Shallow Pre-College Reading Assignments Pave Way for Social Justice Agenda

It’s common practice for colleges to assign summer reading to freshman before the start of their first semester. The idea is to build community, grounds to grow and explore, and perhaps spark an intellectual discussion. But for some reason, liberals feel they alone have the right to ‘correctly’ indoctrinate our youth.

Breitbart News Network reports on this issue:

Nearly all the books campaign for progressive causes. Joshua Davis’ Spare Parts: Four Undocumented Teenagers, One Ugly Robot, and the Battle for the American Dream(2014) celebrates illegal immigrants. Enrique’s Journey (2006) tugs the heartstrings for a teenage drug-using thief who sneaks across the border. Amnesty anyone? Naomi Klein’sThis Changes Everything: Capitalism vs. the Climate (2014), Naomi Oreskes and Eric Conway’s The Collapse of Western Civilization: A View from the Future (2014), and Edward Humes’ Garbology: Our Dirty Love Affair with Trash (2012) say amen to anti-capitalist environmentalism. Katie Rain Hill’s Rethinking Normal: A Memoir in Transition (2014) and Amy Ellis Nutt’s Becoming Nicole: The Transformation of an American Family (2015) drag students to the cutting edge of transgender activism.

Common readings tell us of the coming storms. Colleges are admitting large numbers of semi-literate students who—POW! ZAP!—can’t read much more than comic books. Students stunted by K-12 education that skips over most of American history are ready only for stories of Right Now. Students immersed in Instagram, Pinterest, Snapchat, and Twitter have little patience for anything but ego-centric story-telling. They want “selfie books”: snapshots of themselves that look good.

The colleges imprint the students’ blank minds with their social justice agenda. No one should be surprised by the surge of support for socialism that has raised Bernie’s boat in the Democratic primaries. Common readings are all about a progressive Mr. Smith going to Washington. Bernie’s story is the story of every common reading.

What about reading narratives that explore the root values of our country? — of the founding fathers, of the Constitution, of the men and women who fight everyday to keep our nation free? Maybe even attempt to explore what our nation lacks, what rights we have as American people to restore democracy to its original form. Or possibly, if you’re feeling really adventurous, dig deep into the pool of classic literature that has shaped history and art. Thankfully, there are a few school left who still believe and take stock in these values:

There’s proof it doesn’t have to be this way. The University of Kansas assigned Hemingway’s A Farewell to Arms. Bates College assigned Our Declaration: A Reading of the Declaration of Independence in Defense of Equality. Here and there colleges assign a play by Shakespeare or a novel by Graham Greene. Colleges don’t have to sink to the level of their least capable students. Nor do they have to turn every common reading assignment into a progressive morality tale. Let’s help them turn the page.

If we hope in upcoming generations to join the fight to restore proper democracy, then we need to fight for proper, balanced education.