Member-only story
Is This America?
And when does the country say, “Have you no decency, sir?”
“The terror is to wake up one morning and discover that your high school class is running the country.” Kurt Vonnegut
I feel sorry for America’s education system. Not that I know much about it beyond what I read in the newspapers. They don’t seem to have a lot to say on the subject. Occasionally, they’ll mention a school shooting, but not the curriculum being taught when the classroom turned into Swiss cheese.
That’s too bad, in a way. Perhaps the gunman had something against education rather than the students. Has anyone questioned shooters about what they were reading at the time?
We certainly did when Mark Chapman shot John Lennon. He had a copy of J.D. Salinger ‘s “Catcher in the Rye” in his pocket.
But life lessons really aren’t the focus in schools these days. It seems they’d rather keep students informed of America’s greatness rather than how America is losing its way.
In case you haven’t read the book, the main character, Holden Caulfield doesn’t murder anyone. He considers it, but only in illusionary terms. That’s not exactly motivation to kill one of the greatest…
