|
|
3-20-98 In his first hour, Prager returned to the San Francisco Board of Education which plans to limit the number of books by whites read in its English program, to increase "diversity." Prager thought it ludicrous that many of those who agree with this, believe there is a link between a person's skin color and his culture. DP says that he has more in common with many black Christians, than he has with many white Jews. Race and culture are not related says DP. P says that San Francisco hosts the most racist, obnoxious views in the country. From the San Francisco Examiner: The San Francisco Board of Education unanimously agreed that the time has come to rewrite the "too white" Western canon, and will require high school students to read books by authors of color each year. The reading list for high school students in the San Francisco Unified School District contains 261 books. A curriculum committee of teachers, parents and school officials has proposed a new list of 122 titles. Here are the ethnic breakdowns of authors on the lists. The district stopped short of adopting the stringent quotas first proposed for its reading list, but The City nevertheless will be the first in the United States to have such a requirement. The surprising vote came just before midnight Thursday, after almost four hours of rousing testimony from students, parents, teachers, clergy and community members, most of whom pleaded with the board to adopt a race-based book list. The proposal, co-written by board members Keith Jackson and Steve Phillips, originally sought to require that seven of 10 books read each year by high-schoolers be by minority authors. That number was eventually amended to four of 10 but the board approved the measure without adopting such a quota. Schools Superintendent Bill Rojas, who was out of town and did not attend the meeting Thursday, had adamantly opposed requiring a set number of books by minority authors. On the eve of the vote, he predicted -- erroneously -- that the proposal would "die an agonizing death and go away." He also expected only Phillips and Jackson would support the plan. Of 50 people who stood in long lines to speak, only five opposed the plan --and of those dissenting voices, several were booed into silence. "The district has just made writers of color part of the core curriculum and, in doing so, San Francisco is sending a message to the rest of the country that this is a new day in public education," said a teary-eyed Phillips, who with Jackson received a standing ovation by those who had remained late to hear the vote. Phillips and Jackson said the number of required books by authors of color is now flexible, but that the board agrees "it's no longer acceptable to have zero required books be by writers of color." Although most high school English teachers say students are already reading from a multicultural book list, the resolution requires that every teacher introduce at least one book by a minority author at each grade level. Previously, it was left to the discretion of the teacher. In adopting the toned-down resolution, board members may have inadvertently done something even more revolutionary -- and controversial. For the first time in almost 10 years, San Francisco high school teachers will no longer be required to teach Chaucer's "Canterbury Tales," Shakespeare's "Romeo and Juliet" and Mark Twain's "Huckleberry Finn." These books -- previously the only books required for high school graduation -- will now be optional, according to the board decision. Judging from the more than 400 people who poured into the Everett Middle School auditorium -- wielding signs saying "Ethnic Lit is American Lit" -- shelving the triumvirate of "dead white European males" couldn't come fast enough. Chaucer was derided for his supercilious Old English. Shakespeare "probably didn't even go to school with people of color." And, poor Mark Twain. A half-dozen people deemed him a racist, and one person drew applause by saying Twain used a certain epithet "more times than Mark Fuhrman."
Prager says that if the best books were written by a tribe in Cambodia, then all we should read are books by Cambodians. Most of the great music was composed by Germans like Mozart and Beethoven. DP says there is nothing in America is as important as the above story, not Iraq and not President sex scandals. We are far more likely to destroy ourselves by race-based thinking than by Iraqi poison gas, which I consider a real threat. DP feels frightened by the silence of the mainstream media on this story. DP says there has been no race-based thinking that has not led to massive slaughter of the innocent.
In his third hour, Prager used a member of the Dennis Prager Email list as a guest - Zak Shrier. He talked about two lesbians who now head one of the dormitories on campus. One of them is Diana Eck, who is mentioned in Ari Goldman's book THE SEARCH FOR GOD AT HARVARD. I, Luke Ford, encountered Zak briefly in the early '90s when he was the editor of the YULA (Yeshiva University Los Angeles) high school newspaper. Zak says that admitting one attended Harvard was dropping the H bomb. It killed conversation. You are perceived as thinking yourself too smart for others. (Zak despises the book THE BELL CURVE) I called up to speak to Prager and Zak, but got hung up four different times by the screener Manya. Prager devoted the last half hour of his show to the Clinton sex scandals. DP says he is frequently asked when lecturing about the matter. DP says it is not obvious how important a politician's sex life and private life, is. DP says the whole matter is perplexing. For example, Martin Luther King, in many ways a moral giant, regularly committed adultery. Was he a great man with a great flaw? Can you be a great man and commit a great sin? DP says the polls are foolish. Poll questions by definition are simplistic. Do we want to know about the private lives of politicians? DP says we should not be preoccupied with this, but he doesn't want to adopt the French attitude. Larry Elder came in and said the whole matter was simple. Not the general question of privacy of public figures, but this particular case. Is the number one legal officer of USA, allowed to lie under oath? Is he allowed to tamper with justice? The Independent Counsel is examining whether the White House systematically obstructs justice. Friday, March 20, 1998 Dennis discussed from today's paper, the San Francisco's board of education's decision yesterday to require its students to read authors of color each year. Dennis said that there are many fine authors of color but to mandate a curriculum based on the color of an authors' skin was similar to one of the practices by the Nazis. The Nazis said that they were not Jews and could not relate to what Jews were writing about and mandated that students read books by Aryan authors.
The San Francisco board of education, which was given an original proposal a couple of weeks ago by two of the board members requesting that 70% of all required reading be of authors of color, came to a compromise yesterday requiring 10% of required reading be of a "non-white" authors. Dennis read a quote from one of the board members "authors of color have been treated as second class citizens. We are saying that it is time to have value and respect for every single culture." Dennis asked the audience if they could guess what is wrong with his statement? Dennis called this a "Prager quiz" on your ability to think clearly. Then he gave the answer.
Dennis said that this man equates race with culture. Dennis said that color has almost nothing to do with culture. Dennis asked what cultural similarity does a Nigerian have with a black Sudanese? Dennis said "nothing!" He asked, what does a black lawyer from Boston have in common with a tribesman from Togo? What does a black conservative from Los Angeles have to do with a black radical from San Francisco? What does a white Jew in Europe under the Nazis have to do with a White German sending him to a death camp? What does a white Albanian have to do with a white man in London? Dennis said they have color in common but no culture in common. Dennis said to equate race and culture is incredible idiocy. Dennis said that it is not only morally wrong to equate race and culture but that it is actually stupid, illogical and irrational.
He said that he has far more in common with a black Christian who shares his values than he does with a white Jew who doesn't share his values. Dennis said that this way of thinking that the left, the racial left, the civil rights movements, and the radical board of education in San Francisco believe is a war on values. He said that it must be understood for what it is, a war against values. Dennis said that these people are the purest racists in the U.S. with the exception of the white supremacists. Their racism is pure, undiluted, Dennis said. They truly believe that culture comes out of race. The Germans believed that there was a culture that came out of being born Aryan. Dennis said that that's what the nazis believed and that's what the San Francisco board of education believes. Dennis said that this could only lead to bloodshed. He said that there has never been a race-based idea that did not lead to bloodshed.
During the third hour Dennis had an in studio guest. A young friend of his, Zachary Shrier, who attends Harvard University came to the studio to see Dennis do the show. Dennis found his comments during the breaks so interesting that Dennis put him on the air for about 20 minutes. It was quite revealing. According to Zachary, Harvard had a policy that the school will financially support any student organization. For example, if any of you were to start a club for people who are born in the month of April who also like bowling, you would get funding according to the school policy. Zachary and his friends began a cigar club on campus and he said that for the first time in Harvard history, a club did not receive funding. The reason they gave was that it was tantamount to funding student suicide.
Zachary also said that each dorm house has a married couple to oversee the students. They are called the Masters of the House. This is a Harvard tradition since the 1920's. In the past, it has always been a married couple with full professorship. For the first time however, last week, they have assigned a lesbian couple to oversee a dorm house. Zachary said that no student would dare say anything for fear of being labeled homophobic. Dennis said that there is controversy in every area except with gays. He said that it is really not a healthy thing not to have any discussion.
|
|