Textbook issuewhite knights battled darkness
Little in this world is more enjoyable for a cynic
than watching the birth, maturation and lingering
death of a political or social issue. One such issue was
the textbook controversy in Kanawha County, W. Va.
last fall.
For those who have forgotten what happened and
for the rest who didn't know it took place, the
controversy began over a few parents' objections to
some books being used by the local schools.
At first only eight books were objected to. most of
which are anthologies containing controversial
material such as e.e. cummings' "i like my body,"
Lawrence Ferlinghetti's "Christ Climbed Down" and
works by Germaine Greer, Eldridge Cleaver and
Sigmund Freud.
Initial attempts at compromise failed and, with the
arrival of national press attention, the small dissent
became massive protest. The climax of this event
included between 8,000 and 10,000 miners on strike,
25 per cent of the country's 44,000 students out of
school for a week, two shootings, numerous beatings
and even more numerous threats.
For example, one of the leaders of the protest, the
Rev. Charles Quigley, asked that everyone pray a
death curse on three of the school board members
who supported the use of the books.
Indeed, Kenneth Underwood, the school
superintendent, received so many death threats he
and his family went into hiding.
The first reaction of people to this news last fall
was illuminating. The liberals chuckled softly over
their coffee mugs, all the while muttering "hillbillies"
under their breaths and nodding knowlingly.
The conservatives could be seen anxiously peering
among the pages of the latest National Review,
hoping that William Buckley would tell them wittily
what to think and reassure them that this, too, was
part of America's slow awakening to the glories of
conservatism.
The silent majority, as usual, was silent because, as
an acquaintance of mine so aptly put it, "they have
nothing to say."
As the issue grew, so did the response of the
American public. To a cynic's delight, it was an event
which allowed everyone to make fools of themselves.
First we have the press, which knew immediately
it had the makings of a good story. It was the classic
conflict: the white knight of intelligence battling the
bastions of darkness and ignorance. It smacked of the
Scopes Monkey Trial. It smacked of class conflict. It
was the ultimate in a Menckian dream world.
Druce nelson
9
Then there were the liberals, preening and
strutting and issuing platitudes concerning
open-mindedness, freedom of thought and the
dangers of censorship. Many of them had already
forgotten their earlier speeches when they were quick
to ban commonly used favorites such as Little Black
Sambo as insulting to blacks or Dick and Jane readers
as being sexist.
Finally, the liberals were to stand aghast at the
beatings and shootings when many of their own
hands were stained with the rock and rubble
destruction of the late sixties.
This was to be expected, however, for the problem
with the liberals is that they're always to inconsistent.
The conservatives, while usually more consistent, are
stunted with otherwise-fine 18th century minds.
Unfortunately, their minds were beginning to get
even more corroded, for they, too, were becoming
inconsistent. The activism and violence which they so
deplored over civil rights or Vietnam was forgotten
and the shootings in West Virginia were largely
ignored.
Instead, they began to cry loudly of independence
and individualism. They have a penchant for turning
ugly ignorance and bigotry into craftily turned
phrases such as "community self-rule." For example,
take note of Boston, where one finds white parents
screaming "nigger" at black children. If one were to
listen to Buckley, he would have one believe they are
fighting for some vague and nebulous self-governing
' right.
Meanwhile, the silent majority went on before in
their unrelenting mass march to anonymity and the
grave; rarely thinking and rarely feeling.
The press slowly began to leave West Virginia,
' stopping here and there to interview another
Bible-thumping fundamentalist or a blinking miner
just emerging from the ground. The conflict wasn't
over, but the story was.
The real questions-who governs the curriculum or
whether we accept a "hillbilly" culture as much as we
accept a black or Indian culture-go unanswered.
The books, too, remain, stored in a dark and
lonely warehouse-once the vortex of a threatening
tornado, now only a small eddy, slowly dying. There
they sit, untouched by either human hands or minds,
both the books and the people.
The only change will be a new outburst of
graduate students in sociology or anthropology who,
taking their tape recorders with them to Appalachian
will return and publish more learned papers telling us
again that the people there feel alienated. Meanwhile,
America's uneasy conscience moves on.
Clancy
is
Corning
I HOW SliOVlilG!
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BUT EVELYN WOOD GRADUATES CAN READ
THE EXORCIST IN 58 MINUTES
At That Speed, The 403 Pages Come Across
With More Impact Than The Movie.
You can do it, too. So far over 550,000 other people have done it. People who
have different job$, different IQ, different interests, different educations have
completed the course. Our graduates are people from all walks of life. These
people have all taken a course developed by Evelyn Wood, a prominent
educator. Practically ail of them at least tripled their reading speed with equal or
better comprehension. Most have increased it even more.
Think for a moment what that me.ns. All of them -even the slowest-now read
sn rove! in than two hi urs. They read an entire issue of Time or
Newsweek In 35 minutes. They don't skip or skim. They read every word. They
use no machines. Instead, they let the material they're reading determine how
fast they read. And mark this well: they actually understand more, remember
more, and enjoy more than when they read slowly. That's rightl They
understand more. They remember more. They enjoy more. You can do the same
thing-the place to learn more about it is at a free speed reading lesson.
This is the same course President Kennedy had his Joint Chiefs of Staff take.
The staff of President Nixon completed this course in June 1970. The same one
Senators and Congressmen have taken.
Come to a Mini-Lesson and find out. It is free to you and you will leave with a
better understanding of why it works. One thing that might bother you about
yourreading speed is that someone might find out how slow it is. The
instructors at the Evelyn Wood Reading Dynamics Free Speed Reading itun
will let you keep your secret. It's true we practice the first step to improved
reading at a Mini-Lesson and we will increase your reading speed on the spot, but
the results will remain your secret. Plan to attend a free Mini-Lesson and learn
that it is possible to read 3-4-5 times faster, with comparable comprehension.
You'll increase your reading speed
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Free Reading Dynamics lessons today and tomorrow 4 p.m. or 8 p.m.
In Omaha at the Holiday Inn... 3321 South 72nd
In Lincoln... at the lies ley House... on the
iniversitv of fiehraska City Campus.
"
EVELYN WOOD READING DYNAMICS
monday, march 10, 1975
daily nebraskan
page 5