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Wednesday, September 06, 2023

EDUCATION EVISCERATION

by Felicia Nimue Ackerman




"The principal of a Georgia elementary school apologized to parents last week after a guest author who was discussing his research into a co-creator of Batman told a group of fifth graders that the co-creator’s son was gay. The author, Marc Tyler Nobleman, said the principals of two other elementary schools in the district where he was speaking had asked him to stick to 'appropriate' material and omit that detail of his research. When he refused, his remaining presentations were canceled." —The New York Times, August 29, 2023


Save the kids from candid speech.
Push such frankness out of reach.
Don't give kids a chance to smarten.
Keep their minds in kindergarten!


Felicia Nimue Ackerman is a professor of philosophy at Brown University and has had over 260 poems published in places including American Atheist, The American Scholar, Better Than Starbucks, The Boston Globe, The Chronicle of Higher Education, Down in the Dirt, The Emily Dickinson International Society Bulletin, Free Inquiry, Light Poetry Magazine, Lighten Up Online, The Los Angeles Times, The New Verse News, The New York Daily News, The New York Times, The Providence Journal, Scientific American, Sparks of Calliope, Time Magazine, The Wall Street Journal, and Your Daily Poem