DailyKenn.com — In an effort to battle inequity, some teachers are waging war against historic influencers of Western culture. Among those influencers is famed playwright, William Shakespeare. Some teachers want his influence watered down to make room for a more woke and inclusive curriculum. Other want Shakespeare and his subsequent influence cut out all together.
The end objective, it seems, is to change the perception of who we are; to change our minds and our sense of cultural identity. Or, more precisely, thought reform.
Excerpted from washingtontimes.com ▼
For the new breed of teachers, William Shakespeare is seen less as an icon of literature and more as a tool of imperial oppression, an author who should be dissected in class or banished from the curriculum entirely.
“This is about White supremacy and colonization,” declared the teachers who founded #DisruptTexts, a group that wants staples of Western literature removed or subjected to withering criticism.
The anti-Shakespeare teachers say fans of the plays ignore the author’s problematic worldview. They say readers of Shakespeare should be required to address the “Whiteness” of their thinking.
If Shakespeare must be taught, these educators say, then it should be presented with watered-down versions of the original or supplemental texts focused on equality issues.