The American Spectator

Reader Mail

(Page 2 of 9)

Michael G. Novak br> Ellicott City, Maryland /p>

So. Free speech is free only when it is Liberal speech. Most of us who have spent our careers in "Education" have always understood this principle. It is an unofficial bylaw of the NEA. I have taught English and Spanish at the high school level for more than thirty years and have seen firsthand what the "progress" in education (read: the new math, the sight reading method, the self -esteem movement, etc.) has done. When I tell a group of Spanish II students that their low test scores are the result of their refusal to memorize verb endings, they respond that this is my fault because if I were teaching the material, they would know it. The fact that they do not know it is the proof that I have failed to teach it. I have explained to them that they, like their parents, have misunderstood the function of public education. That function is not to educate them, but rather, to OFFER them an education, and to HELP them to take advantage of that offer. They must realize, I remind them, that in the society created by the liberal educators, politicians, and social philosophers of the '60s, '70s, and '80s, their freedoms ALWAYS trump their responsibilities; consequently, they must bear the responsibility for their own willful ignorance.

p>I illustrate this for them with this parable: A man with a relatively serious illness goes to his physician who prescribes a course of medication and diet designed to cure his illness and eradicate his symptoms. The man decides that he doesn't really need the medication and that the diet is too restrictive and rigorous for his taste so he abandons both. When his condition worsens and he returns to his physician, he expresses great indignation because the physician "didn't cure him." I then ask them who bears the fault for the exacerbation of the illness. When I get all through dumbing it down for them by defining every poly-syllabic word, they are usually more receptive to my message of self-reliance and responsibility. Unfortunately, it is far too late to help their parents. br> -- Joe Baum /p>

Bravo, George, for your enlightening and entertaining article on how E.L. Doctorow verbally took it on the chin at Hofstra University recently. Few liberal numskulls are more deserving of such abuse as "Doc." I was glad to see that the crowd wasn't about to stand for his left-wing lunacy.

p>I would have loved to have had that crowd at Al Gore's "Howie Deanesque" rant and rave at NYU today.… br> -- Jim Bjaloncik br> Stow, Ohio /p> p>

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