seem farcical, as with the banning of Art Spiegelman’s Maus due to its inclusion of “cuss words” and explicit rodent nudity, the book-banning agenda is no laughing matter. Motivated by bigotry, it has already done demonstrable harm and promises to do more. But at the same time, the appropriate response is, in principle, simple. Named individuals have advanced explicit policies with clear goals and outcomes, and we can replace those individuals with people who want to reverse those policies. That is already beginning to happen in many places, and I hope those successes will continue until every banned book is restored.
If and when that happens, however, we will not be able to declare victory quite yet. Defeating the open conspiracy to deprive students of physical access to books will do little to counteract the more diffuse confluence of forces that are depriving students […]
It’s important that we start to discuss the dirty little secret of academia: Thinking is hard work. Sometimes it physically hurts as we struggle with complex concepts, and the integration of ideas. I understand the lament of the author, having watched and experienced the same thing over the past decade. Leadership in America does not model intelligent discussion or debate. In fact, they actively discourage it. Nor is this mirrored in news coverage. I have watched the decline, for example, of the New York Times for decades. More propaganda on TV and radio than actual news. The only space I can locate the type of intelligent discussion I seek is on C-SPAN, and this is not consistent. The programs discussed by the author: Common Core and No Child Left behind ( I think of more as, Nothing Left behind for the Children) have in a well meaning way taken the control of the curriculum out of the hands of local educators and have imposed standards from a National level. This has been a well meaning disaster, as educators are forced to teach to the test to the determent of all. The management of COVID by the elites was and continues to be a debacle, and we will continue to see the educational fall out for years. That stated, we must go back to basics. Teaching and reinforcing reading and comprehension at every level. Some of this blame falls at the feet of the academy. I know a current PhD student taking a course in Organizational Management. She reports that it more focused on propaganda than core organization management. She sees it as a waste of her time and money. I have a relative just starting college, and he reports his basic English class is taught through the same propaganda lense without regard for the quality of the actual comprehension of material and the quality of writing. This social engineering from the Academy must stop. Lastly, I remain optimistic. That is because I know there will be those students who will successfully struggle through the bad habits taught via Tic Tok, Instagram, and Facebook to emerge motivated and focused. They will learn. It is up to us to embrace them and encourage them. Whatever happens with the rest of the population, they will be our future.
What has sadly happened in the US is a huge decline in education for our people. I blame this primarily on the GOP who just hates to pay and put money into education. Then there’s the very serious problem of charter schools and vouchers (which go primarily to the rich, believe it or not), and then having governors determining history and what is taught rather than allowing education to be open to all students and especially teachers who actually have degrees in their subject matter, unlike state representatives! We are truly becoming a 3rd World country, sadly. Terri Quint
I have learned more since I collected my library of hundreds of books than I ever learned in many years in college. There is so much to learn that it makes me sick seeing so many stupid people who just do not keep up with science. An example is two major scientific studies which have shown that making dogs and cats get spayed and neutered at the shelters makes them get dementia when they get older, yet they still insist that people get their dogs from shelters ONLY if they agree to first get them spayed or neutered. Those people just do not understand the new scientific studies which have come out within the last couple of years! I want a male dog which has not been neutered, but cannot find one! It makes me angry!