I have some of the best memories of J's childhood tied with Dr. Seuss books. It made me incredibly sad to read that they are now the target for lacking inclusivity and political correctness. These were the books that taught J how to read and opened the world to her. I remember the sense of pride she experienced being an independent reader moving up in her reading level. Generations of kids have experienced what she did and that is incredibly powerful. I grew up without Seuss and can't recall that magical moment when I learned to read without any help. The critique of Seuss makes no sense to me whatsoever and I am a person of color:
That tension between Seuss and Seuss-free classrooms is emblematic of a bigger debate playing out across the country — should we continue to teach classic books that may be problematic, or eschew them in favor of works that more positively represent people of color?
When I was a child, I grew up with Abol Tabol by Sukumar Ray - a book of Bengali nonsense rhymes rife with discrimination and negative biases about people from our neighboring state - who are absolutely no different from us Bengalis. And that is the least of what was insensitive or politically incorrect about the book. Those were also the rhymes my parents grew up with - it was part of the childhood experience growing up in a Bengali home.
Notwithstanding my biases and my complete lack of perfection as a human being, I don't think I would deprive my grandkids of Abol Tabol in favor of more politically correct limericks in Bangla. I highly doubt taking such measures would enhance their level of human perfection. Seuss and Ray make nonsense a powerful learning mechanism. In doing so, they almost automatically negate what may be construed objectionable in their content. It's too bad that we now want to attach gravitas to the clearly nonsensical and get ourselves offended in the process.
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