The key to conserving a closed mind is never exposing it to new ideas. Which is exactly what the right aspires to do by attacking the public education system.
Conservatives wish to place limitations on education such as extensive book banning, eliminating critical race theory, limiting gender studies and more.
The list of banned books in public schools across the U.S. includes more than 10,000, according to The Guardian.
A vast majority of literature is removed from the shelves of public school libraries simply for bringing to light topics that conservatives deem controversial.
“As with books, a subset of authors were overwhelmingly targeted and banned across several districts last school year. In fact, the works of nine authors accounted for 20% of all instances of book bans in the 2023-2024 school year as a whole,” according to a report from PEN America.
“These are often authors whose books grapple with race and racism or explore gender identity and sexuality or depict sexual violence. Several of these authors have penned multiple titles and are thus branded with a ‘Scarlet Letter’ – a phenomenon dubbed by PEN America where a ban on one title from a specific author is followed by efforts to ban their entire collection.”
On one hand, it is a valid concern that certain ideas may be taught from a biased standpoint, thus influencing the way students think and how they see the world.
On the other hand, preventing intellectual growth only promotes ignorance.
Censorship is a form of bias. It ensures that developing young adults are not given the resources to form their own opinions.
Additionally, book banning is not the only piece of this anti-intellectual epidemic. While banning books is detrimental to student’s exposure to important stories, eliminating important school subjects, such as critical race theory, prevents them from learning major historical lessons.
Critical race theory is defined as the study of systemic racism and how it came to be. The NAACP Legal Defense Fund writes that the theory “recognizes that racism is embedded in laws, policies and institutions that uphold and reproduce racial inequalities.”
“Many that are condemning critical race theory haven’t read it or studied it intensely,” said Jonathan Chism, assistant professor of history at the University of Houston–Downtown and co-editor of “Critical Race Studies Across Disciplines” as he told NBC.
“This is largely predicated on fear: the fear of losing power and influence and privilege. The larger issue that this is all stemming from is a desire to deny the truth about America, about racism,” Chism said.
Records of mistakes made throughout history are there for citizens to learn from. However, if new generations of Americans are not taught these things, society will only continue to make the same mistakes repeatedly.
It is important to note the pattern of uneducated voters in America. Those who are victims of the consequences of educational restrictions are the same people who vote for these policies to continue.
“The biggest single, best predictor of how someone’s going to vote in American politics now is education level. That is now the new fault line in American politics,” Doug Sosnik told CNN.
“Trump got the support of about two-thirds of White voters without a college degree, but he lost White college-educated voters,” according to CNN’s exit polls.
Education should not be seen as a threat. If information must be withheld to maintain a certain mindset, then that mindset is not honest. Instead, it perpetuates ideals that prevent society from moving forward.
The purpose of education is not to change someone’s mind, it’s to provide people with the resources to formulate their own thoughtful judgment.
