Sensible folks those Tsarists. The Colony of New Haven had the same law under the Rev. Mr. John Davenport. Exile would do as well. Countries like Andorra are quite libertarian while maintaining reasonable social order.
I understand that T. S. Eliot was a convert to Catholicism from Anglicanism but I fail to see why that makes him anti-Semitic. In his times, anti-Semitism was unfortunately more tolerated than it has been post WWII until recently as the Left is now running in that direction.
Children are not adults. Parents and not the state have the primary responsibility for the upbringing and education of their kids (upon which we seem to agree). I cannot claim the right to choose the education of my own kids without allowing to virtually every other parent to do likewise as to their kids. Such freedoms are not facilitated by homogenized public schools in the ancient era of Horace Mann, the more recent (WWI) era of John Dewey or in the current age of truly active evil in which public schools may be generalized as PS 666 such as "fisting" classes in public schools at Lexington, MA, the requirement of blatant propaganda such as Heather Has Two Mommies and Daddy's Roommate (veritable literary catechisms of lesbianism and homosexuality) in NYC public schools, and other widely noted atrocities posing as "education." If the parents want this, they can buy the books to twist their own kids with their own money. They are not welcome to use my taxes to do so. If the parents want to have their kids instructed in "fisting", they ought to be jailed for child abuse.
When kids are eighteen, they ought to listen to their parents but, alas, it is the way of the world that they often do not. If my nineteen-year-old who generally shows better judgment should decide that she simply MUST know why controversy swirled around Lady Chatterley's Lover, that will now be her decision. I think she has sufficient moral foundation not to be interested by D. H. Lawrence but, if not, not. I take it that you are referencing the Tom Wolfe who wrote Look Homeward, Angel, and not the more recent Tom Wolfe of Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test and MauMauing the Flak Catchers and several great American novels. Either are acceptable to the best of my knowledge and the latter is close to essential especially MauMauing the Flak Catchers and also From Bauhaus to Our House. I am not aware of objections to Faulkner that would concern me.
I don't regard Whitman as necessary context but I also admit to having a general distaste for poetry not written by Virgil, Homer or W. H. von Dreele.
I bring up Mapplethorpe because the literati, the culturati and the glitterati went just ga-ga over his bullwhip photo (which placed the whip handle in the object of many of their affections---barf). I rank his photography well below poetry that was not written by the aforementioned three poets or those like them.
Whatever Wagner believed, his beliefs were not the reason for Third Reich ideology against the Jews or otherwise. Hitler, Goebbels, Goering and the rest were substantially sui generis and just dreadfully more efficient than comparable figures. I have always regarded those who worship themselves such as Hitler, Goebbels and Goering as sorely limited in their imaginations. Wagner was merely a composer and apparently a composer with racial delusions.
Before exposing my children of tender years and impressionable minds to the works of practicing sexual perverts, I would feel it necessary to read those works in their entirety and that does not seem a very attractive idea. One of my kids aspires to be a nurse and has a very practical career path in mind. She is the one absolutely most interested in literature as a hobby but a good-paying job in significant service to others as a foundation for a financially secure life. Daughter #2 is likely on her way to Yale as a chemistry major. Daughter #3 aspires to reaching the age of 13 in spite of her absolutely inconsistent desire to major in Hannah Montana and That's So Raven. It will be reaching age 13 or abandoning Disneytrash or but not both. We are currently experimenting with televisionectomy. If necessary, before resorting to execution, we will consider putting her up for adoption by a dismally cloistered convent without television, without internet and without shopping experiences at malls.
If, at some point along the way, you should encounter my children in what is termed the great ongoing conversation of mankind (in which we encourage them to engage), you might, with great effort, convince one or more of them that Whitman is essential by bringing your evidence to the conversation with them but they may fight back. No man is a prophet in his own household. Sometimes they may even disagree with me (I know how hard that will be for many to believe but it is true nonetheless) and we have taught them to accept unquestioningly only the Teaching Magisterium of the Roman Catholic Church.
As to the value of opinions, God and I make a voting and binding majority. In the event of disagreement (shudder) between me and God, God makes a binding and voting majority.
BTW, don't mistake enthusiasm for anger. I am always enthusiastic but seldom angry. I must work on that transparency thing since I have had to actually articulate this paragraph.
Finally, the original subject of this thread was an essay by a school janitor shilling for the National "Education" Association and Gummint Skeweling generally. Since you and I agree that parents should be the decisionmakers on the education of their respective kids, we should find ourselves in agreement that tax money should not be utilized for gummint skewels much less to so weight the scales in favor of homogenized leftist indoctrination as to make those schools the norm in our society. Whitman, Lawrence, Tchaikovsky, T.S. Eliot, Tennyson, Browning, Wagner, Wolfe, Faulkner, et al., are strictly side issues. If we are in agreement on abolishing public schools, then we have agreed on the critical issue. Then, as Chairman Mao used to say: Let a thousand flowers bloom!
*Many of Hitler's Eugenic ideas were lifted from educated Americans, Like Mag the Scag Sanger, who were forced to read the formless poetry of Whitman...I'm just saying :)''