Posted on 06/22/2017 7:54:00 PM PDT by iowamark
Concerns from local residents have led to a summer reading list for a Spanish Fort High School AP Government/Economics being pulled.
Spanish Fort High teacher Gene Ponder’s summer reading list for his class included a number of texts from a majority of conservative and right-leaning authors including Ann Coulter, Michael Savage, Ron Paul, Thomas Sowell, Chuck Colson and Ronald Reagan.
Some of the titles of the books included “Trickle Up Poverty: Stopping Obama’s Attacks on Our Borders, Economy and Security,” “Liberty and Tyranny: A Conservative Manifesto,” “48 Liberal Lies About American History,” “Guilty: Liberal ‘Victims’ and Their Assault on America,” “Liberalism is a Mental Disorder,” and “The Land of Fair Play: American Civics from a Christian Perspective,” to name a few.
Ponder had previously been a Republican candidate for Alabama’s lieutenant governorship back in 2010.
Posts shared on social media on June 21 questioned if the Baldwin County School System had endorsed the reading list and the perceived lack of diversity of ideas, as well as whether it met the reading levels required for a 12th grade AP class.
Baldwin County Board of Education President Shannon Cauley said she became aware of the issue through social media and brought it to the attention of school system leaders.
“As the school board rep for the SF area, I saw a concern and addressed it with the Superintendent,” Cauley wrote in a Facebook post. “As a courtesy, the school principal called to let me know that the list had been removed and assignment cancelled. He'll be sending an email to all Senior students/parents to notify them that there will be no summer reading assignment for this AP government class.”
In a statement released to the media, Baldwin County Superintendent Eddie Tyler said the list was removed by the teacher and will not be used.
“Mr. Ponder’s reading list that is going around on social media has not been endorsed by the school system,” Tyler wrote. “The list has been removed by the teacher. Baldwin County Public Schools has a process to vet and approve reading lists so that a variety of sources are used. I expect all employees to follow our processes, procedures and policies.”
Looks good to me
Sad - there goes the BEST CHANCE of having at least one class of kids graduate with an open mind.
J. Edgar Hoover had a 3 or 4 page list of subversive organizations compiled by the FBI and passed out in Dallas schools grades 8-12 between 1963-1965.
Would that I had had such a one at my cryptocommunist 1970s Jesuit preparatory school.
It appears to be a list to choose *one* book for summer reading.
Probably meant to provide a tiny bit of balance.
I think he made his point. Lol
Just got my copy in the mail, with a 'bonus' lie.
What a great list! It’s understandable that there would be protests. These kids would shake up everything if permitted a bit of truth.
Hey! FReeper LS made the list...#18. Nice!
I have family in Mobile; they used to live in Spanish Fort. I’m very glad to hear about this teacher. Thanks for posting, iowamark!
Yes! He made the list!
What “concerns?”
Concerns that the students will have their eyes opened to the fraudulent curricula of the neo-Bolshevik education machine?
A one book Summer Reading List for an AP class?
That is very soft.
In my rock and roll days we played the “Silver Fox” club at Mobile a lot. Big club.
I’m not too keen on the putdowns on rednecks here. This is not just “conservative” but a certain attitudinal spin on it.
If there is to be a debate, the sides of the debate need to be set out. I’m not surprised this got shot down in ignominy.
One question I would want open minds to address is why modern liberals believe they were being liberal, and did they succeed or fail, and how.
Those “summer reading lists” are heavy on liberal propaganda and that’s apparently fine.
Children in this country are pretty much the property of secular humanists.
Needs PJ O’Rourke’s earlier stuff. I wouldn’t inflict Savage or Coulter on anyone. Needs Sun Tzu also.
What was he thinking? But I had to laugh.
Wish those kids’ parents would let them hear another point of view.
Impressive list. It reminds me just how far behind I am in my reading.
A comparative politics study would be more instructive. Students should compare a leftist work with a rightist one and consider the conflict of themes. And whether perhaps the best resolution on earth isn’t to either side, but to the center.
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