Plato or Mein Kampf? MLK or CRT? Which is most popular in education? Which is most important? (Hint: even MLK would say Plato.)
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When the left cries about book banning, they are using the principles of an open society (“free speech”) to infiltrate unimportant ideas. Those ideas would be dismissed outright in a true public square. But when spoon fed into childhood education and debate is censored in public, then other approaches are necessary.
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It’s not that CRT books should be banned outright. But their importance is low. That the CRT philosophy (just like ESG in internal business) has been injected into every subject as an anti-democratic, anti-realist worldview claiming to be both moral and inclusive, is pause for concern. The left screams “that’s book banning” so they can keep up grooming. The right (if they are realists) will look at the merit of importance and seek to regulate COMPULSORY teaching of it to kids who lack the skills to think and defend themselves from exploitation.
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Go back to 1925 when the left was gleeful to remove creationism as standard text. Or in the 1960s when they banned bibles. If you so much as question Darwin in their presence you are doused with eternal damnation. Yeah, they believe in banning everything and all things that don’t fit their religious worldview and pretend it’s “democratic.” They are not against banning books. They are against everyone else telling them what is important and true for human flourishing.
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So the debate about bans is irrelevant. The debate about truth and hierarchy of importance for ideas to teach is always relevant. If you have 20 hours to teach a subject, will you teach mastery of it or sideline it for subversive purposes? That’s the sign of true educator—when bans aren’t necessary.
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Thoughts?
