Two News Stories Colliding
Two news stories collided recently and the news story that moves our hearts as Americans will decide our future as a society.
One news story centers on the bill being proposed by several Indiana Republican legislators to ban discussion of topics such as racism from the classroom because these legislators deem those topics as potentially divisive and upsetting.
Really? By that logic, let’s ban the mention of cancer, evolution, Covid 19, and climate change in science classes and the mention of the Civil War, the Holocaust, the Vietnam War, Watergate, the treatment of Native Americans, Martin Luther King, and George Floyd in history and political science classes. These legislators apparently believe that if these potentially upsetting topics are not mentioned they will magically disappear.
If we decide to ban anything that could upset students and parents, we will need to ban the word “Christmas” when December rolls around. That word can be upsetting for non-Christians. Of course, not mentioning “Christmas” in December will offend others, so we might have to flip a coin on that issue. And silly me, I forgot about those who still believe the world is flat. All globes have to be removed from classrooms. We wouldn’t want to offend.
The other story making headlines concerns the spate of bomb threats that have recently been received at Historic Black Colleges and Universities. In trying to imagine how this story could be discussed in a current events class in public schools without upsetting anyone, I’ve come up with the following.
Numerous Black (remove “Black”) colleges and universities (remove “colleges and universities” because it could offend various religious groups who view institutions of higher learning as dangerous, even demonic) are recently experiencing (remove “experiencing” because it will offend those who believe this story is fake news), mainly in Southern states (remove “Southern” because it could offend students with relatives in states not to be mentioned) during February, Black History Month (remove “Black History” because some have complained that they don’t have a White History Month). Classes have been disrupted (remove “disrupted” because this might be more fake news) with faculty, staff, and students being frightened (remove “frightened” because maybe the bomb threats are pranks played by some of the students at these colleges and universities). Investigating are police and FBI agents (remove “police and FBI agents” because some people view the FBI as an example of dangerous government overreach).
After removing all potentially upsetting language, this is what is left: “Numerous . . . are recently . . . mainly in states. . . Classes have been . . . with faculty, staff, and students being . . . are investigating.”
What’s left doesn’t make sense, does it? And that’s exactly what public school students will conclude when they encounter a purged and whitewashed curriculum—none of what passes for education will help them make sense of our society and world they live in.
After all, that is the sole purpose of education—to make sense of our society and world. Can learning about our society, our past and present, and the world, its challenges and needs, be upsetting? Of course, it must be upsetting at times if we are to build the future on the truth rather than myths.
When I first read about the ban proposed by these Republican legislators, I couldn’t help but picture those three monkeys—“see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil.” If this bill is passed, I suggest that the image of these three monkeys, with eyes, ears, and mouth covered, appear on every high school diploma.
And at the bottom of every diploma should be these words: “What has this education prepared me for? NOTHING.”