Friday, June 10, 2005

California is SCARY

Bill AB 756 Prohibits schools from buying any "instructional materials" i.e. books that exceed 200 pages in length.

This bizarre and frighteningly short sighted regulation Encourages the use of technology and multimedia materials to create higher interest and more up-to-date information from varied sources.

The Orange County Register published this commentary by Hugh Glenn, Anaheim resident and online editor:

Efforts to dumb down California public schools continue unabated. The most recent action is the Assembly passing AB 756, a bill by Assemblywoman Jackie Gold- berg that would prevent school districts from using any instructional material that exceeds 200 pages. Assemblyman Keith Richman calls it "ridiculous" and "the epitome of micromanagement." Jack O'Connell, state superintendent of public instruction, surprisingly, has remained silent. Astoundingly, 42 legislators (including Orange County's Tom Umberg) approved AB 756 - a vote so dumb that Gov. Schwarzenegger now looks like Socrates and Solomon rolled into one.

According to Goldberg, today's students have no need to read classic works of American history and literature, the majority of which exceed 200 pages; e.g., "The Federalist Papers," "The Adventures of Tom Sawyer," "The Grapes of Wrath," "Treasure Island," "Farewell to Arms" or "Moby-Dick." No more classroom dictionaries or encyclopedias could be purchased. Forget books by Lemony Snicket and J. K. Rowling, authors of books children actually want to read.


Do legislators really believe that in order to promote technology, you have to take away books?

Some news sources hint at environmentalists being involved who want to save trees. Sadly, this conspiracy theory is not half as crazy as the actual bill.

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