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DEAN'S LIST - 6/15/2008
(by Dean Naddeo - OpEd Columnist - June 15, 2008)
Politics in the classroom
Innocuous as it may first seem, the newly created “Butler Reads” program may be a virtual Trojan Horse, overflowing with tiny seeds of liberalism designed to influence our kids from day one.
Clearly, there is nothing wrong with a concerted effort aimed at inspiring kids to read; the problem here lies within the content of the material that all Butler public school students are being forced to read over the summer.
Gone are the classics of literature. Gone is the choice that students have always had to select a book that truly interests them. Instead, the Butler Superintendent of Schools and her team of educators has ditched the traditional summer reading program in lieu of a new mandatory reading assignment that comfortably fits within the district’s stated agenda of “celebrating diversity.”
This is precisely the type of institutional programming that this columnist lamented in the February Dean’s List editorial entitled, “The big left turn.” (Sorry, Ms. Post, but this new initiative wholly proves my case that our kids are indeed being “liberalized” via our educational system.)
The concept of promoting diversity can be considered an extension of the multiculturalism ideal that has become so vogue in our politically correct state, and to a lesser extent, our entire society. In essence, multiculturalists advocate the recognition and maintaining of distinct, but equal groups in society.
Most of us over 30, however, had been taught that the United States is a “melting pot” comprised of a profusion of immigrants who were permitted, without state intervention, to assimilate into our society to form what is a truly unified nation. Unfortunately, this proven sociological model has been abandoned over the last few decades.
There is no doubt that our children should be taught to be tolerant and accepting of people of assorted cultural and religious backgrounds and of those who are “different” because of disabilities or other ascribed characteristics. And the eclectic range of traditions and customs brought to our nation from across the globe should certainly be appreciated and enjoyed. But to actively celebrate or to aggressively promote the differences amongst individual groups of people would seem both counterproductive to society and the antitheses of the traditional American way of life. It would seem much more productive to highlight the things that people actually have in common, and to celebrate and emphasize these instead.
Perhaps America’s first Supreme Court Justice John Jay said it best: “This country and this people seem to have been made for each other, and it appears as if it was the design of Providence, that an inheritance so proper and convenient for a band of brethren, united to each other by the strongest ties, should never be split into a number of unsocial, jealous and alien sovereignties."
| Comments (1) |
On June 25, 2008 Edward said:
This collective group think you propagate is rather disheartening. Why don't we just man up and admit it is not Liberals that are the threat it is Christ! This nonsense about diversity being a negative, it is our ignorance of other cultures that separates us all into this us vs them B.S. It is only through our compassionate knowing of our global family that we can fully appreciate any and all similarities let alone our differences. Why is this even an issue? Should you not be embracing the effort to change the narrow mindedness that has stunted yours and the rest of the over thirty demographic so much so your attacking a summer reading program come on! If were able to see those differences as a blessing rather than a hinderance we would be able to separate ourselves from the us vs them and then we wouldn't be killing ourselves to spite them. This disassociation from the rest of creation is also a real threat! Consider your own plight before casting the first stones of hate and self-loathing. You have a responsibility and an accountability to yourself and your audience take some time and realize the detriment you are condoning through your ignorant inaction. |
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