My Daughter Is a Lone Star Marxist?

Eduflack reading

Who knew?  When I woke up this morning, I thought that edu-daughter was the all-American girl.  She’s fun, she’s chatty, she loves to laugh.  She a little precocious, a lot sassy, and quite a bit alpha dog.  She is also my princesa, a two-and-a-half year old who can do no wrong in the eyes of her daddy … until today.

Thanks to the Texas State Board of Education, I now learn that my daughter is also a Marxist.  I had no idea.  Now I know better.  Thanks to the information posted by Robert Pondiscio of the Core Knowledge Blog here, my daughter has been branded a Marxist.  Karl Marx.  Friedrich Engels.  And now Anna Riccards.
Why?  It seems that some of the Lone Star State’s state board of education decided that Bill Martin, Jr.’s works simply cannot be taught in a Texas public school.  And one can see how the work of noted Marxism scholar Bill Martin may be inappropriate fare for the average young student.  After all, who wants to find Ethical Marxism: The Categorical Imperative of Liberation on the bookshelves between One Fish, Two Fish and I Love You, Stinky Face.
The problem, of course, is that there may be more than one Bill Martin, Jr. in the history of these United States.  And there may actually be more than one Bill Martin who has actually penned a book.  In fact, we know there.  A Bill Martin, Jr. is also the author of beloved toddler book, Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?
And it is that Bill Martin who was banned by the Republic of Texas.  Brown Bear was put on the “do not read” list because of the supposed political leanings of its author.  Texas thought they were banning the author of Ethical Marxism.  Instead, they put the scarlet letter on a popular children’s author.  And that’s a cryin’ shame. 
But maybe Texas sees something we don’t.  After all, the first thing the brown bear sees is a “red bird,” clearly an endorsement of communism.  Brown Bear doesn’t seem to distinguish between the classes, with all animals being equal in the grand “seeing” scheme.  And then, of course, we have the full menagerie of animals who are ultimately looking at the kids, clearly a bold attempt to issue the call for a proletarian revolution.  
It’s a shame that some narrow, poorly researched, and downright incorrect thinking has resulted in banning what is a terrific little book for a pre-reader.  But better safe than sorry, I suppose.  It is just a slippery slope from Brown Bear to Cat in the Hat to a biography of Che Guevara.  I could be ruining my daughter’s political future before she ever gets to run for first grade class president!  No more questionable children’s books for her.  From this point forward, we’re going to stick to Fox News and the Wall Street Journal.
  

177 thoughts on “My Daughter Is a Lone Star Marxist?”

  1. Patrick. The interesting thing is that the beloved children’s author and teacher educator lived the last 11 years of his life in the East Texas woods and there is a fine Bill Martin Jr Library with his works, letters, awards, etc. at Texas A&M University at Commerce. But Texas is a big state so I guess the word never got to Austin.

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  2. I know youre joking but there is a serious issue that “reformers” don’t consider, largely because of their lack of knowledge about poor schools. They’d be horrified if their own children had to live with the consequences of their theories. Tenure is just as essential for public schools for the same reaon why we have tenure in higher ed. And without collective bargaining, what will protect academic freedom? If and when the policies n RttT are implemented, many kids will lose the opportunity to learn abbout evolution, as well as losing the last protection against nonstop test prep.Whether or not they know it, the TNTP’s allies of convenience will not be satisified with prayer and Intelligent Design in school and the end of due process and collective bargaining, and gays in school. Some of the friends of “reformers” think public schools are evil.And that’s why federalism, which is something I rarely support, has its place in education. Its the locals who know local conditions. You guys will be horrified when you see what replaces unions and traditional reformers in a lot of places. I hope that next time they’ll be a little more choosey when selecting allies. It makes no sense that “reformers” declared war on teachers rather than uniting with us and our unions to compromise for values more consistent with American educational values.

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  4. My husband suggests that either (a) The complete text of Brown Bear includes the line, “Brown Bear, Brown Bear, what do you see? I see Karl Marx looking at me”; or (b) the Brown Bear is a thinly veiled reference to the Russian bear. I’m suspicious of the illustrator: Eric Carle, Karl Marx–could be code.The one ray of hope is that Brown Bear will remain in the school libraries. There’s nothing a librarian likes better than introducing a child to a really good book.

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  5. As a side issue–You read Brown Bear to your two-and-a-half year old; my niece read it to her eleven-month old; why was the SBOE considering it for the third-grade curriculum?

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  6. Hi, I enjoyed this version of the story, this has been a fun week for me on the Oscar Wilde principle that it is better to be talked about than not talked about. It is a bit worrisome that many versions of the story go quickly past the “that’s good enough for me” aspect of dismissing my work on no other basis than that it appears to be critical of capitalism and the “American system” (though of course it is). It’s not surprising that a school board member would say this, but what is a little disconcerting is that people just take it for granted that this is a legitimate criticism. But at least I see hope for your daughter, and I also am lately enjoying the works of Bill Martin, Jr. –Bill Martin, author of Ethical Marxism and other books critical of capitalism and the American system

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  7. ps–I realize that Texas is not exactly “the South,” but, for what it is worth, I am from the South Also (Columbia, SC).

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  8. Thanks for the note.  I think the most disturbing thing is the “fact checking” that went into the process.  Banning books in the classroom is an abhorrent process to begin with.  What a child reads should be left to the parent and the teacher.  But it is even worse when we are excluding texts without even knowing what is between the covers.  Then again, I guess that Brown Bear could be a symbol of a disconnect Soviet empire.I don’t see either of my toddlers reading Ethical Marxism or Adam Smith for that matter.  Hopefully, they will read both in a college economics class.  If anything, you have been used to spotlight an important issue in the schools. 

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  9. Thanks for your response, Patrick, and of course I agree with you, but I think there is an even deeper question of ethos here. I suppose it goes to a deeply internalized self-censorship that just assumes that young people should not be exposed to critiques of the social form. It’s the other side of the “TINA” thesis–“there is no alternative.” If there is no alternative, there’s no longer any reason to talk about anything else, and so let’s not even let young people get started on the idea that there is anything else. Good luck with what you’re doing here, and best wishes, Bill M.

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