Saving our schools

Charles Dickens

Nowadays computers and iPhones outnumber books in so many American classrooms. It is no coincidence that reading scores have dropped and so few young people read books. They may read social media, but not Austen, Dickens or Twain.

So many teachers don't even assign books to their students. Instead assignments require reading just a few pages. The potential impact is tremendous — the loss of mental skills, a decline in the ability to hold jobs and a shrinkage of western heritage. At one time most people knew at least something about Animal Farm, Huck Finn and To Kill a Mockingbird.

Salvation may depend more on state legislators than on educators. Mark Bauerlein and Stanley Kurtz are pushing legislation they call the BOOKS (Books Optimize Our Kids' Schools) Act. This would require English teachers to assign at least two books per semester to their students. Half of these books must have been published before 1900, meaning that students would be required to tackle something written by the likes of Shakespeare, Alcott, Thoreau and Homer.

For us older folks, that sounds like a normal and good education.  To too many students today it sounds impossible. This explains why so many parents are turning to home schooling, private schools and charter schools to educate their young. If Bauerlein and Kurtz have their way in a few state legislatures, even public school students may start doing better.