Shakespeare and the decline of America

Daniel Hannan
The Washington Examiner
6/22/2015

There are moments when I want to weep for America. They often come, now that I think of it, when I read the Washington Post. Last week, that newspaper ran an article by a long-serving English teacher in Sacramento called Dana Dusbiber, who dislikes Shakespeare so much that she has decided to ignore the curriculum and stop teaching his works:

“If we only teach students of color, as I have been fortunate to do my entire career, then it is far past the time for us to dispense with our Eurocentric presentation of the literary world. Conversely, if we only teach white students, it is our imperative duty to open them up to a world of diversity through literature that they may never encounter anywhere else in their lives.”

You know what’s disappointing here? It’s not that an English teacher uses such shoddy syntax (you mean “teach only students of color,” Ms. Dusbiber, not “only teach”). Nor is it the flaky logic. (Black kids? Don’t teach them white authors! White kids? Don’t teach them white authors!) No, the really depressing thing is that someone who is supposed to be opening the minds of young Americans can miss the universality of the greatest writer produced by our species…

The article continues at The Washington Examiner.