I am annoyed that of all things, there is a lack of good reading and media material in schools today. Nobody seems to be interested in creating or distributing it, though it is not insanely expensive, and would be very instructive.
To start with, in the 1960s, Disney Corporation put out a lot of educational films that are still remembered fondly today, because they showed children of that time wonders around the world that children of today don’t ever see. Everything from the “I’m No Fool” safety series, to The Vanishing Prairie, The Living Desert, and White Wilderness.
Yet with all the amazing wonders of the world, this just isn’t being done anymore.
As far as books go, titles that should be in every school library should include:
1) A collection of biographies of great and important Americans.
2) An introduction to the tribes and empires of the Americas in pre-history.
3) A guide to the United States constitution, and its interpretation.
4) A heavily illustrated outline of world history in multimedia.
5) A survey of the American Military and Military-Industrial Complex. 6) A survey of American Agribusiness, Industry and Mining.
7) Histories of American Art, Culture and Music.
8) American wars and conflicts in history.
9) Religion in America, and a survey of religions.
10) A study of immigrant migration to America.
yes, I am of the thinking that more books rather than less books is a good way to go.
And not a single one of your cited works is a dictionary. How in the world does one learn to look up words, find roots, find parts of speech, or even grammer instructions without such an aid.
This is overreaction of the extreme kind. Dictionaries ( even a collegiate one) should be available to students. You build vocabulary by using words. One of the aids in that is a good doctionary. I grew up with an unabridged Oxford’s that I was free to roam through at will. Words will not turn you into a monster.