This is coming up more and more: progressives discovering that conservatives are not the monsters they've been told they are. This is a huge deal, but is still almost completely under the radar, as it's the last thing the MSM wants to get out.
The non-Prog world is mostly people who are socially liberal, but believe in small government and stable values. They used to be called Centrists, but are now labeled Alt-Right or White Supremacists, on the same level as Nazis. Imagine that--and the NYT and the Atlantic are scratching their heads about why people might be enraged about it...
That is what happened to me. It's kind of like we were all in a closed off community on the other side of the mountain and we heard all of these stories about how evil the monsters were who lived over the mountain. We could not see them but our stories became bigger and more terrifying. But once you make the trek and you get to the know the people over there you realize just how much of it was untrue. It has taught me to not prejudge whole groups of people. It's hard when you are driven by fear but not impossible.
Also for me. I was raised on the left coast and thought conservatives were crazy or evil or whatever else negative one might think. Then I lived in NW Montana for 4 years and found out how wrong I had been.
Me too. There was great social pressure to prevent you from even hearing the other side. Conservatives were all considered lunatic-fringe/ radical religious zealots and racists. The Democrat's and their media buddies did a great job of smearing them.
Now I, I do not even consider Dems to be real "liberals" as that term is classically defined. I think they are just power-hungry opportunists who have taken control of the media and push propaganda.
I still have a health skepticism of conservatives - but I do not vilify them. Some are now even friends. I consider my self independent now.
As a non-woke liberal, I don’t care about religion. I know that many people care deeply about it, and I respect that. But often, religiosity in this country aligns with policies that I could never endorse, including banning or severely limiting access to abortion, opposition to gun control and universal health care, and climate change denial. I don’t view conservatives as monsters, and in fact I’m much more critical of the authoritarians on the progressive side than I am of conservatives these days. The zeal with which progressives endorse censorship today is terrifying. But it’s also a problem on the right. The ham-fisted censorship of books, such as the recent Tennessee school decision to ban “Maus,” an important Holocaust memoir, from a history class, is depressing and infuriating. And as much as I oppose critical race theory being taught in K-12, the trend in the Red states to legislate its ban from the classroom is bound to backfire. The First Amendment is being hobbled on all sides, and that scares me the most.
Also a lot of what Jane complains about in this article is class-related. Her classmates at Bryn Mawr are privileged, self-righteous elites who spew virtue-signaling garbage while supporting Nancy Pelosi’s war-mongering and corrupt self-enrichment. Jane comes from a working-class family. In this respect, I’d probably be happier in the real world of Hillsdale College too, where people aren’t judging my clothes or my pronouns.
We of the dark side have no objection to you earning about critical race theory, or any other ideology, as an adult. What we object to is having it drilled into children in hopes of making this faddish ideology part of their received mindset.
I agree. I have no use for CRT, I think it’s racist garbage, and it hurts everybody. I would not want my seven year old son to be forced to declare himself a privileged toxic male white supremacist who oppresses his black and Latino classmates.
The problem is, nuanced thinking is a lost art. There should and could be a way to create a richer, more complete picture of U.S. history from the perspective of the African-American experience, for the benefit of school children, that didn’t also adopt the asinine rhetoric and presumptions of CRT. An outright legislative ban is problematic because it acts like a tidal wave that washes away everything and eliminates any incentive to enrich the curriculum in other ways.
I agree totally. I used to be a liberal but then the Wokes took over and turned being a liberal into something I didn't recognize anymore. I see it in the schools I work at-- everyone is afraid to say anything that is not Woke (maybe that's because I live in Los Angeles) but it's frightening that there is only 2 ways to think - right or left. No nuanced thinking.
I so agree with you. But remember, Maus wasn't pulled because it was about the Holocaust. It was pulled because of its graphic imagery. They made that clear in their statement. I don't agree with it but I have watched for several years now books, movies, information, scientific facts being scrubbed or pulled or even banned because they are not in keeping with the ideology on the left. The Burbank School District pulled The Grapes of Wrath, To Kill a Mockingbird and others from shelves because of their presumed "racist" content. Dr. Seuss was taken off the America reads program for the same reason. Thomas Jefferson's statue was just dragged out of City Hall in NYC. It does exist on the right and always has. The difference now is that the left used to be the side that stood up against it. Not anymore.
Yes, I know why Maus was banned. Absurd. From the Holocaust to Dr. Seuss…it would be comical if it weren’t so frightening. And I’m all too aware of how Trump derangement syndrome has turned liberals into censorship hounds. I have these formerly intelligent people in my family.
Maus was not banned, it was removed from the eighth grade curriculum because it is not appropriate for that age group. I’ve read it and I agree - it is too adult.
I hope you would double-check your information and let us know. I am reading in multiple places that it was 1 school district only. This makes your compare with woke banning just wrong. As a Jew, I am very sensitive to disinformation...
It was pulled, I think, because of the nudity from the 8th grade class only, just as To Kill a Mockingbird was pulled in a few states for being "harm" ...
I see. I don't agree with the decision but then I went to see a Broadway production of the musical Hair when I was 11. The naked bodies didn't corrupt me.
Your points are well taken and I say this as someone who likely doesn't agree with some of your views. When I was a kid I was an avid reader and my parents didn't really care much about the content. At my local library, I had a permission slip on file, signed by my Mom, which allowed me to check out whatever I wanted to read. In my day, Maus would not be "banned" but there would be parental involvement and consent for children. I don't approve of censorship but I equally disapprove of the Leftist goal to remove parents from the conversation.
Bingo on the class-related stuff! It’s ALWAYS been about class, but it looks really bad when the Clerisy (privileged, upper-middle class white people) are caught out denigrating those less fortunate. Substituting race and gender for classism was one of the most odious switcharoos of all time.
Time to shine the light of truth on all this shit!
I'm not even sure how I define myself politically anymore. Once upon a time I would have considered myself conservative... then socially liberal and fiscally conservative.... then libertarian... now I feel like I don't really fit into any major political category. Alt-middle? That's a term I heard recently and felt might capture my position.
As to Maus, my understanding is that it wasn't banned, but removed from the curriculum. I think this is an important point. Are you also depressed and infuriated for any curriculum that doesn't include that particular book? I don't think any book should be banned, but this may be a curriculum disagreement that's being spun into a "banning of books by the rubes."
Yes, it was removed from the curriculum, or should I say the curricula, for all grade levels, for the entire state of Tennessee. Out of the libraries, gone. The intended age group this time around was eighth graders, who are old enough to understand and learn about the horrors of the Holocaust. Sounds like a ban to me.
And the reason? a few curse words and an image of a naked women, a Jew, depicted as a mouse. The real world can be profoundly horrible; “Maus” offers a one-step-removed way of studying this horrific topic. I reject the reasoning of the educators who unanimously voted to remove it from the classroom for the reasons given.
“It shows people hanging, it shows them killing kids, why does the educational system promote this kind of stuff? It is not wise or healthy,” School Board Member Tony Allman said about the book, which was part of the district’s eighth-grade English language arts curriculum.” Promote? Is that what this board member thinks author Art Spiegelman was doing in his Pulitzer Prize winning book, promoting genocide? Does Mr. Allman think that nuance and context, important critical thinking skills that should be taught as part of a well-rounded education, are too difficult for eighth graders? Nuance and context, plus faith in his teachers’ ability to approach this subject matter with sensitivity, seem to be beyond his pay grade, at least.
As a Jew I’m highly sensitized to the obfuscation of the historical realities of the Holocaust, now more than ever, given the huge surge in anti-Semitic violence across the country. I am very much in favor of parents having a role in their children’s educations. In the context of critical race theory and gender ideology in particular, it is an emergency. Books can be inappropriate for certain age groups. But “Maus” in the eighth grade curriculum is not one of them.
It was removed from 1 school district in Tennessee, not the entire state. The vote was by the McMinn County School Board. Starting off with such a falsehood makes me question the factual basis of the rest of your comment.
Look, I don't support banning Maus from libraries if that's what was done here, but I have no idea if it is appropriate for eighth graders being taught about the Holocaust. You seem to be adamantly for it - Is it taught in your local district's eighth grade curriculum? Pick 5 random "liberal" districts - is it taught in their curriculum? I doubt it is used universally whether the school district is in Appalachia or your favorite coastal enclave.... that's why I think the brouhaha is probably overblown and being used as a way to push a kind of class snobbery.
I'm open to the possibility that this is another push to obfuscate historical realities, but I haven't read anything yet that convinces me.
I apologize. I misread my sources. The book was banned from all the schools and libraries in the county, not the state. But it’s not just the eighth grade, it’s across the board.
I don’t think there was any racial animus in their decision, but I do think it represents a kind of prurience that is counterproductive and over-protective. As the minutes show, there was a discussion of some Holocaust book that might be used instead.
“The Mcminn County School board just voted to ban the Pulitzer Prize-winning graphic novel 'MAUS' by Art Spiegelman from all of its schools, citing the inclusion of words like 'God Damn' and 'naked pictures' (illustrations) of women," reported Justin Kanew. "There is no video available of the meeting, but here are the MINUTES in their entirety."”
“The McMinn County school board’s 10 members voted to axe Maus from curricula and school libraries, citing its use of the phrase “God Damn” and its drawings of “naked pictures,” though those are cartoon mice.”
Thanks for the links. I finally had a chance to read the meeting notes. If you haven't you really should. As usual, the news articles are terrible at reporting on the actual facts.
A few things from the meeting minutes:
* The original curriculum including Maus was approved and recommended at the state level.
* This is the first year the module containing Maus was being taught.
* There is no mention in the meeting minutes that the book was removed from libraries. There is also no reference for the library removal in the articles you linked to - my guess is that is not actually true.
The discussion was interesting. I grew up and have lived in areas where "God Damn" would be enough on its own for something to be unavailable in schools. I don't agree with keeping the language and graphics of Maus from eighth graders, but I can understand some folks feel differently. And in this case, there was no concern about teaching the Holocaust in age appropriate gritty details. There was just a disagreement over what is age appropriate.
Reading the minutes only reinforced my view that this is a nothing story being used to show how the rubes ban Pulitzer Prize-winning books and should be looked down on for their shocking and appalling decisions... when none of the actual facts support that narrative.
Maybe they replaced Maus with a book about the Rwandan genocide, which is much more recent and 1/1,000,000,000th talked about and rarely taught to anyone let alone adolescents? How about a cartoon book about the Bolsheviks and the Kulaks?
You came up with one example with Maus. Let's put that up against all the mind control--through language control--that the Left has wreaked upon this nation. To conflate that with Right censorship is a non-starter. You know this. Keep trying though.
I do not agree that removing books from school libraries is "censorship." In the field of education there will always be debates about whether this book or that film is age appropriate. There will also be disputes over course content designed to impose a certain world-view on students, e.g. religious instruction or lessons derived from CRT, etc. Public education is accountable to the public and public school teachers do not own their classrooms. They don't get to teach whatever they want.
I am not claiming all such decisions about books or course content are valid or advisable. In the current atmosphere, many are not. But no book is actually banned. Parents who wish their children to read, say, "Huckleberry Finn," (a frequent target for suppression) can assign it themselves. Parents who think that CRT is a valid academic discipline can discuss it with their children.
The public education establishment has only itself to blame for the current situation. For years and decades these people have be smuggling dubious content into course curricula. The pandemic outed them and now they're in a panic.
If I'm understanding the reporting correctly, it has been removed from all the school libraries and classes in the county.
“The Mcminn County School board just voted to ban the Pulitzer Prize-winning graphic novel 'MAUS' by Art Spiegelman from all of its schools, citing the inclusion of words like 'God Damn' and 'naked pictures' (illustrations) of women," reported Justin Kanew. "There is no video available of the meeting, but here are the MINUTES in their entirety."”
“The McMinn County school board’s 10 members voted to axe Maus from curricula and school libraries, citing its use of the phrase “God Damn” and its drawings of “naked pictures,” though those are cartoon mice.”
The pendulum is forever swinging back and forth, be assured liberals will become more conservative and conservatives will become more liberal; it's the ebb and flow of life.
I’m new here- what a wonderful and well written article. My brother and I had a similar experience. I’m overjoyed at the comments- polite discourse! I found the smart people!!
I'm a firm believer in the idea that proximity breeds closeness. Stick a white guy from the Bayou in a foxhole with a black guy from the Bronx and all the scary differences they perceive in each other will melt away.
I am not surprised by this either. If you don't agree with something a group says, then you get the auto label of the extreme opposite.
I went to an Ivy League school. I was considered conservative. When I went to graduate school, an engineering school in Colorado, I was considered very liberal. I found it humorous because while my views had changed a little bit, they really had not changed all that much (I went to grad school right away, so not much a time difference). I think the problem was that I was at a school that was Far Left, and then went to a school that was Far Right. To each one, I was the far opposite.
Turns out I was Centrist but I have changed my opinion on things over the years.
I thought someone put it well where they said that the woke and their ilk will keep 'running the same play' (calling people racist to shut them up and keep them in line) until it stops working. Hopefully people are getting tired of it and they'll be punished heavily at the ballot box in November. If they don't change up hopefully it happens again in 2024. If they continue to remain a politically toxic liability it SHOULD destroy their power. But we'll see.
I agree but I'm going to challenge it a little bit:
"progressives discovering that conservatives are not the monsters they" used to be.
We didn't get these believes from nowhere and it's not "someone telling". It was experience. A lot of experience. And... somehow... now... may things have changed and the old entrenched beliefs change to new ones.
Your experiences parallel mine. A lifelong atheist, I now live in the buckle of the Bible Belt, only to find that my prejudices about religion have all been wrong. ALL WRONG. When I first accepted a job in this tiny town, I started out by working with a local church on charity projects; the pastor accepted my gifts graciously and never once has challenged my beliefs. To this day, it never comes up in conversation. I have deeply religious friends; because we are comfortable with each other, we discuss such matters but they never try to evangelize me, nor I them. How very different from my liberal atheist acquaintances! I say acquaintances rather than friends because they constantly seek confrontation and to win arguments, but they don't realize they're only winning in their minds. Anyone who disagrees or raises questions is immediately suspect of some moral failing, including their old friend of many decades in some cases.
I haven't changed my philosophy, but I am now the most religion-friendly atheist you will ever meet. Living in this era and in this place has done what I would have considered impossible: convinced me that this country must somehow be saved, and that only the Christians and Jews have the internal strength to get the job done.
I'm Catholic and have been my entire life. My best friend was an atheist. She is now an agnostic and I no longer think atheists are evil. This is what happens when people talk, listen, and realize that human beings are complex and wonderful and differences are strengths.
That is largely how I came to be a Christian - I think that I "backed into it", by being faced with all of the evidence of its fruits. Took a long time. Then I made it my mission to read the whole danged Bible (took me two years) but it changed my life, because it changed the way I saw the world. It's like I could see everything more clearly than ever before. Don't know that I've ever shared that...haha Not very eloquent but the best I can say it. God bless :-)
". . . only the Christians and Jews have the internal strength to get the job done."
Mmmm, no, because that leaves a whole lot of good people out of the equation. I grew up Christian and converted to Judaism, but we're not the only people with the strength to fix what ails us. You're an atheist but you have that strength, too. Christians and Jews are far from the only people who know how to rebuild a culture.
No, you misunderstand me. God, by definition, defines and inspires all that is good. We know what good is because we were created by God. That fundamental truth is not swayed not iota just because you fail to acknowledge it. That's why it's a fundamental truth.
"they constantly seek confrontation and to win arguments, but they don't realize they're only winning in their minds. Anyone who disagrees or raises questions is immediately suspect of some moral failing, including their old friend of many decades in some cases."
YES. I moved to Portland, OR about 14 years ago and made some good friends. They were creative, energetic, funny, weird. But the last five years, I just haven't wanted to see them much. I thought I was just getting older and more introverted and/or just wanted to hang out with my partner one on one.
Then we went on vacation to Florida and stayed with my apolitical cousin. We had a blast. I haven't had that much fun in YEARS. Not just with her and her husband but with their friends, their extended family, random people we met at the bar, etc.
My once fun, creative, weird liberal friends have become so f-ing serious, so sanctimonious. So boring! I'm sick to death of the complaining and the pointing fingers, and the holier than thou attitude, the lack of critical thinking skills, the unhealthy obsession with Covid, the even unhealthier obsession with everyone's vaccination status, the masks, the virtue signaling, the judgement. It's exhausting.
We're headed back to Florida in a few days and I can't wait. Oregon is so beautiful but it's a real bummer to be here right now.
As the father of a current Hillsdale sophomore, Jane's lovely essay made me weep with joy, and with sorrow for so many other young people devastated by what we have done to them over the last two years. I am so grateful for the courageous and principled approach taken by Hillsdale's leaders. It was not a narrow-minded, knee-jerk, political response ... it was a response rooted in the values of the institution, which are honestly and firmly held. Jane, it is wonderful to know that Hillsdale has been for you what it has been for my family ... an island of honesty and hope amidst a sea of dishonesty and despair. Best of luck to you.
Over the next couple of decades I predict the collapse of traditional universities, especially the $75,000/yr elite ones. Students are discovering they just aren’t worth it. Community colleges and trade schools will be in great demand.
We can hope. I have one kid at Texas Tech, full tuition scholarship. Another who left U of AZ (and her scholarship) for Grand Canyon because of UofA's insane mandates. What I pay for both of them combined, after their scholarships, is just over $2K a month.
Similar - my daughter is at NAU in nursing school, full academic scholarship. We bought a small investment property in that town for her to live in and have been enjoying the tax benefits and watching its equity skyrocket; I pay about 1K a semester in random fees. Makes me feel much better about her having to endure the occasional horrible leftist professor.
It's not that small. They have greatly expanded. It's a christian school, but not overly religious. It's more a culture -- no on-campus drinking, no co-ed rooms/floors, etc. My daughter says that the difference between U of A and GCU are clear: people are happier at GCU, they are socializing and chatting and doing a lot of school activities. Maybe 5-10% of people wear masks in classes, and no one cares. Teachers have a choice, too. At U of A my kid said that no one sat around talking outside or in lounges, that everyone is nervous and constantly telling people to wear their mask. They get emails nearly daily encouraging everyone to get tested weekly, incentives to be vaccinated and tested, etc.
My oldest started at GCU; a ton of his high school classmates went there and they were all great kids. We are big fans. In our experience the student culture there is superior.
This is the best Common Sense article/op-ed/guest post since you started your substack. Thank you for running it. I hope it is shared far and wide.
And please, if you ever feel the need to run a David French or Jonah Goldberg authored piece again, resist the urge and run whatever is on Jane Kitchen's mind that day instead.
I respectfully disagree. I want to hear what people who disagree with me have to say, or run the risk of becoming exactly like those I claim to oppose. Besides, as Lewis Brandeis rightfully observed, bright sunlight is the best disinfectant.
If you want to hear what the research assistants for Fat Boy and Pastor French (neither one of them have written a word they've taken credit for in at least 20 years) think subscribe to their garbage rag or google "2003 Republican Party Big Thoughts"
Bari is at her best when she is (i) writing herself, (ii) giving a platform to important thinkers, or (iii) giving a platform to voices who should be heard but lack a platform because they are new, young, out of the mainstream, etc.
Fat Boy and Pastor French fit none of those categories. Today's writer is a textbook example of (iii) and will be in (ii) soon if she isn't there already.
TBF, I think he's intellectually honest about his dedication to conservative principles. I think the issue is that he's deeply humiliated by his fall from the driver's seat of conservative culture, and he's now on a perpetual revenge tour to ensure that the people who dethroned him (populist, blue-collar conservatives) pay a price for it.
At the end of the day, Jonah is an elitist who enjoyed being a broker for the right in determining how much policy ransom to grant liberals to allow him and people like him, Hays, French, Krystol, and Boot to exist and keep their perch. They've been dethroned by those who no longer want to pay that ransom, and now they are out to damage the project that won't have them any more.
I'm no fan of the illiberal right either - but my view is that the populists need to be brought into the fold and treated as a respected constituency. Jonah and the others will have none of that, unless he's in the driver's seat...
So, now, after leaving Fox in a Huff over Tucker's nonsense, he's now traded down to the network that gives a platform to anti-semites (Sharpton) and racist, conspiracy theorists (Reid). A pox on the Dispatch Grift.
I can’t disagree with you, but his revenge tactics against all who voted for Trump, and his rhetoric against Trump, has caused him to create illogical pretzels of arguments in order to diminish any gains accomplished by Trump. These people, to me, betray whatever ‘principles’ they gave in order to appear ‘right’. I also know a number of pundits who, while Trump accomplished and promoted many things they gave rallied for over the years (school choice and energy independence for example), they idea of being lumped in with ‘the lumpen (in their eyes), was so revolting, they turned against Trump and his base. In today’s atmosphere a fearless guy like Trump seems to be the only type who can withstand the fascist assault from Democrat politicians and media. Look at Joe Rogan—apologizing for having a conversation!!! Argh.
If your fealty to conservative principles is tempered by who is actually implementing those principles ie Trump , then you have no conservative principles. You’re just a shill and writing, unhumourously no matter how much you laugh at your own unfunny jokes I might add, for dollars which is nothing but grifting.
Agreed. NRO was a flagship for me until 2015/16 and I really jumped when they attacked the Covington kids. Your analysis is spot on regarding their motives. KWill is another who is still in 'rehab' and might not recover. Jonah! certainly hasn't.
Are you still posting over there? I got my $1500 back and am so glad to wash my hands of The Dispatch. Such a toxic grift...good to see you over here Kevin!
Yeah I was also maximum prepaid and to their credit they offered a refund and I just said they could keep it. Whatever.
I want to support independent journalism but the corruption is unbelievable.
As an example, you can actually hear John Podhoretz hedging himself on the Commentary Magazine podcast because he knows he’s getting an email from Anne Applebaum, his friend, who is a straight up communist.
Podhoretz is my favorite commentator by far so what am I gonna do? Everybody’s a coward. I get it.
I guess if you get into the writing business you probably don’t know how to tell people to fuck themselves. Maybe that’s the issue. A personality type. I don’t know.
100%. Jonah, David, and Steve's grift is to profit by dividing and punching right. It's pathetic...I'm no Trumper, but that pub is toxic to the goal of a return to conservative governance - and as absurd as The Bulwark and whatever Max Boot is vomiting up these days.
Amen. If we want warmongers we can tune in any TV channel for free. We're paying to get something OTHER than warmongers here. It's important to maintain the meaning of a brand.
You can do two things at once, like maintain your brand and listen to opposing views. We have a name for those who cannot. I'll help you get started: starts with a "w." Ends with a "oke." I don't want to be that person.
Funny that the classmates who retreated from The Main Line to the Hamptons and other posh places did not take any steps to purge their white privilege as that they so often lamented. Good luck Jane. Your values are what make you ,so stay true to them. And keep engaging and arguing civilly with those who may have different perspectives. It will make all of you better people and more enlightened.
I graduated UCLA in the 80s and had a great experience but I don’t give to my alma mater; I give to Hillsdale College. I direct my monthly gift there so that young minds like Jane’s can be nurtured and supported no matter what they believe, not indoctrinated into a particular ideology. I’m looking forward to tuning in this evening to hear more. Thank you.
What a brilliant post! I am so happy for you, Jane, that you finally get it. Your eyes have been opened to the realization that only YOU can think for you. This is what freedom — and libertarianism, by extension — are about.
I attended the University of the South (Sewanee) years ago, another small liberal arts college. I still remember the singular moment when my education changed. My chemistry professor, Dr. David Camp, was talking with two of us about Dr. Linus Pauling and vitamin C. Dr. Camp said, quietly and respectfully, “I’m sure Dr. Pauling is a brilliant man. He has two Nobel prizes. But I’m not sure he’s correct with his ideas about vitamin C. Just because something’s published doesn’t make it so.”
Wow. JUST BECAUSE SOMETHING IS PUBLISHED DOESN’T MAKE IT SO! You mean, I can think for myself? I can disagree with my teachers and with authority? I can decide for myself what I think is right and true??!!
The whole four years of college came down to that one moment. I became a different man.
To me, this is what education is: learning how to think, not what to think.
God bless you, Jane. Keep your eyes and ears and mind open. The truth is out there.
I shared this on FB and know like the last time I shared something from Bari on FB that I lost friends. Which is ironic because of the content about acceptance. I said in my post that there are schools all over the country that are completely normal with no mandates and no obsession with the virus. But for some reason, we don't hear about it -- and Oregon is debating making masks in schools permanent.
I would submit that you lost acquaintances, not friends. Friends won't abandon you because of politics; the friendship is more important. I am 68, and my Best Friend Ever (from second grade onward) and I have weathered many storms, including horrible drug problems (him) and a very different take on environmentalism and politics. We discuss these things, but we do it carefully, always avoiding any personal comments to each other. That is friendship; no politics, no point of view, no possession you will ever have is worth more.
I have many, many friends who I personally know and we don't agree on everything, and that's fine. And you're right, most are acquaintances who unfriend me -- except they are people who actually know me, we've met multiple times, we're akin to colleagues (writers), have participated in events together, had dinner, drinks, whatever. I think what bothers me more are the relatives -- people who have literally known me my entire life -- who block me or unfriend me or email me and tell me how wrong I am about this or that or the other thing and they are "disappointed" in me. Then I get my relatives who privately email me and say thanks. I hate that politics or opinions can divide families. I have 5 kids, they don't all agree -- and that's fine. We still all get together at Christmas and holidays and graduations.
I think that sometimes you have to be .... um.... assertive - that's the 'eighties buzz word, isn't it? I just say, "You know, Susie(or Karen, or whoever), this is not a topic we can discuss." Then ask her how is her dog or something. Unless they are exceedingly dense or aggressive, they get the point right away. If they persist, I just put my nose about two inches from theirs and say, "I don't think I made my point. This topic is closed." Then walk away. They'll get it. Those people will bully you if you let them. I had a brother like that. Dead now.
Ironically, I used to be far more assertive and confrontational when I was younger. I used to love friendly debates. Now that I'm 50, have raised (still raising!) 5 kids, I find it's too exhausting to constantly try to smooth over hurt feelings. I always tell people that I respect their decisions and they need to respect mine. Those who don't, well, I can't waste more time on them. Life is too short to be constantly arguing, even if you're being nice about it.
I followed Bari when she first started...heck, she even responded to an email her list was so small then. I'm from the non-woke conservative side...but I believe our nation desperately needs to learn how to listen to one another again...respectfully and thoughtfully. When I share Common Sense on FB none of my friends get upset. Most enjoy what Bari writes/publishes.
I've just been inducted into the witch trials. A 19-year-old "BIPOC" student accused me of racism because I retained her in a class due to the quality of her work. Never mind that it's a research-skills support class for international students, therefore the students are of all races. When I asked the HR person what evidence the student provided that my holding her back in the class was racial discrimination and not the work I'd just described to them -- the HR person said with a face straight out of Salem: "She doesn't need evidence. What matters is the way you made her feel." Ironically, the student dropped my class because she didn't feel "safe." Well how safe can an instructor feel when FEELINGS are all a student needs to disrupt your livelihood and you were just doing your job? SO MUCH FOR LIBERALISM. We're on the fast track to dystopia and I can't believe this place calls itself a university while simultaneously peddling ad hominem and appeals to emotion as valid arguments for anything.
As for Jane, it's a shame she couldn't push through the online classes in spite of the crowded household and viewing the mansions in other students' boxes. Jane will need that resilience to overcome obstacles. Here was one such obstacle and Jane chose F's over triumph. At the same time, I sympathize with her disillusionment with Bryn Mawr. The most idiotic voices in my social media feed are my college friends. My hometown, working class friends see through all the bullshit. I used to scoff at them -- now I'm ashamed of ever having done so. And one of the most admirable persons is the woman who had a kid out of wedlock at 19, and is now the powerful matriarch of a large family -- kind, stoic, and very much loved.
Times have certainly changes. I went to UC Santa Cruz -- a very, very liberal school. I was not liberal. I took a pre-law class taught by a self-avowed Marxist. My conservative friends thought I was crazy, but it was a required class if I wanted to go into pre-law (which I didn't end up doing) and I liked the subject (basically, intro to constitutional law -- the textbook was by Laurence Tribe.) I listened and asked questions (sometimes confrontational) and the professor told me that I was a "breath of fresh air" because no one ever asked him tough questions, they just parroted what he thought they wanted to hear. One of the best classes I ever had and the professor gave me an A -- and I earned it. It taught me I had to be able to defend my views with facts and strong analysis, taught me how to debate respectfully, and how to think critically. I'm glad I had him as a teacher. I went from a conservative to a libertarian that year in how I assess constitutional rights. Now? I don't know that another teacher confronted with the brat that I was at 19 would have given me an A or tolerated my borderline insolence. Times have definitely changed on campus. My son, a math major, isn't confronted with bias by professors, but my daughter, an education major, has been.
Your Education Major daughter is in for a tough time, if she challenges the orthodoxy about pedagogy and education's telos! I hope she survives and becomes a heterodox voice in education; and especially K-12.
She's now at GCU and she says the education department is much better than at U of A (where her first education class had a whole section on the difference between equity and equality and white privilege.) She'll likely end up at a private school or a charter school -- charters are big in Arizona. She plans to teach 1st or 2nd grade and focus on reading development. She had wanted to teach at an underprivileged school in Phoenix, but don't know if that'll happen with what's going on in schools these days.
Is there something in the ground water? High school students in a BSU of one of our local schools are "striking" today because of all the dehumanization of BIPOC students, systemic racism and rape culture that have gone unaddressed by the school district. I remain open minded to see their evidence, but I also cannot help but think about this generation's insistence on absolute safety, especially emotional, and that framework's deleterious influence on human cognition and reasoning.
I've a stepdaughter who graduated Bryn Mawr. It's a socialist paradise, and as near as I can tell, the only thing she learned there was how much fun girls can be. She subsequently became a defense lawyer and got an eyeful of Real Life after a decade of defending a clientele 95% of whom is guilty. I'm proud of her and have to say she's recovered from Bryn Mawr rather nicely. Many are not so fortunate.
I agree with everything you said with one exception. "Here was one such obstacle and Jane chose F's over triumph." Depression is real and has been very real with these college students. I have a college junior and sophomore. My sophomore hasn't had a normal experience since before graduating high school and my junior had one semester of normal before all hell broke loose. Imagine your college dreams being totally destroyed by a pandemic, or more honestly, the reaction to the pandemic. The repercussions from the reaction to COVID will live on for a very long time. I'm so glad Jane found a different and ultimately great path.
My son, on a near full scholarship to Texas Tech with a math/computer science major, was in the same boat as your junior. He almost dropped out because he was depressed. On-line classes, very little social life, he was spending all his time playing video games and calling me multiple times a day. His attitude was what does it matter? He ended up on academic probation (below the 3.25 he needed to maintain his scholarship). I was worried about him. But he decided to return when TTU said all mitigation was dropped, got an apartment with 3 other young men near campus, has all in-person classes, and is doing great. Goes out, getting good grades, tutors calculus part-time. As long as he stays above 3.25 this semester, he's off probation and doesn't lose his scholarship. I can totally see how Jane and other students felt like nothing mattered. My son is outgoing and happy and a people-person -- being isolated was slowly killing him. I don't think anyone who isn't around kids -- including college kids -- understands what some of them are going through. It's time to end it. Today.
Thankfully both of my kids (two different colleges) have been at school -- with masking and distancing. They are at private schools thus they depend on room, board and tuition fees unlike the well endowed uni's. Daughter's BFF is at Yale. Spent the remainder of freshman year and all of sophomore year at home, similar to the author Jane. Why spend the money if you can't have the experience? Her year at home was tremendously difficult year for the same reasons as Jane (rich v poor). I am thanking God my kids had a more typical experience.
My daughter left University of Arizona because of their masking policy. It's not normal. Masks in the classroom, you don't recognize anyone, everyone is grumpy and half the kids are angry about wearing masks and testing and the other half are terrified they're going to get the virus and die (when they are at no risk). My daughter is at a college in the same state now, no masks, no mandatory testing, everything is completely normal, and she said that the students and teachers are all much happier, friendly, and everyone is taking advantage of the beautiful winter Arizona weather by gathering outside. Yes, it's great to be AT college and involved, and I'm glad your kids are having a good experience (believe me, as a mom, I recognize that we are only as happy as our saddest child), but don't think that masks don't have negative consequences. IMO.
Completely agree! Daughter is now in co-op for the year so no masking, thank God! We are refusing the booster. It's a total joke. I have to wonder if some of these universities/schools will actually ever face lawsuits for their absurd decisions. There seems to be an arc from normal to absurd. I guess at this point we are happy to be closer to the normal end of that arc.
It is absolutely terrifying that these demented lunatics are teaching our children. Unless the sane majority retakes our institutions from the unhinged "Wokerati" our nation is lost.
Bruce, I may have confused the situation more. I should have placed a comma between each of those words (Black, Indigenous, People of Color). Each is a separate identity group but as a "collective", they are BIPOC.
I gotta admit that I don't normally write comments to online articles. Something about the vitriol that I see on both sides tends to push me away. The recent 60 minutes story on David Isay and his "One Small Step" had this classic line - "no one changed their mind because they were called stupid." (or words to that effect) generally contribute to this aversion. But this story, written by such a young kid, is so revealing and uplifting. I also contrast it with a recent WAPO Opinion Piece by David Moscrop saying "Canada must confront the toxic freedom convoy"...what would the mainstream press say about this young woman? How will she be labeled? All because she dares to point out the hypocrisy of the elite? Wonderful, wonderful article.
Thanks for the reference to Moscrop. Pure self-reverential, progressive slop. Laughed through the entire screed. I wonder what would happen if the good, decent and hard-working truckers decided to stop delivering food and other necessities to the useless, parasitical chattering classes? Might be a worthwhile lesson to those, such as Moscrop, who deem themselves intellectually and morally superior to those who actually keep our society functioning.
holy mother of pearl...the Hill comment section needs to be nukularized. Just think, the Federalist eliminated their comment section cuz someone felt bad.
Tribal, ignorant and angry is no way to go through life.
"I couldn’t wait to get out. I dreamed of going to Harvard, but was enamored with all of the old, storied New England schools. I loved watching “The Daily Show” with Jon Stewart and reading The Atlantic. I fantasized about finally feeling like I belonged."
When I was in Chicago public high school, I played drums and football, and dreamed of maybe making either record albums or movies someday. I couldn't conceive of the type of horror Jane describes, so singularly focused on a single message of perpetual smug victimhood.
Glad to see Jane has realized the horrific futility of tribalism.
“I took a poetry class where the professor would sing folk songs to us in the hallway as we made our way into class.”
——————————————————
That job shouldn’t exist and that person is a con artist slash thief.
I did not pay for college. I had a full academic scholarship. I only took STEM courses for 3 years and completed my major. In order to graduate I was told that I needed to take a certain amount of what they called VLPAs. Visual Learning and Performing Arts.
With legitimate frustration on my face I told my advisor that I thought it was beneath me. He laughed. Somewhat humorous, thinking it was beneath me, in hindsight, given that I had just attended a frat party where we kidnapped a duck and threw someone off the top deck of a boat.
College costs $50,000 because it is jam-packed with useless horseshit. The way that we are auto-funding this most wasteful high-end purchase for kids, and then making it non-dischargeable, is truly the crime of the century. I mean if there’s anything that needs to be defunded it’s college.
If you’re actually smart we can send you to work at Walmart at 18 and you will pick apart the flaws in their business operations. Then maybe we give you a $200,000 loan to start a business that addresses those flaws. I’m just spitballing here. Anything is better than what we are currently doing.
Obviously we still need college for people who want to study chemistry, but Ballroom Dancing 101 should not exist. You want to defund something? Defund that bullshit. Anthropology? Just as a discipline? Goodbye. You’re done. This is a knitting circle at best.
At most, 4% of people should attend college. It is a stupid obsession of our society and I don’t know how we back out of this.
(my sister has a PhD in English and she teaches poetry when she’s not doing AI stuff and we have had this discussion
No joke! My daughter is a Civ Eng major and was deferred by Notre Dame. When they decided to open the golden doors to her we met with a Civ Eng professor before making a decision. I asked him why we should spend $72,000/year for a degree we can pay a lot less for at a school that is better known for engineering and he said, "honestly, I don't have a good answer for you!" The bubble has to burst. Parents have to start saying no and students have to get better educated in 'return on investment'!
Yep. This is the only way the university system is going to bend---when people quit paying extortionist rates for schooling. As you said, why spend 72k a year for a degree you can obtain elsewhere at a lower price, assuming the quality is similar?
Except for some very specialized fields, no employer gives a damn where you went to college. (Or trade school, for those who opted for those professions.) Only that you can do the work.
My #2 kid is a talented artist. She now works in children's publishing. She got a dual degree in English and Graphic Design -- English because she loved it, graphic design because it was practical. And while she'll never admit it, she didn't need the degree to be a talented artist. The degree didn't teach her how to handle art for a 4-color press, how to create an embossed cover, or how to hand-letter text. She learned all that at her first job. Unfortunately, she would never have gotten that job if she didn't have the degree -- they require it. I completely agree that college is not worth it for everyone. My son? Yes -- math/CS major, while he could have learned to code on his own, having an instructor is extremely helpful to ask questions and practice. And his advanced math classes I don't even think Kahn Academy has videos on them. My oldest daughter didn't go to college (tried, it didn't work for her) and she's now a cop, has several commendations in her file, loves her job -- but just found out that if she had a degree she would have a bump in her salary. A degree would not make her a better cop. I wish there was more emphasis on year-programs to learn a skill, or incentives to create mentor programs, like working side-by-side with an expert for a year/two-years. My cop also is an EMT and that was an 11 month program and definitely a valuable skill-set that you really need to go to a class for. She has a pay bump because of that -- but not as high as if she'd had a degree. Go figure.
My dad was a cop from 1950-1980. He was considered the best street cop and then sergeant on the force, with the most arrests and commendations. He had a year or two of college--commercial art school!"--then got bored and went the cop route. Did just fine, but in the 1970s, the "new theory" was that cops should be more academically educated and so future raises would depend on getting college credits. So, Dad went to junior college to take courses in police science. In other words, he learned how to handcuff suspects just like he had been doing successfully for two decades. But it was the only way for him to get a raise.
Academia and the Elites are relentless in making working people jump through horribly unnecessary hoops to get halfway decent pay. Now, the paramedic program for a cop is a brilliant idea--they are often the first on a scene and that's a valuable skill to have. But general college credits just for their own sake? Not so much.
She was actually an EMT before she was a cop because she had go through the fire academy and it was a requirement. But law enforcement pays better than fire, and she was actively recruited into Phoenix PD by someone in her gym, so she made the switch (she did pass the fire academy, one of only 2 girls in a class of 50).
"With legitimate frustration on my face I told my advisor that I thought it was beneath me. He laughed. Somewhat humorous, thinking it was beneath me, in hindsight, given that I had just attended a frat party where we kidnapped a duck and threw someone off the top deck of a boat."
This is why you, Kevin Durant, are my favorite Common Sense commenter, LOL!!!
Why not? How if they said STEM courses shouldn't exist? In a free market, all should be available so students and parents can choose what they want to pay for. You want STEM, take STEM. They want poetry and the arts, they take those.
I liked the mix, myself, because everything contributes to building a mind.
but..but...how else are we going to learn how to weave baskets? or the deep understanding of the feminine mind we can learn in "Women's Studies" (not at all what I thought it would be)
There's nothing wrong with offering those courses in schools. If people want to pay for it, they should, because life is not only STEM and work. That said, I object to mandating more than a little of those courses in general education requirements.
I appreciated hearing this from a young person. I was a rabid liberal for most of my life until about two years ago when I realized the freedoms that I hold dear were being co-opted and changed by people of my own 'tribe.' I was called a "racist" in a very matter of fact way by a friend who had just read "White Fragility." I was excoriated by my neighbor when I said that I was helping a homeless man. "Homeless? That's disparaging, you call him un-housed." Since that time 2 years ago she has never said even a hello to the "unhoused man". The irony and hypocrisy is often lost on both the left and the right. I heard about private schools in NYC getting rid of the Curious George books because it promoted "colonialism." Meanwhile in the schools I teach at (mostly all in black and Hispanic communities) the kids love the books and are not considering the Man with the Yellow Hat to be anything but benign. This artifice from the ultra progressive left -of trying to make things equitable- seems to be on the most superficial level: condemn, chastise, and take down. I daresay that removing the statue of Teddy Roosevelt from the Museum of Natural History did anything for disenfranchised people of color. All I could think about was -- the energy, time, and money taking down these statues could actually be brought into the classrooms where I work to actually make a difference. But, it makes people feel good, like they actually did something of value. Sigh.
This is coming up more and more: progressives discovering that conservatives are not the monsters they've been told they are. This is a huge deal, but is still almost completely under the radar, as it's the last thing the MSM wants to get out.
The non-Prog world is mostly people who are socially liberal, but believe in small government and stable values. They used to be called Centrists, but are now labeled Alt-Right or White Supremacists, on the same level as Nazis. Imagine that--and the NYT and the Atlantic are scratching their heads about why people might be enraged about it...
That is what happened to me. It's kind of like we were all in a closed off community on the other side of the mountain and we heard all of these stories about how evil the monsters were who lived over the mountain. We could not see them but our stories became bigger and more terrifying. But once you make the trek and you get to the know the people over there you realize just how much of it was untrue. It has taught me to not prejudge whole groups of people. It's hard when you are driven by fear but not impossible.
Also for me. I was raised on the left coast and thought conservatives were crazy or evil or whatever else negative one might think. Then I lived in NW Montana for 4 years and found out how wrong I had been.
Me too. There was great social pressure to prevent you from even hearing the other side. Conservatives were all considered lunatic-fringe/ radical religious zealots and racists. The Democrat's and their media buddies did a great job of smearing them.
Now I, I do not even consider Dems to be real "liberals" as that term is classically defined. I think they are just power-hungry opportunists who have taken control of the media and push propaganda.
I still have a health skepticism of conservatives - but I do not vilify them. Some are now even friends. I consider my self independent now.
As a non-woke liberal, I don’t care about religion. I know that many people care deeply about it, and I respect that. But often, religiosity in this country aligns with policies that I could never endorse, including banning or severely limiting access to abortion, opposition to gun control and universal health care, and climate change denial. I don’t view conservatives as monsters, and in fact I’m much more critical of the authoritarians on the progressive side than I am of conservatives these days. The zeal with which progressives endorse censorship today is terrifying. But it’s also a problem on the right. The ham-fisted censorship of books, such as the recent Tennessee school decision to ban “Maus,” an important Holocaust memoir, from a history class, is depressing and infuriating. And as much as I oppose critical race theory being taught in K-12, the trend in the Red states to legislate its ban from the classroom is bound to backfire. The First Amendment is being hobbled on all sides, and that scares me the most.
Also a lot of what Jane complains about in this article is class-related. Her classmates at Bryn Mawr are privileged, self-righteous elites who spew virtue-signaling garbage while supporting Nancy Pelosi’s war-mongering and corrupt self-enrichment. Jane comes from a working-class family. In this respect, I’d probably be happier in the real world of Hillsdale College too, where people aren’t judging my clothes or my pronouns.
We of the dark side have no objection to you earning about critical race theory, or any other ideology, as an adult. What we object to is having it drilled into children in hopes of making this faddish ideology part of their received mindset.
I agree. I have no use for CRT, I think it’s racist garbage, and it hurts everybody. I would not want my seven year old son to be forced to declare himself a privileged toxic male white supremacist who oppresses his black and Latino classmates.
The problem is, nuanced thinking is a lost art. There should and could be a way to create a richer, more complete picture of U.S. history from the perspective of the African-American experience, for the benefit of school children, that didn’t also adopt the asinine rhetoric and presumptions of CRT. An outright legislative ban is problematic because it acts like a tidal wave that washes away everything and eliminates any incentive to enrich the curriculum in other ways.
I agree totally. I used to be a liberal but then the Wokes took over and turned being a liberal into something I didn't recognize anymore. I see it in the schools I work at-- everyone is afraid to say anything that is not Woke (maybe that's because I live in Los Angeles) but it's frightening that there is only 2 ways to think - right or left. No nuanced thinking.
Fear is a powerful weapon.
Progressives are very adept at using it.
They punish those who step out of line.
Just the same way we don't mind if you read Mein Kampf, but mainstreaming it and making it required reading for kids is child abuse.
I so agree with you. But remember, Maus wasn't pulled because it was about the Holocaust. It was pulled because of its graphic imagery. They made that clear in their statement. I don't agree with it but I have watched for several years now books, movies, information, scientific facts being scrubbed or pulled or even banned because they are not in keeping with the ideology on the left. The Burbank School District pulled The Grapes of Wrath, To Kill a Mockingbird and others from shelves because of their presumed "racist" content. Dr. Seuss was taken off the America reads program for the same reason. Thomas Jefferson's statue was just dragged out of City Hall in NYC. It does exist on the right and always has. The difference now is that the left used to be the side that stood up against it. Not anymore.
Yes, I know why Maus was banned. Absurd. From the Holocaust to Dr. Seuss…it would be comical if it weren’t so frightening. And I’m all too aware of how Trump derangement syndrome has turned liberals into censorship hounds. I have these formerly intelligent people in my family.
TDS is shaping much of the Draconian blue-state COVID mandates as well as the Progressive Authoritarian need for controlling everything.
Maus was not banned, it was removed from the eighth grade curriculum because it is not appropriate for that age group. I’ve read it and I agree - it is too adult.
It was removed from all the public school libraries in the state of Tennessee.
We have a difference of opinion regarding its appropriateness for eighth graders. But the point is now moot.
False, just one of 95 counties in TN removed it from their 8th grade curriculum.
I hope you would double-check your information and let us know. I am reading in multiple places that it was 1 school district only. This makes your compare with woke banning just wrong. As a Jew, I am very sensitive to disinformation...
Imagine these "liberals" in 2024 when he gets reelected.
Ikr? They are like monsters now. They will be demonic.
I'm sure they are still intelligent. They've just been cleverly captured. Now they are tools.
Maybe so. It's hard to measure, because I haven't heard an original opinion or one iota of curiosity in a few years.
That’s because, as George Will has noted, the progressive left is for diversity in everything but thought.
What's ironic is that kids' video games and films can be so violent and yet Maus is pulled from the shelves?
It was pulled, I think, because of the nudity from the 8th grade class only, just as To Kill a Mockingbird was pulled in a few states for being "harm" ...
I see. I don't agree with the decision but then I went to see a Broadway production of the musical Hair when I was 11. The naked bodies didn't corrupt me.
This is such a calm, reasonable response. Well done.
Your points are well taken and I say this as someone who likely doesn't agree with some of your views. When I was a kid I was an avid reader and my parents didn't really care much about the content. At my local library, I had a permission slip on file, signed by my Mom, which allowed me to check out whatever I wanted to read. In my day, Maus would not be "banned" but there would be parental involvement and consent for children. I don't approve of censorship but I equally disapprove of the Leftist goal to remove parents from the conversation.
You’ll get no complaints from me there.
Sensible.
Bingo on the class-related stuff! It’s ALWAYS been about class, but it looks really bad when the Clerisy (privileged, upper-middle class white people) are caught out denigrating those less fortunate. Substituting race and gender for classism was one of the most odious switcharoos of all time.
Time to shine the light of truth on all this shit!
Well said.
I'm not even sure how I define myself politically anymore. Once upon a time I would have considered myself conservative... then socially liberal and fiscally conservative.... then libertarian... now I feel like I don't really fit into any major political category. Alt-middle? That's a term I heard recently and felt might capture my position.
As to Maus, my understanding is that it wasn't banned, but removed from the curriculum. I think this is an important point. Are you also depressed and infuriated for any curriculum that doesn't include that particular book? I don't think any book should be banned, but this may be a curriculum disagreement that's being spun into a "banning of books by the rubes."
Yes, it was removed from the curriculum, or should I say the curricula, for all grade levels, for the entire state of Tennessee. Out of the libraries, gone. The intended age group this time around was eighth graders, who are old enough to understand and learn about the horrors of the Holocaust. Sounds like a ban to me.
And the reason? a few curse words and an image of a naked women, a Jew, depicted as a mouse. The real world can be profoundly horrible; “Maus” offers a one-step-removed way of studying this horrific topic. I reject the reasoning of the educators who unanimously voted to remove it from the classroom for the reasons given.
“It shows people hanging, it shows them killing kids, why does the educational system promote this kind of stuff? It is not wise or healthy,” School Board Member Tony Allman said about the book, which was part of the district’s eighth-grade English language arts curriculum.” Promote? Is that what this board member thinks author Art Spiegelman was doing in his Pulitzer Prize winning book, promoting genocide? Does Mr. Allman think that nuance and context, important critical thinking skills that should be taught as part of a well-rounded education, are too difficult for eighth graders? Nuance and context, plus faith in his teachers’ ability to approach this subject matter with sensitivity, seem to be beyond his pay grade, at least.
As a Jew I’m highly sensitized to the obfuscation of the historical realities of the Holocaust, now more than ever, given the huge surge in anti-Semitic violence across the country. I am very much in favor of parents having a role in their children’s educations. In the context of critical race theory and gender ideology in particular, it is an emergency. Books can be inappropriate for certain age groups. But “Maus” in the eighth grade curriculum is not one of them.
It was removed from 1 school district in Tennessee, not the entire state. The vote was by the McMinn County School Board. Starting off with such a falsehood makes me question the factual basis of the rest of your comment.
Look, I don't support banning Maus from libraries if that's what was done here, but I have no idea if it is appropriate for eighth graders being taught about the Holocaust. You seem to be adamantly for it - Is it taught in your local district's eighth grade curriculum? Pick 5 random "liberal" districts - is it taught in their curriculum? I doubt it is used universally whether the school district is in Appalachia or your favorite coastal enclave.... that's why I think the brouhaha is probably overblown and being used as a way to push a kind of class snobbery.
I'm open to the possibility that this is another push to obfuscate historical realities, but I haven't read anything yet that convinces me.
I apologize. I misread my sources. The book was banned from all the schools and libraries in the county, not the state. But it’s not just the eighth grade, it’s across the board.
I don’t think there was any racial animus in their decision, but I do think it represents a kind of prurience that is counterproductive and over-protective. As the minutes show, there was a discussion of some Holocaust book that might be used instead.
“The Mcminn County School board just voted to ban the Pulitzer Prize-winning graphic novel 'MAUS' by Art Spiegelman from all of its schools, citing the inclusion of words like 'God Damn' and 'naked pictures' (illustrations) of women," reported Justin Kanew. "There is no video available of the meeting, but here are the MINUTES in their entirety."”
https://www.rawstory.com/banned-books-in-tennessee/
“The McMinn County school board’s 10 members voted to axe Maus from curricula and school libraries, citing its use of the phrase “God Damn” and its drawings of “naked pictures,” though those are cartoon mice.”
https://www.thedailybeast.com/tennessee-school-bans-art-spiegelmans-pulitzer-prize-winning-graphic-novel-maus
Thanks for the links. I finally had a chance to read the meeting notes. If you haven't you really should. As usual, the news articles are terrible at reporting on the actual facts.
A few things from the meeting minutes:
* The original curriculum including Maus was approved and recommended at the state level.
* This is the first year the module containing Maus was being taught.
* There is no mention in the meeting minutes that the book was removed from libraries. There is also no reference for the library removal in the articles you linked to - my guess is that is not actually true.
The discussion was interesting. I grew up and have lived in areas where "God Damn" would be enough on its own for something to be unavailable in schools. I don't agree with keeping the language and graphics of Maus from eighth graders, but I can understand some folks feel differently. And in this case, there was no concern about teaching the Holocaust in age appropriate gritty details. There was just a disagreement over what is age appropriate.
Reading the minutes only reinforced my view that this is a nothing story being used to show how the rubes ban Pulitzer Prize-winning books and should be looked down on for their shocking and appalling decisions... when none of the actual facts support that narrative.
Maybe they replaced Maus with a book about the Rwandan genocide, which is much more recent and 1/1,000,000,000th talked about and rarely taught to anyone let alone adolescents? How about a cartoon book about the Bolsheviks and the Kulaks?
I, too, feel the same. Once liberal now moderate, I think.
You came up with one example with Maus. Let's put that up against all the mind control--through language control--that the Left has wreaked upon this nation. To conflate that with Right censorship is a non-starter. You know this. Keep trying though.
I do not agree that removing books from school libraries is "censorship." In the field of education there will always be debates about whether this book or that film is age appropriate. There will also be disputes over course content designed to impose a certain world-view on students, e.g. religious instruction or lessons derived from CRT, etc. Public education is accountable to the public and public school teachers do not own their classrooms. They don't get to teach whatever they want.
I am not claiming all such decisions about books or course content are valid or advisable. In the current atmosphere, many are not. But no book is actually banned. Parents who wish their children to read, say, "Huckleberry Finn," (a frequent target for suppression) can assign it themselves. Parents who think that CRT is a valid academic discipline can discuss it with their children.
The public education establishment has only itself to blame for the current situation. For years and decades these people have be smuggling dubious content into course curricula. The pandemic outed them and now they're in a panic.
Very good points!
Banning Maus is a heartbreaking decision. What a masterpiece.
Indeed but remember they didn't 'ban' it. They removed it from the 8th grade reading list though it is still available for 10th grade.
If I'm understanding the reporting correctly, it has been removed from all the school libraries and classes in the county.
“The Mcminn County School board just voted to ban the Pulitzer Prize-winning graphic novel 'MAUS' by Art Spiegelman from all of its schools, citing the inclusion of words like 'God Damn' and 'naked pictures' (illustrations) of women," reported Justin Kanew. "There is no video available of the meeting, but here are the MINUTES in their entirety."”
https://www.rawstory.com/banned-books-in-tennessee/
“The McMinn County school board’s 10 members voted to axe Maus from curricula and school libraries, citing its use of the phrase “God Damn” and its drawings of “naked pictures,” though those are cartoon mice.”
https://www.thedailybeast.com/tennessee-school-bans-art-spiegelmans-pulitzer-prize-winning-graphic-novel-maus
The pendulum is forever swinging back and forth, be assured liberals will become more conservative and conservatives will become more liberal; it's the ebb and flow of life.
It seems so.
What an ignorant comment.
I’m new here- what a wonderful and well written article. My brother and I had a similar experience. I’m overjoyed at the comments- polite discourse! I found the smart people!!
Welcome Julie B.
I'm new here and it seems this is a reasonable group of intelligent people (I hope I'm not wrong).
I'm a firm believer in the idea that proximity breeds closeness. Stick a white guy from the Bayou in a foxhole with a black guy from the Bronx and all the scary differences they perceive in each other will melt away.
Wee need to find what we have in common, not what makes us different.
I agree.
I am not surprised by this either. If you don't agree with something a group says, then you get the auto label of the extreme opposite.
I went to an Ivy League school. I was considered conservative. When I went to graduate school, an engineering school in Colorado, I was considered very liberal. I found it humorous because while my views had changed a little bit, they really had not changed all that much (I went to grad school right away, so not much a time difference). I think the problem was that I was at a school that was Far Left, and then went to a school that was Far Right. To each one, I was the far opposite.
Turns out I was Centrist but I have changed my opinion on things over the years.
It's also the last thing Twitter/Google/Facebook et.al. want out.
I thought someone put it well where they said that the woke and their ilk will keep 'running the same play' (calling people racist to shut them up and keep them in line) until it stops working. Hopefully people are getting tired of it and they'll be punished heavily at the ballot box in November. If they don't change up hopefully it happens again in 2024. If they continue to remain a politically toxic liability it SHOULD destroy their power. But we'll see.
I think people are getting tired of it. More liberals are turning against the woke group because they seem just... silly and superficial.
I agree but I'm going to challenge it a little bit:
"progressives discovering that conservatives are not the monsters they" used to be.
We didn't get these believes from nowhere and it's not "someone telling". It was experience. A lot of experience. And... somehow... now... may things have changed and the old entrenched beliefs change to new ones.
Your experiences parallel mine. A lifelong atheist, I now live in the buckle of the Bible Belt, only to find that my prejudices about religion have all been wrong. ALL WRONG. When I first accepted a job in this tiny town, I started out by working with a local church on charity projects; the pastor accepted my gifts graciously and never once has challenged my beliefs. To this day, it never comes up in conversation. I have deeply religious friends; because we are comfortable with each other, we discuss such matters but they never try to evangelize me, nor I them. How very different from my liberal atheist acquaintances! I say acquaintances rather than friends because they constantly seek confrontation and to win arguments, but they don't realize they're only winning in their minds. Anyone who disagrees or raises questions is immediately suspect of some moral failing, including their old friend of many decades in some cases.
I haven't changed my philosophy, but I am now the most religion-friendly atheist you will ever meet. Living in this era and in this place has done what I would have considered impossible: convinced me that this country must somehow be saved, and that only the Christians and Jews have the internal strength to get the job done.
I'm Catholic and have been my entire life. My best friend was an atheist. She is now an agnostic and I no longer think atheists are evil. This is what happens when people talk, listen, and realize that human beings are complex and wonderful and differences are strengths.
That is largely how I came to be a Christian - I think that I "backed into it", by being faced with all of the evidence of its fruits. Took a long time. Then I made it my mission to read the whole danged Bible (took me two years) but it changed my life, because it changed the way I saw the world. It's like I could see everything more clearly than ever before. Don't know that I've ever shared that...haha Not very eloquent but the best I can say it. God bless :-)
". . . only the Christians and Jews have the internal strength to get the job done."
Mmmm, no, because that leaves a whole lot of good people out of the equation. I grew up Christian and converted to Judaism, but we're not the only people with the strength to fix what ails us. You're an atheist but you have that strength, too. Christians and Jews are far from the only people who know how to rebuild a culture.
There is no goodness outside God.
Of course there is. Many irreligious people do good things for humanity. And Christians and Jews are not the only religious folks in the world.
No, you misunderstand me. God, by definition, defines and inspires all that is good. We know what good is because we were created by God. That fundamental truth is not swayed not iota just because you fail to acknowledge it. That's why it's a fundamental truth.
It is your "fundamental truth," not mine.
Dude: no. No. It's THE truth. No qualifiers, no possessive pronouns. That's the whole point.
This is why we're in trouble people. The Oprahization of language.
"they constantly seek confrontation and to win arguments, but they don't realize they're only winning in their minds. Anyone who disagrees or raises questions is immediately suspect of some moral failing, including their old friend of many decades in some cases."
YES. I moved to Portland, OR about 14 years ago and made some good friends. They were creative, energetic, funny, weird. But the last five years, I just haven't wanted to see them much. I thought I was just getting older and more introverted and/or just wanted to hang out with my partner one on one.
Then we went on vacation to Florida and stayed with my apolitical cousin. We had a blast. I haven't had that much fun in YEARS. Not just with her and her husband but with their friends, their extended family, random people we met at the bar, etc.
My once fun, creative, weird liberal friends have become so f-ing serious, so sanctimonious. So boring! I'm sick to death of the complaining and the pointing fingers, and the holier than thou attitude, the lack of critical thinking skills, the unhealthy obsession with Covid, the even unhealthier obsession with everyone's vaccination status, the masks, the virtue signaling, the judgement. It's exhausting.
We're headed back to Florida in a few days and I can't wait. Oregon is so beautiful but it's a real bummer to be here right now.
You might say that Oregon got Cali-fornicated.
This is so good to hear.
As the father of a current Hillsdale sophomore, Jane's lovely essay made me weep with joy, and with sorrow for so many other young people devastated by what we have done to them over the last two years. I am so grateful for the courageous and principled approach taken by Hillsdale's leaders. It was not a narrow-minded, knee-jerk, political response ... it was a response rooted in the values of the institution, which are honestly and firmly held. Jane, it is wonderful to know that Hillsdale has been for you what it has been for my family ... an island of honesty and hope amidst a sea of dishonesty and despair. Best of luck to you.
Over the next couple of decades I predict the collapse of traditional universities, especially the $75,000/yr elite ones. Students are discovering they just aren’t worth it. Community colleges and trade schools will be in great demand.
We can hope. I have one kid at Texas Tech, full tuition scholarship. Another who left U of AZ (and her scholarship) for Grand Canyon because of UofA's insane mandates. What I pay for both of them combined, after their scholarships, is just over $2K a month.
Similar - my daughter is at NAU in nursing school, full academic scholarship. We bought a small investment property in that town for her to live in and have been enjoying the tax benefits and watching its equity skyrocket; I pay about 1K a semester in random fees. Makes me feel much better about her having to endure the occasional horrible leftist professor.
Northern Arizona U? Is that NAU?
It is :)
Guns Up!
Amazing!!! I have heard Grand Canyon U is another small, religious and wonderful school.
It's not that small. They have greatly expanded. It's a christian school, but not overly religious. It's more a culture -- no on-campus drinking, no co-ed rooms/floors, etc. My daughter says that the difference between U of A and GCU are clear: people are happier at GCU, they are socializing and chatting and doing a lot of school activities. Maybe 5-10% of people wear masks in classes, and no one cares. Teachers have a choice, too. At U of A my kid said that no one sat around talking outside or in lounges, that everyone is nervous and constantly telling people to wear their mask. They get emails nearly daily encouraging everyone to get tested weekly, incentives to be vaccinated and tested, etc.
My oldest started at GCU; a ton of his high school classmates went there and they were all great kids. We are big fans. In our experience the student culture there is superior.
Great! Small is a relative term as I went to a 50k large state uni. I know they have very good sports too!
Bari -
This is the best Common Sense article/op-ed/guest post since you started your substack. Thank you for running it. I hope it is shared far and wide.
And please, if you ever feel the need to run a David French or Jonah Goldberg authored piece again, resist the urge and run whatever is on Jane Kitchen's mind that day instead.
I respectfully disagree. I want to hear what people who disagree with me have to say, or run the risk of becoming exactly like those I claim to oppose. Besides, as Lewis Brandeis rightfully observed, bright sunlight is the best disinfectant.
If you want to hear what the research assistants for Fat Boy and Pastor French (neither one of them have written a word they've taken credit for in at least 20 years) think subscribe to their garbage rag or google "2003 Republican Party Big Thoughts"
Bari is at her best when she is (i) writing herself, (ii) giving a platform to important thinkers, or (iii) giving a platform to voices who should be heard but lack a platform because they are new, young, out of the mainstream, etc.
Fat Boy and Pastor French fit none of those categories. Today's writer is a textbook example of (iii) and will be in (ii) soon if she isn't there already.
I agree. The problem with Jonah Goldberg (Fat Boy I presume) that he is deeply intellectually dishonest. I despise that.
TBF, I think he's intellectually honest about his dedication to conservative principles. I think the issue is that he's deeply humiliated by his fall from the driver's seat of conservative culture, and he's now on a perpetual revenge tour to ensure that the people who dethroned him (populist, blue-collar conservatives) pay a price for it.
At the end of the day, Jonah is an elitist who enjoyed being a broker for the right in determining how much policy ransom to grant liberals to allow him and people like him, Hays, French, Krystol, and Boot to exist and keep their perch. They've been dethroned by those who no longer want to pay that ransom, and now they are out to damage the project that won't have them any more.
I'm no fan of the illiberal right either - but my view is that the populists need to be brought into the fold and treated as a respected constituency. Jonah and the others will have none of that, unless he's in the driver's seat...
So, now, after leaving Fox in a Huff over Tucker's nonsense, he's now traded down to the network that gives a platform to anti-semites (Sharpton) and racist, conspiracy theorists (Reid). A pox on the Dispatch Grift.
I can’t disagree with you, but his revenge tactics against all who voted for Trump, and his rhetoric against Trump, has caused him to create illogical pretzels of arguments in order to diminish any gains accomplished by Trump. These people, to me, betray whatever ‘principles’ they gave in order to appear ‘right’. I also know a number of pundits who, while Trump accomplished and promoted many things they gave rallied for over the years (school choice and energy independence for example), they idea of being lumped in with ‘the lumpen (in their eyes), was so revolting, they turned against Trump and his base. In today’s atmosphere a fearless guy like Trump seems to be the only type who can withstand the fascist assault from Democrat politicians and media. Look at Joe Rogan—apologizing for having a conversation!!! Argh.
Exactly!
If your fealty to conservative principles is tempered by who is actually implementing those principles ie Trump , then you have no conservative principles. You’re just a shill and writing, unhumourously no matter how much you laugh at your own unfunny jokes I might add, for dollars which is nothing but grifting.
Agreed. NRO was a flagship for me until 2015/16 and I really jumped when they attacked the Covington kids. Your analysis is spot on regarding their motives. KWill is another who is still in 'rehab' and might not recover. Jonah! certainly hasn't.
I would love to hear a reasoned of censorship - whether ‘hate soeech’ or ‘misinformation’ from someone who genuinely believes it is necessary.
David French wakes up in the morning and he looks at the artisan wood carving at the end of his bed that says
“How can I provide moral and intellectual cover for the shittiest people on earth?”
and then he takes a shower.
Are you still posting over there? I got my $1500 back and am so glad to wash my hands of The Dispatch. Such a toxic grift...good to see you over here Kevin!
Yeah I was also maximum prepaid and to their credit they offered a refund and I just said they could keep it. Whatever.
I want to support independent journalism but the corruption is unbelievable.
As an example, you can actually hear John Podhoretz hedging himself on the Commentary Magazine podcast because he knows he’s getting an email from Anne Applebaum, his friend, who is a straight up communist.
Podhoretz is my favorite commentator by far so what am I gonna do? Everybody’s a coward. I get it.
I guess if you get into the writing business you probably don’t know how to tell people to fuck themselves. Maybe that’s the issue. A personality type. I don’t know.
Wait, what was the $1500 for??
Founding member fee
100%. Jonah, David, and Steve's grift is to profit by dividing and punching right. It's pathetic...I'm no Trumper, but that pub is toxic to the goal of a return to conservative governance - and as absurd as The Bulwark and whatever Max Boot is vomiting up these days.
Amen. If we want warmongers we can tune in any TV channel for free. We're paying to get something OTHER than warmongers here. It's important to maintain the meaning of a brand.
You can do two things at once, like maintain your brand and listen to opposing views. We have a name for those who cannot. I'll help you get started: starts with a "w." Ends with a "oke." I don't want to be that person.
Dittos to that! I heartily agree.
I second this!
Funny that the classmates who retreated from The Main Line to the Hamptons and other posh places did not take any steps to purge their white privilege as that they so often lamented. Good luck Jane. Your values are what make you ,so stay true to them. And keep engaging and arguing civilly with those who may have different perspectives. It will make all of you better people and more enlightened.
I graduated UCLA in the 80s and had a great experience but I don’t give to my alma mater; I give to Hillsdale College. I direct my monthly gift there so that young minds like Jane’s can be nurtured and supported no matter what they believe, not indoctrinated into a particular ideology. I’m looking forward to tuning in this evening to hear more. Thank you.
I also contribute to Hillsdale. I appreciate the thoughtful and discerning monthly newsletters. I also read this and thought, wow....they really are what they say they are: https://www.torihopepetersen.com/blog/dear-hillsdale-college
Wow, that was powerful! Thanks for the link.
What a brilliant post! I am so happy for you, Jane, that you finally get it. Your eyes have been opened to the realization that only YOU can think for you. This is what freedom — and libertarianism, by extension — are about.
I attended the University of the South (Sewanee) years ago, another small liberal arts college. I still remember the singular moment when my education changed. My chemistry professor, Dr. David Camp, was talking with two of us about Dr. Linus Pauling and vitamin C. Dr. Camp said, quietly and respectfully, “I’m sure Dr. Pauling is a brilliant man. He has two Nobel prizes. But I’m not sure he’s correct with his ideas about vitamin C. Just because something’s published doesn’t make it so.”
Wow. JUST BECAUSE SOMETHING IS PUBLISHED DOESN’T MAKE IT SO! You mean, I can think for myself? I can disagree with my teachers and with authority? I can decide for myself what I think is right and true??!!
The whole four years of college came down to that one moment. I became a different man.
To me, this is what education is: learning how to think, not what to think.
God bless you, Jane. Keep your eyes and ears and mind open. The truth is out there.
I teach research and critical thinking at that very school. Oh Larry. We need to talk.
Thanks, MCZ. I’d be glad to. The Mountain was a wonderful place! Sounds as if it still is.
I shared this on FB and know like the last time I shared something from Bari on FB that I lost friends. Which is ironic because of the content about acceptance. I said in my post that there are schools all over the country that are completely normal with no mandates and no obsession with the virus. But for some reason, we don't hear about it -- and Oregon is debating making masks in schools permanent.
I would submit that you lost acquaintances, not friends. Friends won't abandon you because of politics; the friendship is more important. I am 68, and my Best Friend Ever (from second grade onward) and I have weathered many storms, including horrible drug problems (him) and a very different take on environmentalism and politics. We discuss these things, but we do it carefully, always avoiding any personal comments to each other. That is friendship; no politics, no point of view, no possession you will ever have is worth more.
I have many, many friends who I personally know and we don't agree on everything, and that's fine. And you're right, most are acquaintances who unfriend me -- except they are people who actually know me, we've met multiple times, we're akin to colleagues (writers), have participated in events together, had dinner, drinks, whatever. I think what bothers me more are the relatives -- people who have literally known me my entire life -- who block me or unfriend me or email me and tell me how wrong I am about this or that or the other thing and they are "disappointed" in me. Then I get my relatives who privately email me and say thanks. I hate that politics or opinions can divide families. I have 5 kids, they don't all agree -- and that's fine. We still all get together at Christmas and holidays and graduations.
I think that sometimes you have to be .... um.... assertive - that's the 'eighties buzz word, isn't it? I just say, "You know, Susie(or Karen, or whoever), this is not a topic we can discuss." Then ask her how is her dog or something. Unless they are exceedingly dense or aggressive, they get the point right away. If they persist, I just put my nose about two inches from theirs and say, "I don't think I made my point. This topic is closed." Then walk away. They'll get it. Those people will bully you if you let them. I had a brother like that. Dead now.
Ironically, I used to be far more assertive and confrontational when I was younger. I used to love friendly debates. Now that I'm 50, have raised (still raising!) 5 kids, I find it's too exhausting to constantly try to smooth over hurt feelings. I always tell people that I respect their decisions and they need to respect mine. Those who don't, well, I can't waste more time on them. Life is too short to be constantly arguing, even if you're being nice about it.
I can relate.
I followed Bari when she first started...heck, she even responded to an email her list was so small then. I'm from the non-woke conservative side...but I believe our nation desperately needs to learn how to listen to one another again...respectfully and thoughtfully. When I share Common Sense on FB none of my friends get upset. Most enjoy what Bari writes/publishes.
Like this: https://apnews.com/article/coronavirus-pandemic-health-oregon-education-school-boards-f2810fdfc8ba90595cb76bacf5d3f998
Well said. Openminded and independent is a great way to go through life.
Yes, and independent-minded is rare these days.
"I rejected an ideology and it set me free."
Congratulations Jane, and welcome!
I've just been inducted into the witch trials. A 19-year-old "BIPOC" student accused me of racism because I retained her in a class due to the quality of her work. Never mind that it's a research-skills support class for international students, therefore the students are of all races. When I asked the HR person what evidence the student provided that my holding her back in the class was racial discrimination and not the work I'd just described to them -- the HR person said with a face straight out of Salem: "She doesn't need evidence. What matters is the way you made her feel." Ironically, the student dropped my class because she didn't feel "safe." Well how safe can an instructor feel when FEELINGS are all a student needs to disrupt your livelihood and you were just doing your job? SO MUCH FOR LIBERALISM. We're on the fast track to dystopia and I can't believe this place calls itself a university while simultaneously peddling ad hominem and appeals to emotion as valid arguments for anything.
As for Jane, it's a shame she couldn't push through the online classes in spite of the crowded household and viewing the mansions in other students' boxes. Jane will need that resilience to overcome obstacles. Here was one such obstacle and Jane chose F's over triumph. At the same time, I sympathize with her disillusionment with Bryn Mawr. The most idiotic voices in my social media feed are my college friends. My hometown, working class friends see through all the bullshit. I used to scoff at them -- now I'm ashamed of ever having done so. And one of the most admirable persons is the woman who had a kid out of wedlock at 19, and is now the powerful matriarch of a large family -- kind, stoic, and very much loved.
Times have certainly changes. I went to UC Santa Cruz -- a very, very liberal school. I was not liberal. I took a pre-law class taught by a self-avowed Marxist. My conservative friends thought I was crazy, but it was a required class if I wanted to go into pre-law (which I didn't end up doing) and I liked the subject (basically, intro to constitutional law -- the textbook was by Laurence Tribe.) I listened and asked questions (sometimes confrontational) and the professor told me that I was a "breath of fresh air" because no one ever asked him tough questions, they just parroted what he thought they wanted to hear. One of the best classes I ever had and the professor gave me an A -- and I earned it. It taught me I had to be able to defend my views with facts and strong analysis, taught me how to debate respectfully, and how to think critically. I'm glad I had him as a teacher. I went from a conservative to a libertarian that year in how I assess constitutional rights. Now? I don't know that another teacher confronted with the brat that I was at 19 would have given me an A or tolerated my borderline insolence. Times have definitely changed on campus. My son, a math major, isn't confronted with bias by professors, but my daughter, an education major, has been.
Your Education Major daughter is in for a tough time, if she challenges the orthodoxy about pedagogy and education's telos! I hope she survives and becomes a heterodox voice in education; and especially K-12.
She's now at GCU and she says the education department is much better than at U of A (where her first education class had a whole section on the difference between equity and equality and white privilege.) She'll likely end up at a private school or a charter school -- charters are big in Arizona. She plans to teach 1st or 2nd grade and focus on reading development. She had wanted to teach at an underprivileged school in Phoenix, but don't know if that'll happen with what's going on in schools these days.
Had the same experience with a socialist history prof. Best teacher I ever had. I was damn near a Bircher but each class with him was a gem.
Is there something in the ground water? High school students in a BSU of one of our local schools are "striking" today because of all the dehumanization of BIPOC students, systemic racism and rape culture that have gone unaddressed by the school district. I remain open minded to see their evidence, but I also cannot help but think about this generation's insistence on absolute safety, especially emotional, and that framework's deleterious influence on human cognition and reasoning.
I've a stepdaughter who graduated Bryn Mawr. It's a socialist paradise, and as near as I can tell, the only thing she learned there was how much fun girls can be. She subsequently became a defense lawyer and got an eyeful of Real Life after a decade of defending a clientele 95% of whom is guilty. I'm proud of her and have to say she's recovered from Bryn Mawr rather nicely. Many are not so fortunate.
I agree with everything you said with one exception. "Here was one such obstacle and Jane chose F's over triumph." Depression is real and has been very real with these college students. I have a college junior and sophomore. My sophomore hasn't had a normal experience since before graduating high school and my junior had one semester of normal before all hell broke loose. Imagine your college dreams being totally destroyed by a pandemic, or more honestly, the reaction to the pandemic. The repercussions from the reaction to COVID will live on for a very long time. I'm so glad Jane found a different and ultimately great path.
My son, on a near full scholarship to Texas Tech with a math/computer science major, was in the same boat as your junior. He almost dropped out because he was depressed. On-line classes, very little social life, he was spending all his time playing video games and calling me multiple times a day. His attitude was what does it matter? He ended up on academic probation (below the 3.25 he needed to maintain his scholarship). I was worried about him. But he decided to return when TTU said all mitigation was dropped, got an apartment with 3 other young men near campus, has all in-person classes, and is doing great. Goes out, getting good grades, tutors calculus part-time. As long as he stays above 3.25 this semester, he's off probation and doesn't lose his scholarship. I can totally see how Jane and other students felt like nothing mattered. My son is outgoing and happy and a people-person -- being isolated was slowly killing him. I don't think anyone who isn't around kids -- including college kids -- understands what some of them are going through. It's time to end it. Today.
Thankfully both of my kids (two different colleges) have been at school -- with masking and distancing. They are at private schools thus they depend on room, board and tuition fees unlike the well endowed uni's. Daughter's BFF is at Yale. Spent the remainder of freshman year and all of sophomore year at home, similar to the author Jane. Why spend the money if you can't have the experience? Her year at home was tremendously difficult year for the same reasons as Jane (rich v poor). I am thanking God my kids had a more typical experience.
My daughter left University of Arizona because of their masking policy. It's not normal. Masks in the classroom, you don't recognize anyone, everyone is grumpy and half the kids are angry about wearing masks and testing and the other half are terrified they're going to get the virus and die (when they are at no risk). My daughter is at a college in the same state now, no masks, no mandatory testing, everything is completely normal, and she said that the students and teachers are all much happier, friendly, and everyone is taking advantage of the beautiful winter Arizona weather by gathering outside. Yes, it's great to be AT college and involved, and I'm glad your kids are having a good experience (believe me, as a mom, I recognize that we are only as happy as our saddest child), but don't think that masks don't have negative consequences. IMO.
Completely agree! Daughter is now in co-op for the year so no masking, thank God! We are refusing the booster. It's a total joke. I have to wonder if some of these universities/schools will actually ever face lawsuits for their absurd decisions. There seems to be an arc from normal to absurd. I guess at this point we are happy to be closer to the normal end of that arc.
It is absolutely terrifying that these demented lunatics are teaching our children. Unless the sane majority retakes our institutions from the unhinged "Wokerati" our nation is lost.
It's scary to be a teacher today (I am one, too). You never know what will be misinterpreted or intentionally misinterpreted.
Sorry but what the hell is a "BIPOC?" I just can't (and don't care to) keep up with the latest proggie cant du jour.
Black Indigenous People/Person of Color. I think more letters have recently been added because BIPOC excluded someone.
Thanks. I didn't realize that there were black indigenous people in North America. American Aborigines - go figure.
Bruce, I may have confused the situation more. I should have placed a comma between each of those words (Black, Indigenous, People of Color). Each is a separate identity group but as a "collective", they are BIPOC.
The "collective." Indeed.
Is it just me, or is there a recent flood of acronyms? I rarely read anything without having to go the Urban Dictionary at least once.
I gotta admit that I don't normally write comments to online articles. Something about the vitriol that I see on both sides tends to push me away. The recent 60 minutes story on David Isay and his "One Small Step" had this classic line - "no one changed their mind because they were called stupid." (or words to that effect) generally contribute to this aversion. But this story, written by such a young kid, is so revealing and uplifting. I also contrast it with a recent WAPO Opinion Piece by David Moscrop saying "Canada must confront the toxic freedom convoy"...what would the mainstream press say about this young woman? How will she be labeled? All because she dares to point out the hypocrisy of the elite? Wonderful, wonderful article.
They're not trying to change the minds of the people they call stupid. They're trying to motivate the people who agree with them.
Thanks for the reference to Moscrop. Pure self-reverential, progressive slop. Laughed through the entire screed. I wonder what would happen if the good, decent and hard-working truckers decided to stop delivering food and other necessities to the useless, parasitical chattering classes? Might be a worthwhile lesson to those, such as Moscrop, who deem themselves intellectually and morally superior to those who actually keep our society functioning.
Why are you reading anything in the Washington Post? Or watching 60 Minutes?
To understand other view points? Personally, I listen to a variety of sources and find most people have a point somewhere buried deep.
Steven N, have you ever read comments under WaPo articles? Or on Hill.com? It is hard to believe that real people write them.
holy mother of pearl...the Hill comment section needs to be nukularized. Just think, the Federalist eliminated their comment section cuz someone felt bad.
Tribal, ignorant and angry is no way to go through life.
"I couldn’t wait to get out. I dreamed of going to Harvard, but was enamored with all of the old, storied New England schools. I loved watching “The Daily Show” with Jon Stewart and reading The Atlantic. I fantasized about finally feeling like I belonged."
When I was in Chicago public high school, I played drums and football, and dreamed of maybe making either record albums or movies someday. I couldn't conceive of the type of horror Jane describes, so singularly focused on a single message of perpetual smug victimhood.
Glad to see Jane has realized the horrific futility of tribalism.
Points for channeling Dean Wormer in your first sentence!
“I took a poetry class where the professor would sing folk songs to us in the hallway as we made our way into class.”
——————————————————
That job shouldn’t exist and that person is a con artist slash thief.
I did not pay for college. I had a full academic scholarship. I only took STEM courses for 3 years and completed my major. In order to graduate I was told that I needed to take a certain amount of what they called VLPAs. Visual Learning and Performing Arts.
With legitimate frustration on my face I told my advisor that I thought it was beneath me. He laughed. Somewhat humorous, thinking it was beneath me, in hindsight, given that I had just attended a frat party where we kidnapped a duck and threw someone off the top deck of a boat.
College costs $50,000 because it is jam-packed with useless horseshit. The way that we are auto-funding this most wasteful high-end purchase for kids, and then making it non-dischargeable, is truly the crime of the century. I mean if there’s anything that needs to be defunded it’s college.
If you’re actually smart we can send you to work at Walmart at 18 and you will pick apart the flaws in their business operations. Then maybe we give you a $200,000 loan to start a business that addresses those flaws. I’m just spitballing here. Anything is better than what we are currently doing.
Obviously we still need college for people who want to study chemistry, but Ballroom Dancing 101 should not exist. You want to defund something? Defund that bullshit. Anthropology? Just as a discipline? Goodbye. You’re done. This is a knitting circle at best.
At most, 4% of people should attend college. It is a stupid obsession of our society and I don’t know how we back out of this.
(my sister has a PhD in English and she teaches poetry when she’s not doing AI stuff and we have had this discussion
😂😂)
No joke! My daughter is a Civ Eng major and was deferred by Notre Dame. When they decided to open the golden doors to her we met with a Civ Eng professor before making a decision. I asked him why we should spend $72,000/year for a degree we can pay a lot less for at a school that is better known for engineering and he said, "honestly, I don't have a good answer for you!" The bubble has to burst. Parents have to start saying no and students have to get better educated in 'return on investment'!
Yep. This is the only way the university system is going to bend---when people quit paying extortionist rates for schooling. As you said, why spend 72k a year for a degree you can obtain elsewhere at a lower price, assuming the quality is similar?
Except for some very specialized fields, no employer gives a damn where you went to college. (Or trade school, for those who opted for those professions.) Only that you can do the work.
My #2 kid is a talented artist. She now works in children's publishing. She got a dual degree in English and Graphic Design -- English because she loved it, graphic design because it was practical. And while she'll never admit it, she didn't need the degree to be a talented artist. The degree didn't teach her how to handle art for a 4-color press, how to create an embossed cover, or how to hand-letter text. She learned all that at her first job. Unfortunately, she would never have gotten that job if she didn't have the degree -- they require it. I completely agree that college is not worth it for everyone. My son? Yes -- math/CS major, while he could have learned to code on his own, having an instructor is extremely helpful to ask questions and practice. And his advanced math classes I don't even think Kahn Academy has videos on them. My oldest daughter didn't go to college (tried, it didn't work for her) and she's now a cop, has several commendations in her file, loves her job -- but just found out that if she had a degree she would have a bump in her salary. A degree would not make her a better cop. I wish there was more emphasis on year-programs to learn a skill, or incentives to create mentor programs, like working side-by-side with an expert for a year/two-years. My cop also is an EMT and that was an 11 month program and definitely a valuable skill-set that you really need to go to a class for. She has a pay bump because of that -- but not as high as if she'd had a degree. Go figure.
My dad was a cop from 1950-1980. He was considered the best street cop and then sergeant on the force, with the most arrests and commendations. He had a year or two of college--commercial art school!"--then got bored and went the cop route. Did just fine, but in the 1970s, the "new theory" was that cops should be more academically educated and so future raises would depend on getting college credits. So, Dad went to junior college to take courses in police science. In other words, he learned how to handcuff suspects just like he had been doing successfully for two decades. But it was the only way for him to get a raise.
Academia and the Elites are relentless in making working people jump through horribly unnecessary hoops to get halfway decent pay. Now, the paramedic program for a cop is a brilliant idea--they are often the first on a scene and that's a valuable skill to have. But general college credits just for their own sake? Not so much.
She was actually an EMT before she was a cop because she had go through the fire academy and it was a requirement. But law enforcement pays better than fire, and she was actively recruited into Phoenix PD by someone in her gym, so she made the switch (she did pass the fire academy, one of only 2 girls in a class of 50).
"With legitimate frustration on my face I told my advisor that I thought it was beneath me. He laughed. Somewhat humorous, thinking it was beneath me, in hindsight, given that I had just attended a frat party where we kidnapped a duck and threw someone off the top deck of a boat."
This is why you, Kevin Durant, are my favorite Common Sense commenter, LOL!!!
🤗🤗
"I only took STEM courses for 3 years and completed my major."
Your college let you take only STEM classes? You had no general education requirements such as English, history, geography?
"That job shouldn’t exist."
Why not? How if they said STEM courses shouldn't exist? In a free market, all should be available so students and parents can choose what they want to pay for. You want STEM, take STEM. They want poetry and the arts, they take those.
I liked the mix, myself, because everything contributes to building a mind.
but..but...how else are we going to learn how to weave baskets? or the deep understanding of the feminine mind we can learn in "Women's Studies" (not at all what I thought it would be)
There's nothing wrong with offering those courses in schools. If people want to pay for it, they should, because life is not only STEM and work. That said, I object to mandating more than a little of those courses in general education requirements.
I appreciated hearing this from a young person. I was a rabid liberal for most of my life until about two years ago when I realized the freedoms that I hold dear were being co-opted and changed by people of my own 'tribe.' I was called a "racist" in a very matter of fact way by a friend who had just read "White Fragility." I was excoriated by my neighbor when I said that I was helping a homeless man. "Homeless? That's disparaging, you call him un-housed." Since that time 2 years ago she has never said even a hello to the "unhoused man". The irony and hypocrisy is often lost on both the left and the right. I heard about private schools in NYC getting rid of the Curious George books because it promoted "colonialism." Meanwhile in the schools I teach at (mostly all in black and Hispanic communities) the kids love the books and are not considering the Man with the Yellow Hat to be anything but benign. This artifice from the ultra progressive left -of trying to make things equitable- seems to be on the most superficial level: condemn, chastise, and take down. I daresay that removing the statue of Teddy Roosevelt from the Museum of Natural History did anything for disenfranchised people of color. All I could think about was -- the energy, time, and money taking down these statues could actually be brought into the classrooms where I work to actually make a difference. But, it makes people feel good, like they actually did something of value. Sigh.