Classic Book Recommendation

When I first was using Diane Ravitch's The Language Police as a reference for one of my Social Foundations classes, I was immediately impressed with the Atkinson-Ravitch Sampler of Classic Literature in an appendix at the back of the book. No moral relativism, emphasis on multiculturalism, disparagement of "dead white males," or promotion of teen literature. Just a list of great literature that students should be exposed to while in school. I decided to photocopy the list for my own reference but then ended up buying the book because of its use as a reference in combatting in my classes the "progressive" education that has been so harmful to our nation and, in particular, to lower income students.

One entry in the Sampler of Classic Literature particularly intrigued me--Richard Halliburton's The Royal Road to Romance, written in 1925:

"Adventure is the hallmark of this unique and enduring travelogue. Fresh from Princeton University, Halliburton and a pal set out in the early 1920s to view other parts of the world, and Royal Road is an account of that unforgettable first trip. Writers attest to Halliburton's formative influence, and readers still are caught by the freshness, wanderlust, and charm that mark this work."

Out of all the great classic literature I've read, I would say that Royal Road is perhaps my favorite book of all time, and it certainly is the one of the best pieces of travel literature ever written. Halliburton's style is infectious, and he has a way with words and descriptions that few other authors can even approach. There is a joy of life in the work, and the book is a perpetual memorial to youth and the pleasures of discovering new worlds and cultures.

Here is Halliburton describing his musings on the campus of Princeton that led him to take his vagabond trip around the world after graduation:

"A wave of exultation swept over me. Youth--nothing else worth having in the world. . .and I had youth, the transitory, the fugitive, now, completely and abundantly. Yet what was I going to do with it? Certainly not squander its gold on the commonplace quest for riches and respectability, and then secretly lament the price that had to be paid for these futile ideals. Let those who wish have their respectability--I wanted freedom, freedom to indulge in whatever caprice struck my fancy, freedom to search in the farthermost corners of the earth for the beautiful, the joyous and the romantic.

"The romantic--that was what I wanted. I hungered for the romance of the sea, and foreign ports, and foreign smiles. I wanted to follow the prow of a ship, any ship, and sail away, perhaps to China, perhaps to Spain, perhaps to the South Sea Isles, there to do nothing all day long but lie on a surf-swept beach and fling monkeys at the coconuts.

"I hungered for the romance of great mountains. From childhood I had dreamed of climbing Fujiyama and the Matterhorn, and had planned to charge Mount Olympus in order to visit the gods that dwelt there. I wanted to swim the Hellespont where Lord Byron swam, float down the Nile in a butterfly boat, make love to a pale Kashmiri maiden beside the Shalimar, dance to the castanets of Granada gipsies, commune in solitude with the moonlit Taj Majal, hunt tigers in a Bengal jungle--try everything once. I wanted to realize my youth while I had it, and yield to temptation before increasing years and responsibilities robbed me of the courage."

I love this book! His adventures are always dramatic, hilarious, mesmerizing, poignant, amusing. He encounters fascinating characters along the way that drift into and out of his life of travel. Royal Road is a captivating ode to the adventures of youth. This book made Halliburton a superstar, and it was followed by The Glorious Adventure, New Worlds to Conquer, The Flying Carpet, and Seven League Boots--all terrific.

It is also important to note--from an education standpoint--that Halliburton appears to have had an excellent education, from his knowledge of ancient history and mythology, Latin, and poetry. Many of these subjects have disappeared from the curriculum to be replaced by. . .well, nothing, which is a shame. These subjects interested Halliburton and were formative evidently. In turn, these subjects still inspire, as do Halliburton's books. It is a perfect example of how our culturally common heritage inspires additional classics.

Here is a letter to the editor in Memphis Magazine that sums up Halliburton's influence on the Greatest Generation:

"I stumbled on your years-old piece about Richard Halliburton this evening and it surely touched a chord. A teacher read to us from one of his books when I was in 7th grade; it set me on a lifetime of travel - including climbing Mt. Fuji, as he did. Now closing in on 75, I am planning my last major trip, having seen all of the world I ever wanted to - all because of Halliburton. Why not reprint some of his writings in your magazine? Let folks see what the world was like when it was innocent and all travel outside Tennessee was a Glorious Adventure.
~ Geoff Smith, Seattle, WA"

Halliburton was one of the most famous Americans in the 1920s and 1930s. His influence can be measured by the fact that one of the most persistent urban myths is traced back to his writings--that the Great Wall of China is the only man made object visible from the moon. He disappeared in 1939 in a voyage from Hong Kong to San Francisco.

So why do so few people know of Halliburton today? I can only conjecture. It seems he is a victim of the pernicious Left-wing purging of great literature. So much of our canon has been systematically forgotten, from Sir Walter Scott to Rudyard Kipling, because of political correctness. Halliburton, because he is so interesting, naturally made a few politically incorrect statements in his writings. It is one reason his writings are so fascinating and not completely dry and insipid like the politically correct, multicultural, censored garbage in today's anthologies. My guess is that his greatest sin for liberals, though, was that he dismissed communism in a trip to Russia in the early 1930s, while so many of the elite were gushing about it.

There is a decent Wikipedia article on Halliburton and another good one about his life. Halliburton was one of the great American writers and definitely deserves to be rediscovered.

Vive L'Eglise Catholique!

The five conservative Supreme Court justices--Scalia, Thomas, Alito, Roberts, and Kennedy--are all Catholics, so it should be enough to show that Catholicism culturally is an intellectual religion with an emphasis on learning and knowledge, unlike a certain Revolution liberals are celebrating today. These days conservative Catholics are some of the staunchest defenders of our liberty, freedom, and traditions from liberal postmodern assault, which is a main reason for the anti-Catholic bias in mainstream academia and pop culture.

Conservative Catholics these days are also defenders of traditional learning and our classical heritage. Just as Catholic monasteries steadfastly preserved classical texts from the onslaught of barbarians during the early Middle Ages, contemporary conservative Catholics are preserving the traditional focus on learning from the onslaught of the modern day postmodern barbarians, as this news story about eight students from Christendom College receiving honors on the National Greek exam demonstrates:

The faculty of the Classical and Early Christian Studies department take great satisfaction in seeing young scholars mature who are equipped to use intelligently the sacred and secular patrimony of our civilization memorialized in Latin and Greek,” Department Head Dr. Edward Strickland said. “As recently as last year, the Holy Father declared, ‘Quite rightly Our Predecessors have considered knowledge of Latin of great importance for those who deal with ecclesiastical and liberal studies to be able to make fully their own the tremendously rich teaching of these disciplines. Therefore, we urge those scholars zealously to endeavor that as many as possible have access to this treasure and obtain the excellent knowledge that it has to bestow.’”
At Christendom, in addition to Classical and Early Christian Studies (CECS), the Theology and Philosophy departments require their students to have adequate mastery of Latin or Greek. Students who study classical languages have been shown to consistently score highest on the GRE and find it to be especially useful for such professions as law, insurance, medicine, fictional or technical writing, library science, or management: careers that demand high literacy and/or a technical vocabulary.

There has been a pervasive myth since the French Enlightenment era and the liberal Protestant German scientific ascendancy in the late 1800s that the Catholic Church and the Middle Ages were barbaric times, unconcerned with science and erudition. This idea is patently false, as can be proven through historical records and also through common sense observation of today's trends:

Who are some of the staunchest defenders of liberty, learning, and true science? Conservative Catholics, as well as conservative Jews and Evangelicals. Flannery O'Connor jokingly stated (with truth) that Southern evangelicals are much more Catholic intellectually than they would ever care to realize; we can see this these days in the alliance between conservative Catholics and Evangelicals in defending our nations liberties and traditions.

Who are some of the most barbaric defenders of false science (e.g. global warming), barbaric militants against tradition (does the phrase "dead white males" ring a bell?), and barbaric proponents of narrow-minded bigotry (intolerant multiculturalism, i.e. stating that minorities cannot embrace the heritage of the West)? Liberals.

It is important to note that when American Catholics, Protestants, and Jews move away from conservative ideology, they are rejecting their American and Western heritage for the following ideas that have no roots in our great tradition: liberalism, multiculturalism, socialism, communism, and postmodernism. Christians and Jews should, by definition, be conservatives. It is important to preserve and safeguard our traditions. Rejecting liberalism should be a key component.

On this Bastille Day, let us celebrate that we are heirs to our great American heritage, which, because it embraced tradition, did not have a Revolution, and eschew the destructive ideals of the French and Russian Revolutions, which attempted to supplant tradition. Vive les Etats-Unis and l'Eglise Catholique!

Homosexuality and Montgomery County Schools

Wealthy Montgomery County, MD in the Washington suburbs has one of the most "progressive" public school systems in the nation, so naturally it is not surprising that they are gung-ho about teaching public school children sex education. Scratch the last two words, make that "gung-ho about teaching public school children to be sexually active."

Again, the liberals in Montgomery County are attempting to sneak in PC, pro-gay active lifestyle propaganda into the curriculum in the guise of "sex education" (as if we can't somehow figure out sex on our own without schools "teaching" it; talk about hubris) and inflict these harmful attitudes upon impressionable 8th graders right at the beginning of adolescence. Parents: I have an M.Ed. in Education Policy and can't say repeat it enough: Pull. Your. Kids. Out. of. Public. School.

Of course, mountebank liberals claim this gay-rights agenda in the proposed sex education curriculum in Montgomery County is all in the name of "tolerance" and "compassion."

Sorry, I don't buy it for one second. If it is in the name of "tolerance" and "diversity," why then no mention of this eloquent plea for men to give up the homosexual lifestyle by Michael Glatze, a former gay activist? Should school children not be allowed to obtain these opposing viewpoints?

For Orwellian liberals running our school districts, the answer is in the overwhelming negative.

From the Washington Examiner article about the hyper-gay agenda in Montgomery County schools:

"The filing contends that certain viewpoints — such as the possibility of being an ex-gay — are left out.

'That’s one other orientation they refuse to acknowledge,' Garza said. 'We don’t want to tell kids that whatever orientation they choose; they’re stuck.'”

The truth is they are not stuck, but liberals won't admit this fact. Here is a great article on the subject by an excellent priest, Father Paul Scalia, here in the Diocese of Arlington. (Can you guess whose son he is?) Sex education is quite simply about promoting lifestyles that liberals feel will benefit them politically. Loose women and active gays generally support Democrats. Hook them on fruitless lust while they are young and ruin their lives.

On the flip side of the coin, Christians generally vote conservatively. Therefore, better not have them understand anything about their Western, Christian heritage! It's better to get them hooked on sex at in early age. They then will hopefully reject their Christian morals and, thus, their conservative ideals. That has been the rationale for "progressives" in the school system for decades now. Create more self-absorbed "useful idiots."

It is the same thing about religion in schools. The church-state separation that liberals always bring up means nothing to them. It is simply a ruse to keep Judaism and Christianity out of the schools, so kids will not be influenced by these positive values. Want proof? Liberals have no problems with bringing in "goddesses" into the schools or allowing Muslims to pray in public schools.

It is only Christian values liberals have a problem with. Thus, the whole charade about church-state separation being interpreted to mean no mention of Christian values in the public sphere, something no where to be found in the Constitution.

So it is not suprising that liberals try to silence opinions that don't promote their socialist utopian vision for the future; thus, Michael Gratze's opinion should not be allowed in Montgomery County schools:

"'Knowing no one who I could approach with my questions and my doubts, I turned to God,' he writes. 'I'd developed a growing relationship with God … Soon, I began to understand things I'd never known could possibly be real, such as the fact that I was leading a movement of sin and corruption.'
He said it became clear to him that 'homosexuality prevents us from finding our true self within.' At this point, Glatze was 30, and had been living with a homosexual identity for 16 years.
"He came to realize that homosexuality is pornographic; '[it] destroys impressionable [young] minds and confuses their developing sexuality.'
'Homosexuality came easy to me, because I was already weak,' he writes. He explained that he noticed his attraction to men a year after his father died. 'At an early age, I was already confused about who I was and how I felt about others,' he writes.
'My confusion about "desire" and the fact that I noticed I was "attracted" to guys made me put myself into the "gay" category at age 14.' He came out as gay at age 20, a year after his mother died."

Isn't it ironic? When Michael Gratze was a PC openly gay activist, his opinion was solicited by school districts; when he comes to the truth, grows up, and thus is no longer PC, his opinion is no longer allowed in schools.

Talk about intolerance.

Weekend Geography Quiz: The Portuguese Age of Exploration

I dropped my Toyota off in Crystal City to get it serviced today, so I decided to take the metro to the National Shrine, the huge Catholic basilica at Catholic University. What a beautiful and impressive cathedral it is! I always like going there to pray. I ate lunch at Union Station and then stopped at the Sackler Gallery to see the exhibition on the Portuguese Age of Exploration.

What a zoo at the Smithsonian! I usually try to avoid the tourist areas in the height of the summer tourism months. First of all, there was a huge backup to even get on the escalator to exit Smithsonian Station on the Mall. Then the Freer and Sackler galleries were packed. I have a B.A. in Asian Studies from University of Maryland, so I often go to the excellent Freer and Sackler galleries, which both specialize in Asia. Almost always, they are virtually empty. Today, though, they were packed with people, so I can't even imagine what the other Smithsonian buildings were like.

The Portuguese exhibit was quite good. I would have expected liberal opprobrium on Western culture in the explanations, but it was well-balanced. The only irritating liberal aspect to the exhibition was the title of the section about the Portuguese influence on Kyushu island in Japan. The epithet was "Southern Barbarians in Japan" without any quotes around "Southern Barbarians," as if liberals aver that all Westerners were barbarians and all other cultures are superior. Of course, liberals would NEVER use the term "barbarians" or "savages" and would put quotes around them if used by Westerners about any group, e.g. "The shipwrecked Portuguese soldiers looked up and saw cannibalistic 'savages' behind the palm trees." Cannibals living in the jungle are never savage; only Westerners are.

Liberals assert that no culture is "savage" or "primitive" except Western Civilization, and the only violent religion is the Christian faith, never Islam. Fortunately, other than that one title, the exhibit was very well done overall.
By the way, one irritating thing about the Freer and Sackler galleries of the Smithsonian in the past three or four years has been the furtive attempt by liberals to place "C.E." and "B.C.E" into newer exhibits while keeping just enough "B.C.'s" and "A.D.'s" as if no one will notice and complain to Congress. Liberals have a vampiric antipathy to Jesus Christ and God, so it is natural they abhor the terms "B.C." and "A.D." However, they need to show more tolerance for our heritage. In Thailand, they date with the year of the Buddha, and no one in his right mind has a problem with that. Of course, when it comes to Western Civilization, liberals are not in their right mind. In any case, liberals are quite dull and are not the brightest creatures around. They still don't comprehend that "B.C.E." and "C.E." are still dating from Jesus Christ and pointing to His existence.


In honor of the great Portuguese Age of Discovery of the 1400s and 1500s, this weekend's geography quiz will be a place that was heavily influenced by the Portuguese.


What is the name of the following state that was a Portuguese colony from 1510 to 1961? There are numerous cathedrals like the following in its old capital, a UNESCO World Heritage Site:
The heroic St. Francis Xavier, one of my favorite saints, is buried in this church: Another beautiful Cathedral: The capital city is called, not surprisingly, Vasco-da-Gama. This former Portuguese colony is world famous for its incredible beaches, and tourism is the largest industry:

An old Portuguese fort:

So what scenic and historical former Portuguese colony is this?

Happy Independence Day!

Happy Fourth of July, everyone! Some points to remember today:

The Declaration of Independence was a conservative movement, an act of preserving and conserving (Latin; servo or conservo) our rights. Today's conservatives are heirs to the Founding Fathers' ideals. Today we celebrate those ideals with the birth of our great nation.

It ought to be commemorated as the day of deliverance, by solemn acts of devotion to God Almighty. It ought to be solemnized with pomp and parade, with shows, games, sports, guns, bells, bonfires, and illuminations, from one end of this continent to the other, from this time forward forever more.
John Adams

The Declaration of Independence and the events that followed up to the establishment of our Constitution were hardly part of a "revolution." Revolutions destroy the past. The American Independence embraced the wisdom of the past. Compare that to true Revolutions: The French Revolution, the Russian Revolution, the Cultural Revolution by liberals and socialists in the 1960s, Pol Pot's Khmer Revolution of the 1970s. All of them destroyed and wreaked havoc in the name of a utopia that would never work. Today's liberals are children of these principles.

Our conservative Founding Fathers created the greatest country in world history: The United States of America. I have traveled and lived all over the world--from Europe to Asia--and know with certainty this truth. Liberals, on the other hand, have created some of the most vile regimes the world has ever known.

It is important to keep this truth in mind when liberals around the world--from Western Europe to Asia--bitch and moan that conservative Americans don't embrace the fantasy of global warming, aren't sufficiently secular, are "racists" for not letting every Muslim enter the country, should not support the great country of Israel, are too backwards religiously, should never fight a war ever, should listen to their postmodern "wisdom" more, should embrace the boring game of soccer, etc.

Answer: We conservative Americans rescued you in World War I, World War II, destroyed the Cold War through military spending while you wanted us to "negotiate" and cut military funding, cleaned up in Asia the problems you left, prevented communism from spreading throughout the world, and now are defending the world from Islamic Terror while you want to appease Muslims by not fighting and giving in.

The United States will rescue you again. But just remember: America, a nation that embraces our Founding Fathers' wisdom and foresight, is the one you will always turn to whenever you get yourselves into trouble because of your liberal values. Happy Independence Day!

Weekend Geography Quiz

What volcanic and earthquake prone island is this?
The island is a treasure trove of ancient architecture, including this spectacular Buddhist monument built between 750-850 A.D. It is considered to be one of the seven wonders of the world:
In the vicinity of the famous Buddhist monument in the center of this island is the following stunning Hindu monument built in 850. The whole area is dotted with notable Buddhist and Hindu temples:

The island has volcanoes, beaches, the spectacular monuments pictured above, and the following huge capital city:

What exotic island is this?

A Life Richer With Poetry

Good poetry used to be a staple of education, but today much great poetry has fallen by the wayside. Beautiful and memorable poetry has been replaced by mediocre multiculturalism and shallow avant-garde pop. Anthologies used in public schools carefully count how many minorities from every conceivable ethnic group are represented in the name of diversity--instead of the quality--of the poetry. Many great poets are sadly ignored.

Thus, students are much more likely to recognize Nikki Giovanni than Rupert Brooke, and this is a shame for Western Civilization. In addition, because of the emphasis on those who "question the assumptions" of Western Civilization (they really should be studying our heritage and questioning what has made our society so successful--while questioning the motives of those who "question the assumptions" of our heritage), they include avant-garde, minority power, and beat poets that are simply mediocre and who are memorable for their image rather than their talent. So even with an emphasis on diversity, minorities that celebrate Western Civilization, such as the excellent Countee Cullee, whose model was John Keats, are ignored. They may have extraordinary talent but not the "socially correct" attitudes in the pop consumer mold that embodies "progressive" education.

This can have a disastrous effect on certain students, both ignorant of our grand heritage and more captivated by pop, avant-garde image than substance and talent. They are convinced that free verse and exchanging "you" for "u" is hip and copping an image is everything. The results are predictably shallow and juvenile. But, look, I'm acting like a beat poet! Only problem: Take away the image and there is no substance or talent apparent.

An exceptional alternative to the the politically correct textbooks that will give anyone interested, including students, a sampling of great and inspiring poetry: Poetry of Youth, edited by Edwin Markham. It is described in the Atkinson-Ravitch Sampler of Classic Literature:

"In its seriousness of purpose and the quality of its selections, perhaps no better anthology ever existed for middle and high school students. Regrettably, the book is no longer in print, but copies are obtainable through libraries and secondhand bookshops. The contemporary selections stop with the mid-1930s, but this range of poetry reflects over three centuries of literary heritage. Poems are categorized in terms that youths can understand, and each selection is introduced with just enough explanation so that students can connect with the work as they begin to read. This anthology deserves to be reprinted--and sought out by teachers and parents."

Regrettably, it has become hard to find because The Language Police, in which The Atkinson-Ravitch Sampler of Classic Literature was found, was a bestseller and many people have already tried to find the book. It definitely should be reprinted.

Poetry should also be memorized. Marva Collins, the pro-academic education theorist and traditionalist who is refreshing in a era of theorists who distrust academic matter and our heritage, made memorizing poems part of her curriculum. Her autobiography and educational theory is in the inspiring Marva Collins' Way: Returning to Excellence in Education. She states:

"When I started at Delano I was impressed by the principal, an older German man, a classical scholar who read the Iliad to students during lunchtime. He had faculty workshops where he recited Donne, Yeats, and Byron, stopping in the middle of a poem to ask his teachers to supply the next line. When they couldn't, he waved his hand with disgust and said, 'Some of you aren't worth a Sam Hill.' I learned a lot from him, and I began teaching poetry and classical literature to my students. Above all the principal taught me that a good teacher is one who continues to learn along with the students."

Liberals, who wilt like daisies at the mention of "classical literature," reciting poetry, and memorizing anything, would no doubt call both of them "reactionary."

Marva Collins instructs her students, "Now you've got it. Every scholar, every writer, every thinker learned from those who came before." That is exactly what liberals do not want students to know, hence why they attempt to replace academic matter, traditional subjects, and learning techniques with "progressive" methods that deemphasize our heritage. Tradition is the enemy, and they replace it with a new utopian multicultural and dumbed down curriculum with a modernist focus. Students attempt to learn to discover for themselves--the "progressive" jargon is "discovery learning"--but this type of learning, while fine in some ways, is almost impossible to be successful at without having a core basis of knowledge of the past.

The best way to know poetry is to find a good anthology like Poetry for Youth. Another one that includes selections of literature is Diane and Michael Ravitch's new The English Reader: What Every Literate Person Needs to Know. Memorize and closely analyze selections of poetry. Elizabeth Kantor in The Politically Incorrect Guide to English and American Literature counsels:

"You should be learning poems by heart (even if you have the time for intensive structural analysis, but especially if you don't). Poetry is meant to be memorized--meant not so much by the people who write it as by its very nature. All the formal features that distinguish poetry from prose--rhyme, meter, and so forth--are also devices that assist the memory. Originally (before writing was invented), poetry was simply language arranged so that it could be remembered and recited again."

Poetry is an integral part of our English and American heritage. We should attempt to memorize and analyze great poems, not only to admire each great poem's merit but also to enrich our lives.

Weekend Geography Quiz

This subtropical, clean, and attractive city has the stunning backdrop of this always active volcano:

Though the population is only about 500,000, the importance of this city is demonstrated in its key role in history: The heroic St. Francis Xavier landed in this city, the British bombarded it in 1863, and a revolutionary industrialization for an important country was started here.

It also has a famous garden:

What is the name of this fascinating city?

Classic Literature

There are many reasons to study classic literature.

Dr. Elizabeth Kantor lays out of few of them in this excellent article.

Unfortunately, the obscurants who run the education establishment (William Bennett calls this liberal influential admixture of powerful unions, schools of education, and organizations "the Blob") are social utilitarians and denigrate classics instead of promoting them.

They don't come right out and admit this fact, of course; rather, they subtlely attempt to destroy the heritage by absurdly claiming it is irrelevant, the "dead white males" comment one hears so often, or racistly claiming it has no relevance for minorities and must be replaced by modern "multicultural" writings. What these liberals really are saying is that if Johnny has brown skin he cannot possibly relate to Shakespeare. This is the classic definition of a racist, and these racists run the "Blob."

In any case, liberals are stating that literature has no place in their future social utopia they are so striving to bring about.

Conservatives, on the other hand, want to preserve our great heritage. For example, at CPAC this year, there was a prominent place for literature. There were several panels devoted to education and academic subject matter. In Latin "conservo" means "to keep, to preserve," and conservatives want to preserve our great democratic values and our magnificent Western classical and Christian heritage.

This is in contrast to liberals, who are out to destroy our heritage. Again, these liberals are the ones running the public schools, which is reason #957,123 to snatch your kids out of public schools and make sure they are going to conservative private Catholic (or other denomination that respects our American heritage) schools.

If you either would like to study literature for yourself or need some homeschooling materials, here are three great resources, well worth purchasing as references:

• The Politically Incorrect Guide to English and American Literature by Elizabeth Kantor. Like the all the books in the Politically Incorrect series, this is an excellent and fun introduction to a subject liberals have either dumbed down, denigrated, or obscured. Throughout the book, Kantor refers you to other references that will be invaluable in your enriching journey studying our great heritage in literature.
• A Student's Guide to Literature by R.V. Young. Like all the books in the wonderful ISI Guides to the Major Disciplines series, this one is only few dozen pages but jam packed with concise and valuable information. This whole series would make a great addition to your library, and they are not expensive. On a side note, ISI had a booth at CPAC this year. It was Sunday, the last day of the conference, and I asked how much some of the other books in the series were. The girl said she would give me the whole series (about 15 books) all for just $20. That made my day!
• The bestseller The Language Police: How Pressure Groups Restrict What Students Learn by Diane Ravitch. This is an absolutely terrific and stunning expose on the politically correct textbooks schools use, but it is also a rally call for bringing back our heritage in literature and history. Best of all, there is the invaluable reference in an appendix "The Atkinson-Ravitch Sampler of Classic Literature for Home and School." It is not just a list but also a explanation of the value of each work (some of them have been unfortunately collectively forgotten by the population as a whole) and the books listed are guaranteed to enrich one's life. For instance, in the list for "10th grade" (the grades are arbitrary and interchangeable according to choice), you have Jane Austin's Pride and Prejudice, Catherine Drinker Bowen's Miracle at Philadelphia, Charlotte Bronte's Jane Eyre and Vilette, Rupert Brooke's "The Soldier," Willa Cather's My Antonia, Stephen Crane's The Red Badge of Courage, Richard Henry Dana, Jr.'s Two Years Before the Mast, Daniel Defoe's Robinson Crusoe, Charles Dickens' A Tale of Two Cities and Great Expectations, Frederick Douglass' Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglas, W.E.B. Du Bois' The Soul of Black Folks, Alexander Dumas' The Three Muskateers, The Count of Monte Cristo, and The Man in the Iron Mask, George Eliot's Romola and Silas Marner, etc. (I'm only up to "E.")

Embarking upon the voyage of great literature is a life-enriching experience that should not be denied to anybody, yet liberals have attempted in the name of a future socialist utopia to deny all American children this part of our Western heritage. Unfortunately, many of us who graduated from public schools are heirs to obscurantism. However, there is an easy remedy, which can be begun with throwing off the shackle of liberalism and embracing our heritage.

Hard Times for These Postmodern Times

I just finished yet another terrific Charles Dickens novel--Hard Times. It is every bit as wonderful as his other more well known books David Copperfield, Great Expectations, Oliver Twist, and A Tale of Two Cities. Of all the novelists in our spectacular heritage of English literature, Dickens has to be the best: some of the most memorable characters in literature from the main characters to the often offbeat supporting characters; a grand mix of drama, comedy, and mystery; and a brilliant way with words like few other authors. When a Dickens novel ends, it is always with disappointment and regret that the story is over. Dickens truly is a joy to discover and his stories enrich one's life, as does all great literature.

Sadly, very few American students these days ever have the opportunity to discover Dickens in today's postmodern schools. Why? Because of goofy liberals, of course, who run the school establishment and control the curricula. "Dead white males" are out and "multicultural" teen literature is in. During the immigration debate, proponents of the amnesty bill have accused conservatives of being against "brown people," which is truly ironic because liberals, as demonstrated by their paternalistic attitude, are actually the biggest enemies of "brown people."

These racist, patronizing, arrogant liberals actually believe with sincerity that "brown people" (and anyone not white) somehow do not possess the ability to relate to and appreciate classic British and American literature. They just wouldn't be interested and could never appreciate it. For this racist, bigoted attitude, liberals actually feel they deserve plaudits for what they perceive is their elite sensitivity to minorities' needs.

So instead of the magnificent novels of Dickens, Eliot, and Scott (just to name a few excellent writers of our common cultural heritage who are no longer taught in English classes), foolish liberals actually believe that teens can only appreciate "teen literature" and that "persons of color" can only relate to novels written by "persons of color." According to liberals, "persons of color" and teenagers have no ability to transcend their immediate surroundings and background.

To put this blatantly racist attitude into perspective, imagine if your father were in the State Department and you as a high school student were living in, say, Japan. In a Japanese literature class in which you would be eagerly awaiting the treasures of Japanese literature, your Japanese teacher decided because you are white or black, you could not possibly relate to Japanese literature. Therefore, the Japanese teacher must only give you Lafcadio Hearn. This is the exact same attitude liberals have for minorities. Liberals, own up to your racist attitudes and get rid of them!

Amazingly, these racist low expectations make up the attitude of our professors of education who seek to hoist these racist and degrading ideas upon thousands of schoolteachers across the country. This concerted effort seems to be paying off, which is not too surprising considering that teachers have the very lowest GRE scores of all groups taking the test. Bimbo teachers of both sexes now actually feel that it is important only to teach "multiculturalism," and they brainlessly parrot the line that about students not being able to relate to "dead white males" (and evidently "white females" as well since Eliot is rarely taught).

Consider the following anecdote: In the worst class I took at UVA's Social Foundations program for my master's--Anthropology of Education by up and coming Marxist professor Dan Butin whose career is skyrocketing, thanks to his socially correct attitudes--we actually had an excellent required text: Hunger of Memory: The Education of Richard Rodriguez. It is a very moving and touching autobiography which celebrates assimilation and is vehemently against bilingual education and affirmative action, just like Linda Chavez's excellent organization CEOUSA.

Unfortunately, Butin in the class discussion cleverly led it in such a way that liberals in the class had sheer indignation that Rodriguez was a Hispanic that had the audacity to 1) be against affirmative action and bilingual education; 2) not appreciate their noble efforts at helping him in a cruel capitalistic society; and 3) get a doctorate in Renaissance literature instead of Chicano Studies. One red-headed woman who was big into the theatre arts scene of the Washington area dramatically declared Rodriguez to be a "pompous ass." His crime: Not appreciating his Mexican heritage by getting a doctorate in Renaissance literature and being against all the programs liberals have deigned to grant poor benighted minorities to help them. What ingratitude! Note: Rodriguez was born in America and did not even speak Spanish. Yet to racist liberals in the Anthropology of Education class, including the professor, Rodriguez was still a Mexican and his heritage was only that of Mexico, not that of Britain and America. Hence, liberals' animosity to classic literature.

Back to Hard Times, which like all classic British literature is the heritage for all American students, despite color, race, or background:

Hard Times is a wonderful novel and shorter than most Dickens' novels. It is filled with memorable, unique characters: self-made, boastfully humble factory owner Mr. Boundersby; the aristocratic lady Mrs. Sparsit whom Mr. Boundersby supports, school owner Mr. Grandgrind who only teaches facts, young Louise and Tom Grandgrind who have grown up under his regimen; factory workers Stephen Blackpool and his girlfriend Rachael; a mysterious old lady who has a fascination with Mr. Boundersby; young, abandoned, charming Sissy Jupe; the wonderful characters at the circus where Sissy's father has worked, the roguish, diabolically rakish young aristocratic Jake Harthouse. Their lives, from all backgrounds intertwine in the backdrop of the successful factory city of Coketown with an entertaining and moving mixture of drama, comedy, and mystery, like all of Dickens' novels.

Hard Times is notable for its theme that to lead a truly enriching and noble life of dignity, one must be educated in the humanities, not just in impersonal, scientific "Facts." Liberal utilitarianism ironically leads to a degrading fascination with consumer pop culture that, in fact, leads many to dissipated, meaningless, cold lives, which is completely unanticipated by those advocates of utilitarianism. To have imagination, empathy, and love for fellow man, one must be educated in the humanities.

Sadly, liberals have not only deigned that teenagers and minorities are not capable of relating to Western Civilization, they also have decided to destroy the humanities in the name of socialist utilitarianism. Every work of Western Civilization must be deconstructed in order to support socialism. In other words, they are completely against teaching the humanities for its own inherent worth. Liberals are the modern day heirs to Mr. Grandgrind's social utilitarianism, except for these advocates of "social justice," facts must only support socialism.

Take Hard Times for instance. This is generally liberals' favorite of of Charles Dickens' novels because they mistakenly feel that it can best be twisted most effectively into supporting their misguided anti-capitalistic, socialistic agenda. Witness Signet's description of the novel on the back cover, which unfortunately shows that Signet has bought into postmodern desecration of classic literature:

"Red brick, machinery, and smoke-darkened chimneys. Reason facts, and statistics. This is the world of Coketown, the depressed mill town that is the setting of Charles Dickens' most powerful and unforgettable novels. . . .

"Hard Times is Dickens' scathing portrait of Victorian industrial society and its misapplied utilitarian philosophy."

What? Hard Times is nothing of the sort, as any honest person who has actually read the novel will tell you. My description of the novel above--its memorable characters whose lives intertwine in a fascinating mixture of mystery, drama, and comedy--is what the novel is about. Liberals' seething hatred of the capitalism in its most brilliantly successful--culturally and economically--Victorian society comes through in this blantantly biased Signet description of the novel.

So, to sum up, obscurant liberals do not want you to be exposed to our Western heritage of classic literature, but if somehow you are, you must be programmed in a form of doublethink to deconstruct it and dislike it--thus having no knowledge of our heritage in order to be a better "useful idiot" for their failed ideas and nihilistic values. What is the outcome of their modern day socialist utilitarianism, which is very similar in its eschewing of the humanities to the utilitarianism in the novel? The outcome is students bored with "multiculturalism" and "teen lit" and turn to consumer culture and unfulfilling pop attitudes, much the same as does the "whelp" Tom Grandgrind.

Rebel against these utilitarian liberals. Educate yourself and expose yourself to our magnificent heritage and pass it on to others to enjoy and relish.

Weekend Geography Quiz

What royal capital city is this?

You'll definitely want to spend more than "one night" in this fascinating tropical city of 8,000,000. The city is famous for its "golden temples" and enchanting cultural sites such as the Grand Palace:

There are many canals in this city and a main river that is used for transportation, including the many water taxis:

The Skytrain is a comfortable, convenient, and scenic way to get around the metropolis:

This is one of my favorite cities in the world, and it really grows on you the longer you stay here. What is the name of this intriguing city?

September 11, 1683

Do you know what key battle happened on September 11, 1683 and its significance for Western Civilization? Why might Osama Bin Laden have chosen that date to attack the country that exemplifies Western Civilization--America? If you don't know the answers to these questions, you're not alone.

There are a number of subjects that used to be staples of a good education for grade school and college that are no longer taught, and, thus, key aspects of one's education are neglected. Some of these subjects are classical history, logic, Latin, and the history of science and mathematics. The Trivium is gone and, in fact, most students have no idea what it is except those lucky enough to go to traditional Catholic schools. These days it is almost impossible to get a good education in the Humanities from colleges, as most departments have been completely taken over by postmodernists. Thus, while most students who go to both public and private schools might feel like they have a substantial education, they truly do not.

One such subject that has been neglected but one which everyone in the West should know is Catholic history. As the brilliant Catholic historian Hilaire Belloc states, "Europe is the Faith, and the Faith is Europe." Without a knowledge and appreciation of Catholic history, one cannot have a knowledge and appreciation of Europe or Western Civilization.

What Belloc means by the statement "The Church is Europe, and Europe is the Church," a statement he makes in Europe and the Faith, written just after World War I and very much a reflection on the War, is simply that out of all Europeans and Westerners Catholics really are the ones who can most understand and defend the West.

The statement does not mean that the Catholic Church is only Europe. It is quite the opposite. The true Europeans these days are faithful Catholics from all over the world. A devout Filipino has more of a European sense than does a postmodern European. Belloc calls this the "Catholic conscience of Europe." Hence, the Heritage has shifted. Those who have broken themselves from the Faith--postmodernists, liberals, communists--are no longer Europeans. They are no longer the heirs of the great Western Civilization.

Once separated from Europe--the cradle of our civilization--they wreck incomparable harm. Their culture has arisen from outside the civilization of the West, which is the values of the Catholic Church. Belloc calls these who have broken away "the outer, the unstable, the untraditional--which is barbarism--pressing blindly upon the inner, the traditional, the strong--which is Ourselves: which is Christendom: which is Europe." This applies to the German kulturcampf leading to a new alien, non-European Teutonic culture that menaced Europe, Nazism, Communism, and now postmodernism and multiculturalism. These barbaric philosophies have no roots in European, Catholic civilization. They are alien philosophies.

Once we understand this fact, history becomes much more lucid. For example, we often learn that World War I was a great example of a war with no reason, complete folly of bickering selfish, capitalistic states. Without a knowledge of Catholic history, we are in complete ignorance of the truth.

In fact, Prussia was an alien, almost neo-pagan state with values utterly separated from the "Catholic conscience of Europe." Thus, Prussia had to be stopped and was by those who did have a sense of freedom and Europe civilization. The heretical Teutonic ideas (partial heirs to Martin Luther's revolution) did not go away and were morphed into Nazism, itself of origin far beyond the Western, Catholic civilization. World War I was barbarism versus the Catholic heart of Europe.

Catholics and those with this "Catholic conscience of history" can intuitively grasp the dangers facing Western Civilization. Belloc states, "For the Catholic, the whole perspective falls into its proper order. The picture is normal. Nothing is distorted to him. The procession of our great story is easy, natural, and full. It is also final."

Belloc states, "The Catholic alone is in possession of the tradition of Europe; he alone can see in judge in this matter." Does he mean that conservative Jews, Protestants, and others cannot grasp this history? Of course not. What he is simply stating is that those sympathetic and with a great knowledge of the Catholic Church--first and foremost Catholics of course--are the ones who are best able to grasp history and apply it to the future. Whether they know it or not, they share in what Belloc terms the "Catholic conscience of Europe."

However, these days most people, including Catholics, know almost nothing about Catholic history, and if they do, it is often told by hostile historians who have broken themselves away from the tradition. Belloc discusses this problem:


"But the modern Catholic, especially if he is confined to the use of the English tongue, suffers from a deplorable (and it is to be hoped), a passing accident. No modern tongue gives him a conspectus of the past; he is compelled to study violently hostile authorites, North German (or English-copying North German), whose knowledge is never that of the true and balanced European."

Because of Belloc's extensive and intimate knowledge of Catholic history, he is amazing prescient. Take this quote for example from The Great Heresies, written in 1938:

"Whatever the cause be, Mohammedanism has survived, and vigorously survived. Missionary effort has had no appreciable effect upon it. It still converts pagan savages wholesale. It even attracts from time to time some European eccentric, who joins its body. But the Mohammedan never becomes a Catholic. No fragment of Islam ever abandons its sacred book, its code of morals, its organized system of prayer, its simple doctrine.

"In view of this, anyone with a knowledge of hisotry is bound to ask himself whether we shall not see in the future a revival of Mohammedan political power, and the renewal of the old pressure of Islam upon Christendom."

While almost everyone else at the time thought the idea of Islam reappearing was ridiculous because of the backwardness of the Muslim countries, Belloc was warning of its resurrection:

"These things being so, the recrudescence of Islam, the possibility of that terror under which we lived for centuries reappearing, and of our civilization again fighting for its life against what was its chief enemy for a thousand years, seems fantastic. Who in the Mohammedan world can manufacture and maintain the complicated instruments of modern war? Where is the political machinery whereby the religion of Islam can play an equal part in the modern world?

"I say the suggestion that Islam may re-arise sounds fantastic--but this is only because men are always powerfully affected by the immediate past:--one might say that they are blinded by it.

"Cultures spring from religions; ultimately the vital force which maintains any culture is its philosophy, its attitude towards the universe; the decay of a religion involves the decay of the culture corresponding to it--we see that most clearly in the breakdown of Christendom today. The bad work begun at the Reformation is bearing its final fruit in the dissolution of our ancestral doctrines--the very structure of our society is dissolving."

Belloc explains and warns that Islam is not losing its vital force:

"In Islam there has been no such dissolution of ancestral doctrine--or, at any rate, nothing corresponding to the universal break-up of religion in Europe. The whole spiritual strength of Islam is still present in the masses of Syria and Anatolia, of the East Asian mountains, of Arabia, Egypt and North Africa.

"The final fruit of this tenacity, the second period of Islamic power, may be delayed:--but I doubt whether it can be permanently postponed."

Unfortunately, Europe is not listening. Western Europe for the most part has lost its "Catholic conscience of history." In its place is multiculturalism, postmodernism, neopaganism with no roots in European, Catholic civilization.

We need to regain our Catholic, classical, and Jewish heritage anew. One last thought. Guess what date Belloc in The Great Heresies (written in 1938) states should be one everyone in the West should know: September 11!:

"But not so very long ago, less than a hundred years before the Declaration of Independence, the Mohammedan Government centered at Constantinople had better artillery and better army equipment of every kind than had we Christians in the West. The last effort they made to destroy Christendom was contemporary with the end of the reign of Charles II in England and of his brother James and of the usurper William III. It failed during the last years of the seventeenth century, only just over two hundred years ago. Vienna, as we saw, was almost taken and only saved by the Christian army under the command of the King of Poland on a date that ought to be among the most famous in history-September 11, 1683. But the peril remained, Ilsam was still immensely powerful within a few marches of Austria and it was not until the great victory of Prince Eugene at Zenta in 1697 and the capture of Belgrade that the tide really turned--and by that time we were at the end of the seventeenth century."

Gee, Osama Bin Laden knows our European history better than we do. My professor of Church History I and II, classes I have taken at Christendom College for a Master of Arts in Systematic Theology, stated that astute Catholic analysts (he works for the Department of Defense) knew why Osama Bin Laden had chosen September 11 to attack. It was a key battle in the defense of the West, one that rankled with ambitious terrorists like himself.Hilaire Belloc is so remarkably prescient because of his great knowledge of history but most of all because of his "Catholic conscience of history." Let's all regain this knowledge of Catholic history in order to better defend the West.

Weekend Geography Quiz

This week's geography is pretty easy, thanks to the distinctive, world famous twin towers. What spread out capital city is this? Here is the colonial heart of the city with the distinctive Moorish architecture of the railway station:

Here is the famous Central Market next to the large Chinatown district:

Another picture of Chinatown:



So what is the name of this attractive capital city?

Newletter States Virginia Tech English Department "Wounded," Celebrates Giovanni's Poem

Like clockwork, whenever an atrocity--be it September 11, 2001 or the Virginia Tech massacre occurs--liberals react with utter confusion. They are deeply troubled, befuddled, and have no resources to cope other than themselves.

The Virginia Tech English department is no exception. Normally, as an alumni I receive after every semester the platitudinous newsletter "A Feast of Words," updating alumni on the comings and goings of the department. This semester we got a letter from Dr. Carolyn Rude describing the reaction of the department to the shootings at the English Department:

This experience continues to be intense and troubling for us. The fact that the shooter and two students who were English majors has brought the tragedy home to us in a very powerful way. As a faculty we have struggled with a profound sense of loss and waste--so many young lives suddenly gone in a senseless act of violence. The loss is personal as well as monumental.

The tone that comes across is that the liberals in the department are utterly baffled. How could this possibly happen to us? The reason they are perplexed is because liberals live their whole lives ignoring evil, God, tradition, and absolute values. They live in an unreal world where truths do not exist. They ignore danger, terrorism, and thus are caught completely unaware when an act as heinous as September 11 occurs. Likewise, they ignore signs of evil and are taken aback that an evil individual in their department could have committed such a massacre, though all the signs were there.

Though we may ignore evil, evil certainly does not ignore us. Life is truly a battle between good and evil, much of it fought in the spiritual realm. This is a central tenet of the Catholic faith. On this subject, all I can say is thank God for our military confronting it in Iraq and conservatives running foreign policy to attack it head on instead of ignoring those who wish our destruction. Thank God for Pope Benedict and orthodox Catholic bishops, priests, and religious battling it in the spiritual sphere. Liberals, on the other hand, ignore evil like a bunch of ostriches reacting to danger.

Two observations about the reaction by professors at Virginia Tech to the shootings and especially the special newsletter to alumni of Tech's English Department:

First, notice the complete absence of the mention of God, prayer, or religion. They completely eliminate God and yet are deeply disturbed that evil fills the vacuum. They thus have nothing to fall back on, no truth to turn to other than themselves. This was apparent to many people. That was one of the first things my good friend from Tech who went on to get a doctorate at Johns Hopkins in microbiology noticed.

So where do liberals turn? Of course to themselves: "Our faculty and students have called on their deepest strengths and resources to help as they can." Yes, but what are these resources? All they can turn to is the cold comfort of moral relativism. This direction does not satisfy or nourish, hence the confusion.


Second, surprisingly there has been no mention of classic literature or poetry to express universal truths and give consolation and solace, and this is supposed to be an English department. For example, one excellent classic that attempts to make sense of why certain persons would be targeted and died without any outward sign plan and seemingly randomly is The Bridge of the San Luis Rey by Thorton Wilder. There are many classic poems to turn to, timeless truths passed down in a cultural tradition.


But forget it. Not only is there no mention of God or religion, there is no mention of classic literature. After all, postmodern, "social justice" professors eschew this tradition and denigrate the great literature of "dead white males." All "text" is equal. Therefore, these clueless professors have absolutely nowhere to turn, except narcissitically to themselves, which is not all that comforting.

No wonder they are still "deeply troubled." God is out because He didn't suit their lifestyles, and classic literature doesn't suit their utopian, socialist vision of the future.

Instead they turn to Nikki Giovanni (speaking of ignoring evil, let's ignore these poems of hers) and use the atrocity to celebrate Nikki Giovanni's narcissitic "poem" "We Are Virginia Tech." In fact, all English alumni were mailed a copy of her "poem." In the letter to alumni, Dr. Rude states, "On Monday, when classes resumed, we hosted an open house in the department for our majors and graduate students and faculty to reaffirm our connections. Nikki Giovanni signed copies of her poem, 'We are Virginia Tech.'"

Yippee! She signed poems. Cold, nihilistic comfort indeed.

Weekend Geography Quiz

What capital city is this?

Clue: This bridge leads into the city: