Editor's Note: This is an open letter to Douglas County Superintendent of Schools Lisa Noonan
EDITOR:
We just moved up to Gardnerville this past summer from Southern California with our son, Zach and my daughter, Natalie, who is a freshman at UNR. Both my wife and I have our bachelor degrees from Cal State University at Fullerton. I don't know if you are the person to contact regarding my complete and utter displeasure for the use of the Springboard textbook that is being used in my son's 11th-grade English class at Douglas High, but I thought I would try you first.
My son had a paper to write last week using the prompt "Is the American dream alive or dead?" or something of that nature.
I told him to write his paper honestly without considering some of the essays that came from the text that were opinions that were the polar opposite to how he was brought up.
We are a very conservative family, and this textbook is pretty much the opposite of our family's core beliefs.
It is bad enough that the majority of the educators at the college and high school levels feel it's their place to express their personal opinions of liberalism to my children and now we have a text book that takes it to a whole other level. At what point does this stop?
Are you planning a new curriculum soon that will have our children questioning who is better Satan or God?
Why is it necessary to change from the time tested classics to this piece of trash? Here is a thought that makes a lot more sense. I am a business owner and like most business owners we tend to be fundamentally more conservative than those who are not.
As a parent, I want my child to go through college and get a good, high-paying job. Now as an employer with conservative values, the last person I would hire is anyone that has liberal values or anything close to it.
So, unless today's educators think everyone will be eventually working for the government, they better shift gears and do what makes sense to make this country grow rather than cripple it like you people are doing by having this piece of trash Springboard text book in the classrooms.
Life isn't always a feel good story unless you are willing to work your butt off regardless of what your socio-economic background is. History proves that anyone can achieve the American dream.
Bradley J. Fiene
Gardnerville
