Although we keep talking about the importance of developing critical thinking in students, we take steps that unavoidably prevent achievement of that goal. I’m referring to the latest example in San Antonio, Texas, where a controversy over which books should be in the high school library is unfolding (“A Law, an Email and a Furor Over Curriculums,” The New York Times, Dec. 11).
When State Representative Matt Krause sent a list of 850 books to superintendents claiming they were poisoning young minds, it was reminiscent of similar efforts in the past. I don’t understand why we persist in believing that high school students today are so naïve. They are bombarded with images since an early age that makes them more sophisticated than students of previous generations. Yet we refuse to acknowledge the new reality by trying to shield them from certain books.
It won’t be the last time such book banning will take place. There is too much political advantage to be gained.
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