Politically, I consider myself to be a liberal leaning moderate. However, while my political views may lean toward the left, I am still nauseated by the extremes of both sides of the political spectrum. Both believe in narrow ideologies that smack of elitism. Ultra-conservatives, who don’t believe women have the right to have abortions and that homosexuals don’t deserve the same liberties as heterosexuals, make me ill with their sanctimonious garbage. Similarly, the far left’s insistence on trying to use education as a tool to push their political agenda also makes me sick. Why, you might ask, do I say this? It’s because what may seem like “progress” to those in charge of instructing and schooling our nation’s future may, in their politically correct attempt to “progressively” reform the education system, actually be harming America.
James Robert Brown has defined the term “academic-left” in his book, “Who Rules Science?” (Harvard University Press), as a “set of academics who have left-wing views.” However, fear of the academic-left does not just come from students like me, who worry about a balanced approach to political and social viewpoints in the classroom, but from many educators themselves. Harry White, an English professor here at NEIU, in a letter to the editor of the Independent dated Jan. 27, 2009, correctly stated that he felt the biggest threat to academic freedom came from “within (typically from the left)” of the education system itself. Professor White complains in his letter that teachers are now given orders in “what their syllabi must include,” and “which subjects should or shouldn’t be emphasized or taught” from various persons and committees within the academic profession itself. White goes on to say that academic interference is not taking place just here at NEIU, but that it is in fact a nationwide phenomenon.
Apparently, those from the academic-left don’t believe you or I are smart enough to choose our political or social beliefs wisely, so they have decided to push us through their biased curriculum into those choices they deem correct. If this isn’t a case of misguided elitism, than I don’t know what is. I believe that we are intelligent enough to make informed decisions about these topics once we have heard both sides of the argument and have gathered all the relevant facts. Apparently, those in charge of education don’t think as highly of us.
Because of this, we are getting teachers and texts that emphasize the accomplishments of one side of the political spectrum while bashing or omitting those with opposing or dissenting views. This is especially obvious in my major, history, where the old vision of an American “melting-pot” is no longer accepted as a proper description of our society. Students are now taught to view our society as a patchwork of peoples and cultures that never mix. I find this counter-productive because while assimilation may not be beneficial to American society, amalgamation is (as in, to form into an integrated whole). Call me old-fashioned, but I still believe that “united we stand, divided we fall.”
Proof of this line of thinking can be seen all over academia and includes the assigned textbooks here at NEIU. One of my U.S. History texts, “Out of Many” (Prentice Hall), is a perfect example. The title, taken from the great seal of the United States, is the translation of the Latin, e. pluribus, which means “out of many.” What is missing from the title is the word “one,” or unum in Latin. Here the academic-Left, by leaving off the unifying word one, seems to be telling us that yes, we Americans are out of many, but no, we are not to view ourselves as a united “one.”
I live in a diversified community just outside of Chicago, and my children’s school district reflects this fact. While in 1954 the United States Supreme Court ruled in Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka that a “separate but equal” education was unconstitutional, “progressive” educators from the left have been pushing curriculums that are causing exactly this very thing to happen in my community, as well as in other liberal leaning communities across the nation. The school district’s controversial Two Way Immersion Program (TWI), where courses are taught in Spanish and English on a near equal basis, has caused such segregation in the schools within the program that, whether intentional or not, the policies may actually be in violation of the Supreme Court ruling. Add to this the fact that the district is also imposing an African-American pilot program, resulting in even further racial divisions within these schools.
In a country where people have died to secure their civil rights, is it fair that the leftist progressives within academia are allowed to implement policies, curriculums, and texts that espouse their warped ideology to the detriment of education as a whole? To me, the answer is clearly no. It is fine to want to have a more worldly view taught in schools, but segregating our classrooms, ripping people’s political beliefs and bashing those opposed to their brand of biased education seems flat out wrong. Just because something is labeled “progressive,” doesn’t mean that it is necessarily progress.