Is our High School English curriculum focused on developing useful literacy skills? Or has this goal been crowded out in favor of indoctrinating students in Neo-marxist identity and oppression ideology? Let’s look at the evidence. The theme running through the 2020-2021 Stillwater Area High School English 9A class was “How do people find freedom in the midst of oppression?” And the course did indeed provide ample opportunity to dwell on that idea of oppression, especially as it relates to the modern American landscape. From describing California wildfires as a modern day dustbowl, to stating Jim Crow still exists via mass incarceration, to Anti-trump cartoons and a plethora of left-leaning media exposure, the entire course had progressive ideology and worldview “baked into” it’s praxis. The question seems more fittingly to be, “How can we find oppression and progressivism in the midst of English lessons?”

    Even when Animal Farm was read (or listened to), there was no reprieve from this narrative being turned into another lesson steeped in progressive thinking. The contents of a data request showed class discussion making a U-turn from the usual subject of parables, and the book’s clearly described dangers of socialist (and preceding marxist) doctrine. Instead, lessons tied into the oppression of right-wing fascism, the 1932 American Bonus Army, and the Triangle Shirtwaist Fire. These are all worthy subjects of study in history class.

    Parts of the course involved taking an Enneagram personality test, learning the DEARMAN strategy, and other SEL topics. While not necessarily bad things to know, is it appropriate that they take up critical English class time? There was also content from left leaning activist websites such as dosomething.org- a “collective” of youth changing the world. Furthermore, there was an instruction in something called the Metta Prayer, a Buddhist meditation. This prayer would have been an appropriate subject for cultural social studies, not taught as an actual prayer as part of SEL and identity building in English class in a publicly funded school.

    These are not the only topics that somehow jumped from social studies to english: throughout the year the class was assigned to listen regularly to CNN 10 and NPR and answer follow-up questions. In a class spending inordinate time on these subjects, and a good deal on podcasts and audiobook options as well, one wonders how much actual reading comprehension happened.

    Literacy skills are crucial for long term success. There is a finite amount of time our kids spend in class. When other subjects,no matter their perceived merit, are added to the course, the time spent learning those critical literacy skills is thereby lessened. As long as this trend persists, we will continue to see the worrying decline in literacy.