Books

While I was in the state Senate, I was invited and attended a Roundtable at Oxford on education. It was attended by educators from all over the world. Many were from countries just emerging from the dominance of the Soviet Union.

One thing that all the emerging nations shared was the fact that the previous government had placed limits on what they could teach in their schools. Social studies were no more than propaganda and even some theories of math had a bias.

I am seriously concerned the same thing could be creeping into our own education system here in the United States. Politicians in several states including Florida, Texas and others have decided they know more about teaching than educators. Several laws have been passed providing what subjects may or may not be taught in our public schools. Some even forbid the mention of race, racial bias, gender. It makes me wonder what’s next. Perhaps your prayer book or your version of the Bible.

Book burning throughout history has been a threat to freedom of thought and democracy.

This is constitutional month celebrated in our nation. We should be pleased our nation’s founding fathers have put in the document many freedoms including by implication the freedom of thought. I seriously doubt that many of our teachers are attempting to indoctrinate children in a way of thought rather than simply teaching. Good teachers don’t teach children what to think; they teach them how to think.