John Whitehead's Commentary
Bah Humbug to 'A Christmas Carol': Our Disappearing Culture
Slowly, but surely, many of the things we once treasured are beginning to disappear.
Take, for instance, a New Jersey middle school that cancelled a field trip to attend a performance of a play based on Charles Dickens's "A Christmas Carol" because some might find it "offensive." Indeed, one news source attributed the cancellation to a complaint from a Jewish parent who was offended by the play's so-called Christian theme.
Yet, apart from nominal references to Christmas, which serves as a backdrop for the drama that unfolds, "A Christmas Carol" has little to do with the Christian religion and everything to do with the merits of charity, kindness and goodwill.
For the unfortunate who have neither read this beloved holiday classic or seen one of the many films or plays it has spawned, "A Christmas Carol" is the story of a man who is miserly in spirit and in pocketbook. After encounters with three specters representing the ghosts of Christmas past, present and future, he resolves to be a better person, live a more charitable life, and show goodwill toward all.
Although the principal at South Orange Middle School said the cancellation of the field trip had more to do with concerns that the play didn't mesh with the class curriculum, he admitted to Cox Newspapers that "there is a great sensitivity to putting students in awkward situations."
So, in an effort to avoid an awkward situation, South Orange Middle School officials picked as a substitute "The Great Railroad Race," which recounts the dangers faced and the sacrifices made by an Irish immigrant, a Chinese immigrant, and a runaway slave in the race to build the first transcontinental railroad--a play more in keeping with the politically correct mindset.
As more and more of our nation's schools succumb to the need to be safe havens for their students, an increasing number of zero tolerance policies are being adopted that promise to steer young people clear of anything that even hints at danger, controversy or non-politically correct thinking.
Unfortunately, all too often it is common sense that gets lost--a student is suspended under the school's zero tolerance policy against drugs for chewing on a Certs breath mint; a kindergartner is suspended under the school's zero tolerance policy against violence for playing a make-believe game of cops and robbers using his finger as a gun; and a school trip to see "A Christmas Carol" is cancelled because of the school's zero tolerance policy against anything that is in any way offensive.
What's worse, the motto of many schools today seems to be "When in doubt, throw it out." At the slightest hint of trouble, school officials seem willing to just do away with anything that might be objectionable. So whereas Mark Twain's classic "Huckleberry Finn" used to at least make the list of banned books every year, it now rarely even makes an appearance on school reading lists. It is as if this great classic never existed.
Little wonder, then, that reading scores for fourth graders have not "budged off dreadful" over the past decade. In fact, the U.S. ranked last among 18 industrialized nations in the literacy of 16- to 25-year-old high school graduates who did not go on to further study, as opposed to 30 years ago when the U.S. led the way in education.
People wonder why kids don't read as much anymore, why they aren't interested in their studies, and why they complain that school is boring. But at the end of the day, when anything even slightly objectionable is stripped from the curriculum, it's little wonder that school seems like nothing more than a big yawn to young people.
We might bemoan the state of our educational system and berate the caliber of our teachers, but we should look no further than our culture for the source of our academic problems. Claiming to promote tolerance and diversity while seeking a homogeneous mindset, many workplaces, schools and public places have become intolerant of any but the most politically correct viewpoints. And anything that might raise the specter of controversy is avoided at all costs. Thus, what made this country great--debate, diversity and a respect for differing viewpoints--is being erased from our cultural memory.
The great Greek philosopher Socrates believed in teaching people to think for themselves and in the free exchange of ideas. For his efforts, he was accused of corrupting the youth and was put to death. However, his legacy lived on in the Socratic method of teaching: posing questions that help students--young and old--discover the answers by learning to think for themselves. But now even the Socratic method is in danger of extinction.
We face an immense threat in our society--and I'm not talking about terrorism. It is the increasing tendency to obliterate our history and traditions in order to erect a saccharine view of reality--one that is not true and will never be true. In the process, we are creating a schizophrenic world for our children to grow up in. And it is neither healthy nor will it produce the kind of people who will be able to face the challenges of a frightening tomorrow.
Constitutional attorney and author John W. Whitehead is founder and president of The Rutherford Institute. He can be contacted at johnw@rutherford.org.
Take, for instance, a New Jersey middle school that cancelled a field trip to attend a performance of a play based on Charles Dickens's "A Christmas Carol" because some might find it "offensive." Indeed, one news source attributed the cancellation to a complaint from a Jewish parent who was offended by the play's so-called Christian theme.
Yet, apart from nominal references to Christmas, which serves as a backdrop for the drama that unfolds, "A Christmas Carol" has little to do with the Christian religion and everything to do with the merits of charity, kindness and goodwill.
For the unfortunate who have neither read this beloved holiday classic or seen one of the many films or plays it has spawned, "A Christmas Carol" is the story of a man who is miserly in spirit and in pocketbook. After encounters with three specters representing the ghosts of Christmas past, present and future, he resolves to be a better person, live a more charitable life, and show goodwill toward all.
Although the principal at South Orange Middle School said the cancellation of the field trip had more to do with concerns that the play didn't mesh with the class curriculum, he admitted to Cox Newspapers that "there is a great sensitivity to putting students in awkward situations."
So, in an effort to avoid an awkward situation, South Orange Middle School officials picked as a substitute "The Great Railroad Race," which recounts the dangers faced and the sacrifices made by an Irish immigrant, a Chinese immigrant, and a runaway slave in the race to build the first transcontinental railroad--a play more in keeping with the politically correct mindset.
As more and more of our nation's schools succumb to the need to be safe havens for their students, an increasing number of zero tolerance policies are being adopted that promise to steer young people clear of anything that even hints at danger, controversy or non-politically correct thinking.
Unfortunately, all too often it is common sense that gets lost--a student is suspended under the school's zero tolerance policy against drugs for chewing on a Certs breath mint; a kindergartner is suspended under the school's zero tolerance policy against violence for playing a make-believe game of cops and robbers using his finger as a gun; and a school trip to see "A Christmas Carol" is cancelled because of the school's zero tolerance policy against anything that is in any way offensive.
What's worse, the motto of many schools today seems to be "When in doubt, throw it out." At the slightest hint of trouble, school officials seem willing to just do away with anything that might be objectionable. So whereas Mark Twain's classic "Huckleberry Finn" used to at least make the list of banned books every year, it now rarely even makes an appearance on school reading lists. It is as if this great classic never existed.
Little wonder, then, that reading scores for fourth graders have not "budged off dreadful" over the past decade. In fact, the U.S. ranked last among 18 industrialized nations in the literacy of 16- to 25-year-old high school graduates who did not go on to further study, as opposed to 30 years ago when the U.S. led the way in education.
People wonder why kids don't read as much anymore, why they aren't interested in their studies, and why they complain that school is boring. But at the end of the day, when anything even slightly objectionable is stripped from the curriculum, it's little wonder that school seems like nothing more than a big yawn to young people.
We might bemoan the state of our educational system and berate the caliber of our teachers, but we should look no further than our culture for the source of our academic problems. Claiming to promote tolerance and diversity while seeking a homogeneous mindset, many workplaces, schools and public places have become intolerant of any but the most politically correct viewpoints. And anything that might raise the specter of controversy is avoided at all costs. Thus, what made this country great--debate, diversity and a respect for differing viewpoints--is being erased from our cultural memory.
The great Greek philosopher Socrates believed in teaching people to think for themselves and in the free exchange of ideas. For his efforts, he was accused of corrupting the youth and was put to death. However, his legacy lived on in the Socratic method of teaching: posing questions that help students--young and old--discover the answers by learning to think for themselves. But now even the Socratic method is in danger of extinction.
We face an immense threat in our society--and I'm not talking about terrorism. It is the increasing tendency to obliterate our history and traditions in order to erect a saccharine view of reality--one that is not true and will never be true. In the process, we are creating a schizophrenic world for our children to grow up in. And it is neither healthy nor will it produce the kind of people who will be able to face the challenges of a frightening tomorrow.
Constitutional attorney and author John W. Whitehead is founder and president of The Rutherford Institute. He can be contacted at johnw@rutherford.org.
ABOUT JOHN W. WHITEHEAD
Constitutional attorney and author John W. Whitehead is founder and president of The Rutherford Institute. His most recent books are the best-selling Battlefield America: The War on the American People, the award-winning A Government of Wolves: The Emerging American Police State, and a debut dystopian fiction novel, The Erik Blair Diaries. Whitehead can be contacted at staff@rutherford.org. Nisha Whitehead is the Executive Director of The Rutherford Institute. Information about The Rutherford Institute is available at www.rutherford.org.
Publication Guidelines / Reprint Permission
John W. Whitehead’s weekly commentaries are available for publication to newspapers and web publications at no charge. Please contact staff@rutherford.org to obtain reprint permission.
