Other than the propaganda, I don’t see a problem here. I got through school without having to read “Catcher in the Rye.” Thank goodness.
For some reason, English lit classes select only the most excruciatingly boring books as “literature.” Why not let the kids read Sherlock Holmes stories, “The Scottish Chiefs,” “Kidnapped,” “Beau Geste,” or even “Tarzan?” They’re good books, well written, and reasonably entertaining. The kids might actually learn to LIKE reading; something they won’t get from Catcher in the Rye or Earth-First propaganda.
I’m a history teacher. Let me get my hands on the requirements for non-fiction and I’ll make a list of interesting things that had significant impact on the world.
In eleventh grade Catholic school we read “Of Human Bondage”, “The Power and The Glory”, “1984”, “Brave New World”, and “Morte D’Arthur”.
Hmmm...three of those selections were cautionary tales of the individual caught in the midst of totalitarian dictatorship.
Not the same message in the schools of today.