Education has always been a battleground in the culture war, but the fight over what can or should be taught in schools has escalated to the point where, as in Virginia, it can determine who is elected to high public office.
Conservatives, like new Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin, are convinced the only way to keep the country strong is to restrict education to “positive” or “patriotic” views of the United States, while those who consider themselves “woke” want to stress the nation’s inequalities and injustices, both past and present. In addition, conservative parents are insisting on “protecting” children from material they consider too sexual, too violent or otherwise distasteful, a category that has had broad application.
The two sides have quite different strategies. Those on the left seek to require teachers to assign certain books, many of which are already available in school libraries, and increase emphasis on curriculum topics already touched on in class sessions. Conservatives, on the other hand, are focused on banning subject matter they deem offensive and purging both school libraries and reading lists of books they consider inappropriate.
