Regarding: Introduction...A Bad Day for Grendel
Mr. Esolen begins by describing an incident at his college library that is a familiar one to those of us who have a true love of books, old ones, especially. He witnessed the removal of 40-50,000 titles, some irreplaceable, because "nobody would read them anyway."
In Esolen's words, "It's ironic, but true, that one of the qualifications of the modern librarian is a distaste for books." I wonder if that is, in fact, true. I wonder if they do not share my love of time-worn, gold-embossed cloth covers? If they honestly prefer the water-repellent, gaudy, abstract-art-filled volumes that dominate modern publishing?
He goes on to equate children with books..."It occurs to me that everything that can be said against the inconvenience of books can be said about the inconvenience of children. They take up too much space, are of no practical use, are of interest to only a few people, and present all kinds of problems." I'm afraid much of this is, in fact, true. (Not for me, but for society, in general.)
A few more notable quotes:
"If we loved children, we would have a few."
"Some years ago, American feminists, in their own right no inconsiderable amazons against both childhood and the imagination, invented something called Take Your Daughter to Work Day. 'See, Jill, this is the office where Mommy works. Here is where I sit for nine hours and talk to people I don't love, about things that don't genuinely interest me, so that I can make enough money to put you in day care.' "
Esolen goes on to describe the modern school as the "Human Warehouse," where managing hundreds or thousands of pupils necessitates imposing strict order and the inevitable destruction of imagination. I agree. Public school is about efficiency. Controlling the masses. Homogenization.
My own experience in public school reflects this. In elementary school I was tested and placed into the Enrichment Program for gifted students. I loved it. We would be excused from our regular classes to study all kinds of things the other students never did. We learned to recognize great works of art, studied and discussed math and logic problems, and one year we filled a time capsule that was buried in one of the student's yards. One class, in particular, I remember was about colors. It was then I learned the difference between magenta and aubergine, chartreuse and puce.
Here's my point. Our gifted class was small. Maybe 10-12 students out of the whole school. It was a manageable number. And we were given the opportunity to think, discuss, and research various topics that interested us. We were allowed, yea, encouraged, to imagine. Again, I loved it. Those elementary school years were my favorite years, and a driving force in my own homeschooling ideology.
Looking back, I can see that I received the education that every child in that school should have. Had control and efficiency not been the ultimate goals.
