The Purpose of Education
To the Editor:
I want to thank the Fayette County Record for their thoughtful opinion column dated February 2, 2024, regarding LG School Library Book Scrutiny.
The piece got me thinking. What is the purpose of education? My first thought was to get a good job. But our founding fathers, including Thomas Jefferson, had other concerns. They felt that education was key to ensuring that America’s experiment of self-government was successful. To that end, they pushed to make education available to all.
In fact, the State of Texas has the same goal in mind: To produce good citizens through education.
Texas Administrative Code TITLE 19 EDUCATION PART 2 TEXAS EDUCATION AGENCY CHAPTER 120 OTHER TEXAS ESSENTIAL KNOWLEDGE AND SKILLS SUBCHAPTER A CHARACTER TRAITS
RULE §120.9 Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills for Positive Character Traits and Personal Skills, Grades 9-12, Adopted 2020 (1) Character education introduces students to character traits and personal skills that empower them to be good citizens who are trustworthy, responsible, and caring. The character traits and personal skills reflect positive beliefs, attitudes, and mindsets; provide opportunities for self-reflection; and permit students to apply effective strategies to make decisions, solve problems, and behave responsibly.
(2) The standards for positive character traits and personal skills are comprised of four strands: trustworthiness, responsibility, caring, and citizenship. Each strand consists of the following character traits and personal skills.
(A) Trustworthiness: honesty, integrity, loyalty, punctuality, and reliability.
(B) Responsibility: accountability, diligence, perseverance, self-control, and selfmanagement.
(C) Caring: interpersonal skills, including charity, compassion, consideration, cooperation, empathy, generosity, kindness, and patience.
(D) Good citizenship: having concern for the common good and the community; having respect for authority, law, justice, and the rights of others; being free from prejudice; having gratitude and school pride; being courteous, fair, and patriotic; and making responsible decisions.
(3) Students are expected to develop an awareness of self-identity as well as recognize multiple perspectives, differences, diversity, biases, and the social and cultural context in which they live.
Books are critical to fulfilling this mission, especially in assisting students to master the last mandate: Students are expected to develop an awareness of self-identity as well as recognize multiple perspectives, differences, diversity, biases, and the social and cultural context in which they live.
Social and cultural context is key to being a good citizen. Merriam-Webster defines context as 1: the parts of a discourse that surround a word or passage and can throw light on its meaning 2: the interrelated conditions in which something exists or occurs: environment, setting. Without context, we cannot understand why things are the way they are in this country. For instance, how can you understand race relations if you do not understand the issue of slavery, how and why it developed, the ramifications of the Jim Crow laws, and the Civil Rights movement? Understanding this context allows us to make better choices as citizens.
How do we develop context? By reading about these topics. Yes, it may be uncomfortable, but, as my daughter loves to say, “It is what it is.”
Reading allows all of us the ability to become aware of our self-identity. I read one of the targeted books, “Finally Seen,” by Kelly Yang. The young Chinese girl, Lina, has difficulty when she comes to America, but, through reading about others like her, she becomes aware of her self-identity, contributing to her confidence and sense of belonging.
Reading allows us to safely explore multiple perspectives, differences, diversity, and biases. When reading a historical novel, I learned about the history of the relationship between Russia and Ukraine in the 1930s, when millions of Ukrainians were killed in a man-made famine engineered by Joseph Stalin. Placing the Russia-Ukraine war in context helps me make better decisions.
While sitting in the comfort of my own home, I have been to Egypt to see the devastating effects of addictive drugs and laughed as a hotel guest is haunted by the ghost of JFK Jr. I learn something every time I read.
Rather than ban books that might be a lifesaver to some students or a book another parent wants their children to read, we should look at a system that allows parents to opt their children out.
As other school districts have done, parents can register a list of books they do not want their child to read. If the child attempts to check out the book, the request is denied.
And, at the public library, rather than banning books some parents do not like, the parent should accompany their children to the library and approve books before checkout.
Marie Watts La Grange