Book banning is an assault on public schools.
“Coltrane, Gillespie and Bach.”
I think we are getting a clearer idea now that this “anti-woke” attempt to gin up the MAGA base by going after libraries and books is a bigger deal than just book banning.
The democratic ideal of a free quality public education available to all (which remain an ideal, not a reality) is the real target of the Right and has been ever since Brown v Board of Education.
Jennifer C. Berkshire and Jack Schneider make a good point in The New Republic.
The Republican Party is engaged in an all-out assault on public education. But Democrats can’t win simply by pointing out the least popular aspects of that agenda. And they certainly won’t win if they continue to embrace the idea that the heart of education is human capital development for a globalized economy. Winning education back means reminding Americans of everything that schools can be.
In doing so, Democrats should take inspiration from the countless places where broad coalitions of parents, teachers, students, and other community members have successfully resisted extremist policies, standing up for public education as an essential democratic institution in the process. By making the case for schools in which every student has the freedom to learn in a safe, affirming environment, these coalitions aren’t just convincing Democratic voters to show up to the polls—they’re winning over independents, and even Republicans, in the process.
Although the defense of public education and public school teachers is much more important than simply as this year’s Democratic Party election talking point.
And certainly Joe Biden should say and do more.
Defending public education, the teaching of historical truths, the freedom to read, the rights of students of be and know about who they are, are a defense of democracy, and not only about who will win the next election.
Although that matters too.