The New un-American Education
One of the by-products of the political upheaval and health crisis that America has faced in the past year and a half is the challenges to the educational institutions we have often taken for granted. So much has happened in the preceding months that some things have escaped our attention, one of them being the vast changes taking place in the field of education.
Due to the twin events of a pandemic and the “woke” movement, preparatory and university experiences are under assault as never before. Small liberal arts colleges, often religiously affiliated, are closing at an alarming rate, unable to compete with the vast state university systems and the strictures of virtual learning. These schools were the backbone of American higher education and their loss is being keenly felt, especially in the Northeast. Another change which parents are now confronting is the determined assault on Western culture by school administrations. Most recently, it was announced that many school districts and universities throughout the United States will no longer teach Shakespeare in English classes because apparently the Bard of Stratford-on-Avon was a racist anti-Semite and his “whiteness” had to be challenged. This, despite the fact that the character of Othello is neither slave nor servant but rather a powerful Moorish king and the monologue of Shylock in Act 3 Scene 1 of the “Merchant of Venice” is probably one of the earliest and most moving repudiations of anti-Semitism in the English language. This attempt to slander the greatest English author in world literature is, of course, utter nonsense.
Shakespeare was an independent thinker; he did not toil for his government or any political cause and restricting access by young men and women to the classics solely because the writer or composer was white is no service to them or to society. It is a sad commentary that in today’s America it seems necessary to state that the musical and literary achievements of Jay Z and his cousin Offset are not substitutes for Dostoevsky and Cervantes. And of Cervantes, because he fought at the battle of Lepanto against a Moslem invasion of Europe in 1571, he might now be pronounced Islamophobic. Can the banning of the reading of “Don Quixote” and any future Broadway production of “The Man from La Mancha” be far behind? This anti-Western movement is not particular to the United States, it has also appeared in Britain and France with the Education Minister of the latter identifying it as a threat to the cohesion of the state.
Only those who read will understand where this is leading.
It is leading to a vacuous existence shorn of the gifts of centuries of beauty and knowledge and insight into the human condition. And these gifts are being discarded because of a movement “du jour” that could consign a generation of young people to cultural illiteracy and worse, cultural bigotry. Children are now taught to be ashamed of their personal cultural backgrounds and the history of our country. This has happened in Europe since the end of the Second World War. At least three generations of Europeans have been told that their nations aren’t really exceptional and, in fact, often detrimental to the natural order of the planet. The introduction of the concepts of democracy, fair play, the rule of law, the incomparable value to humanity of literacy, a common language, advances in health, public hygiene, nutrition, transportation, all mean nothing because they originated or were widely disseminated by Europeans. Only the negative aspects of cultural interaction are discussed and the negative is never Native American, African or Asian. These areas of the globe were, if today’s academics are to be believed, pristine, devoid of all human frailties or weaknesses, living in harmony with nature, a veritable Garden of Eden, until a French or English or Dutch ship appeared on the horizon. It was at that precise moment that humanity was lost. Can any clear-thinking human being believe such a scenario? Apparently many school boards throughout the country think it is worth a try. This anti-Western onslaught intensifies as the student continues his studies. By the time a degree is awarded every attempt has been made to erode the new scholars’ faith in country, family, history, societal norms and the accumulated human experience of 5 millennia. These are the newly minted “future leaders of tomorrow”.
Calls, letters, emails and newspaper editorials to principals, headmasters, and college presidents go unanswered. Much of this has to do with fear, the fear of being called racist, homophobic, or worse, “insensitive”. Please be clear – this is not John Wayne’s America, this is Woody Allen’s America. Parents are pulling their children out of these schools - but where to go? This is a nationwide phenomenon which has appeared almost overnight and it should be remembered that James Baldwin, Langston Hughes and W.E.B. DuBois would probably be appalled by all this. They valued learning above all other pursuits because they knew that it was only through education and the open sharing of ideas and experiences that people who had been discriminated against or abused whether because of their race or background or religion, could become full members of the society and have an opportunity to change that society if they so choose.
However, there is a glimmer of hope. Parents are beginning to fight back. The news media, albeit grudgingly, are reporting that PTA meetings, educational conferences and county school boards are experiencing explosions of anger from parents, students and some teachers who have begun to see the long term harm that this campaign entails.
The only solution, it seems, is to show these so-called teachers to be the anti-intellectuals they truly are and the closet haters of Western civilization they always were. These “educators” shouldn’t be allowed anywhere near a classroom or lecture hall. Perhaps they aspire to be politicians in order to further their personal views, and that is certainly their right. But being a politician has its risks; you might, for instance, be made to explain and defend a particular position on a particular issue or debate someone with views contrary to our own. You might lose that debate. However, if you are a tenured teacher or professor, you can’t lose. No one in the classroom will challenge you - if they know what’s good for them. This is bullying at its most elemental; “you will learn only what I teach and you will agree with everything I have said”. If someone believes that this is prescription for a full and meaningful life for young people struggling to understand the world around them, then they are more ignorant and more sinister than the so-called educators in question. A university used to be called a “community of scholars”. They are becoming communities of fear for faculty and students alike. No one dares deviate from the prescribed dogma of hatred for all things Western. Educators have become censors while parents pay exorbitant amounts of money for a “quality” education.
If this continues, we should all be ready to don our COVID face shields to attend the book burning ceremony in Bryant Park. It should be a memorable event. After all, the park is located directly behind the magnificent main branch of the New York Public Library.
Plenty of fuel there.