Last night, Mme. PAC and I attended our 78th (and final!) Back to School Night (six kids times 13). Our youngest has the typical HS senior class load, but I was interested to see that his English class, which since my day has been called Senior Lit or some such, is now called: Literature and Social Justice. I listened to his young teacher’s fervent presentation about the objectives of the class which seem far more focused on the social justice part than on the literature part. While she spoke, I had an enjoyable time imagining myself surrounded by CUF’ers of all political stripes, with imagined reactions ranging from “What the hell is this crap?” to “This is a vital addition to a young person’s education, providing insight into the human condition and greater sensitivity to the repressed and underprivileged.” Over the years, I’ve trended slightly away from the former and toward the latter, but last night pushed me back a bit toward a simple “WTF?”, where F stands for “flip”, in case anyone is concerned for my soul.
A large sign at the front of the room showed a rainbow of multicolored silhouettes of people with the proud announcement “We are all equal!” Uh, no, we’re not. And while promoting equal opportunity and eliminating societal and governmental roadblocks to such opportunity is vital, the essence of liberty is the freedom to be unequal, and this class seems like it might ignore that.
The reading list includes some touchy feely readings and I intend to follow along. Fortunately, the first book is an exception to the squishy stuff, and I’m looking forward to reading again, and discussing with the boy, Lord of the Flies.
It’s interesting to note the changes that have taken place in the English curricula since we started going to BTSNs 28 years ago. I’m not sure all of them have been positive. I’m interested in your reactions to this progressive development in the study of literature. I’ll put Robin down for a Yes!, and IPU and ‘71 down for a Screw That!, but I’m less certain after that.
A large sign at the front of the room showed a rainbow of multicolored silhouettes of people with the proud announcement “We are all equal!” Uh, no, we’re not. And while promoting equal opportunity and eliminating societal and governmental roadblocks to such opportunity is vital, the essence of liberty is the freedom to be unequal, and this class seems like it might ignore that.
The reading list includes some touchy feely readings and I intend to follow along. Fortunately, the first book is an exception to the squishy stuff, and I’m looking forward to reading again, and discussing with the boy, Lord of the Flies.
It’s interesting to note the changes that have taken place in the English curricula since we started going to BTSNs 28 years ago. I’m not sure all of them have been positive. I’m interested in your reactions to this progressive development in the study of literature. I’ll put Robin down for a Yes!, and IPU and ‘71 down for a Screw That!, but I’m less certain after that.
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