We received a statement this week from the Palmetto Family Council – one of South Carolina’s leading social conservative groups – regarding the summer reading scandal that’s currently engulfing the College of Charleston (a.k.a. the “College of Knowledge”).
Below, in its entirety, is the statement we received …
Ten South Carolina colleges assigned books for their freshmen to read. As we reported a number of them selected sufficiently edgy, thought-provoking books. Then there is the College of Charleston’s Fun Home. Were it a movie, it would be NC-17, and not because of its LGBT theme. The nine other colleges in South Carolina (and most in America) chose broad, healthy debate…and common sense. The College of Charleston chose to spend $50,000 in state funds and/or student tuition dollars on a narrowly-focused, cartoon (graphical), borderline pornographic book rarely used for this purpose. What a waste.
As we noted in our report on this scandal, we have no problem with Fun Home.
What do we have a problem with? Government-funded higher education …
If institutions like the College of Charleston were permitted to pursue their destinies in the private sector, it would be up to the marketplace to determine the appropriateness (or inappropriateness) of their summer reading selections.
17 comments
Private or public it is really up to the instructors to determine their student’s summer reading selections not any third party organization like the Palmetto Family Council. BTW many private colleges and universities receive research grants from the Feds and accept Federal student loan payments just like public ones.. Except for higher tuition fees it is hard to distinguish private from public schools.
As soon as Clemson, or CoC or other public colleges go public I would like payment to go into to a rebate fund for SC taxpayers.
The only reason that the PFC is legitimately allowed an opinion is because some of their constituents money went to the big pot everyone refers to as “public money”….so these type of battles will never end and you can’t morally tell them to MYOB because their money was taken/used…
It’s one of the many problems gov’t is faced with when continually expanding and subsidizing so many things…..it’s similar to the whole Obamacare thing when it comes to abortion in some respects.
It’s only going to get worse as gov’t gets bigger, not better.
Private or public it is really up to the instructors to determine their student’s summer reading selections not any third party organization like the Palmetto Family Council. BTW many private colleges and universities receive research grants from the Feds and accept Federal student loan payments just like public ones.. Except for higher tuition fees it is hard to distinguish private from public schools.
As soon as Clemson, or CoC or other public colleges go public I would like payment to go into to a rebate fund for SC taxpayers.
The only reason that the PFC is legitimately allowed an opinion is because some of their constituents money went to the big pot everyone refers to as “public money”….so these type of battles will never end and you can’t morally tell them to MYOB because their money was taken/used…
It’s one of the many problems gov’t is faced with when continually expanding and subsidizing so many things…..it’s similar to the whole Obamacare thing when it comes to abortion in some respects.
It’s only going to get worse as gov’t gets bigger, not better.
Good point. When has higher-education ever payed dividends? What university has ever contributed to its state or surrounding community? And why do we have to a read book before calling its contents scandalous?
Good point. When has higher-education ever payed dividends? What university has ever contributed to its state or surrounding community? And why do we have to a read book before calling its contents scandalous?
Which one of these books is not like the others? Hint: THE ONE WITH THE HOMO IN IT!
Seriously, fuck these people. They are getting their panties in a bunch because, oh noes, the father is a closeted gay guy and the girl is a lesbian! Those damn librul colleges are indoctrinating kids into being gay!
Your kid is 18, they are adults. Let them decide what college they want to go to and what books they want to read. If enough students decide to skip CofC in protest of the book, CofC will find another book. Cut the umbilical cord.
EDIT: On a side note, The Postmortal sounds like an awesome book.
Which one of these books is not like the others? Hint: THE ONE WITH THE HOMO IN IT!
Seriously, fuck these people. They are getting their panties in a bunch because, oh noes, the father is a closeted gay guy and the girl is a lesbian! Those damn librul colleges are indoctrinating kids into being gay!
Your kid is 18, they are adults. Let them decide what college they want to go to and what books they want to read. If enough students decide to skip CofC in protest of the book, CofC will find another book. Cut the umbilical cord.
EDIT: On a side note, The Postmortal sounds like an awesome book.
“Leading” Palmetto Family Council. My guess is that the council is nothing more than some sexually repressed dude or woman with a wifi connection at Piggy Park with nothing but time on their hands.
“Leading” Palmetto Family Council. My guess is that the council is nothing more than some sexually repressed dude or woman with a wifi connection at Piggy Park with nothing but time on their hands.
First off, the “rarely used for this purpose” line about “Fun Home” is bullshit. It’s assigned quite frequently, and for good reasons. PFC’s outrage is their right, sure, but this sounds more like making noise for their membership’s sake than anything substantive about education or the work itself.
But my main interest is in this part: “Up to the marketplace to determine appropriateness of…summer reading selections”?
I always wonder about the “up to the marketplace” claims about stuff like this. My state senator (Tom Davis) constantly throws out the same sound bites about nearly every issue he encounters, except when he’s trying to ban anti-capitalist statements from school hallways. Capitalism! Let the marketplace decide, as long as it decides to do something I agree with!
Seems awfully convenient, but rarely backed up by anything substantive. (Insert joke about politicians here.)
Is the thinking that a private school would tailor reading lists for incoming freshmen so as to attract the most customers, and that South Carolina colleges with “Fun Home” on a reading list might suffer lower enrollments and then decide to remove the book in hopes of driving up profits? Doesn’t CoC compete with universities in the private sector, and face similar market forces already? Can’t an offended student take their money elsewhere, and can’t CoC already suffer the consequences of so horribly shocking their customers?
Or is this more about convenience — remove taxpayer dollars from the discussion, and then schools can do whatever they want and we don’t have to think about it?
That’s what gets me about the “let the marketplace decide!” argument. It seems kinda lazy.
First off, the “rarely used for this purpose” line about “Fun Home” is bullshit. It’s assigned quite frequently, and for good reasons. PFC’s outrage is their right, sure, but this sounds more like making noise for their membership’s sake than anything substantive about education or the work itself.
But my main interest is in this part: “Up to the marketplace to determine appropriateness of…summer reading selections”?
I always wonder about the “up to the marketplace” claims about stuff like this. My state senator (Tom Davis) constantly throws out the same sound bites about nearly every issue he encounters, except when he’s trying to ban anti-capitalist statements from school hallways. Capitalism! Let the marketplace decide, as long as it decides to do something I agree with!
Seems awfully convenient, but rarely backed up by anything substantive. (Insert joke about politicians here.)
Is the thinking that a private school would tailor reading lists for incoming freshmen so as to attract the most customers, and that South Carolina colleges with “Fun Home” on a reading list might suffer lower enrollments and then decide to remove the book in hopes of driving up profits? Doesn’t CoC compete with universities in the private sector, and face similar market forces already? Can’t an offended student take their money elsewhere, and can’t CoC already suffer the consequences of so horribly shocking their customers?
Or is this more about convenience — remove taxpayer dollars from the discussion, and then schools can do whatever they want and we don’t have to think about it?
That’s what gets me about the “let the marketplace decide!” argument. It seems kinda lazy.
Look, cartoon doodles by rug-munchers is one thing…it’s a free country. But 1) making it REQUIRED reading for college freshmen and 2) paying for it with TAX DOLLARS is absolutely asinine.
And we wonder why a college degree isn’t really worth a shit anymore?
No, College degrees aren’t worth a shit anymore is because our society has moved from a manufacturing based economy to a service based. Requiring new employees to have a college degree to move upward, which everyone wants and expects. Thus flooding the market with equally qualified candidates. It’s simple, Supply and Demand man.
Look, cartoon doodles by rug-munchers is one thing…it’s a free country. But 1) making it REQUIRED reading for college freshmen and 2) paying for it with TAX DOLLARS is absolutely asinine.
And we wonder why a college degree isn’t really worth a shit anymore?
“And we wonder why a college degree isn’t really worth a shit anymore?”
Drop government funding for ALL fiction and keep to skills which are specifically directed at employment. Fiction is a nice amusement for one’s private consumption. It’s also a waste of time to study it. Government funding shouldn’t be pissed away on anything not science, technology, law, medicine, or similar valuable vocations. If I want to study art, music, or some other sh1t I should have to pay for it.
BTW a college degree isn’t worth squat because much of the workplace doesn’t really NEED college graduates but it’s a differentiating credential in hiring so people chase that credential. That’s different from worthless college courses.
Government funding for education pays off in countries which do it well. Germany is far more productive than the US man-for-man, but besides their strong education system Germans actually have a work ethic and unions and management aren’t enemies.
“And we wonder why a college degree isn’t really worth a shit anymore?”
Drop government funding for ALL fiction and keep to skills which are specifically directed at employment. Fiction is a nice amusement for one’s private consumption. It’s also a waste of time to study it. Government funding shouldn’t be pissed away on anything not science, technology, law, medicine, or similar valuable vocations. If I want to study art, music, or some other sh1t I should have to pay for it.
BTW a college degree isn’t worth squat because much of the workplace doesn’t really NEED college graduates but it’s a differentiating credential in hiring so people chase that credential. That’s different from worthless college courses.
Government funding for education pays off in countries which do it well. Germany is far more productive than the US man-for-man, but besides their strong education system Germans actually have a work ethic and unions and management aren’t enemies.