For anyone concerned about the politically-correct rot that's infested academia, Erin O'Connor's Critical Mass is a must-read. But as her mini-review of Diane Ravitch's The Language Police indicates, the seeds for the stifling conformity on the modern campus are planted long before (the quotation is from a Wall Street Journal editorial by Ravitch):
In Michigan, the state does not allow mention of flying saucers or extraterrestrials on its test, because those subjects might imply the forbidden topic of evolution. A text illustrator wrote to say that she was not permitted to portray a birthday party because Jehovah's Witnesses do not believe in celebrating birthdays. Another illustrator told me he was directed to airbrush the udder from his drawing of a cow because that body part was "too sexual."
A review of my book in the Scotsman, an Edinburgh newspaper, said that a well-known local writer for children sold a story to an American textbook company, along with illustrations. The U.S. publisher, however, informed her that she could not show a little girl sitting on her grandfather's lap, as the drawing implied incest. So, the author changed the adult's face, so that the little girl was sitting on her grandmother's lap instead. A contributor to a major textbook series prepared a story comparing the great floods in 1889 in Johnstown, Pa., with those in 1993 in the Midwest, but was unable to find an acceptable photograph. The publisher insisted that everyone in the rowboats must be wearing a lifevest to demonstrate safety procedures.
All together now:
These. People. Are. Insane.
Is it any wonder that homeschooling is skyrocketing in popularity? Even the most inept parent couldn't be this malicious in the guise of "niceness," and could, at best, poison only his own brood.
The public education monopoly needs to be broken up and the quicker the better.