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RAND REJECTED

Bill Forcing Idaho High School Students to Read 'Atlas Shrugged' Fails

The symbolic gesture was meant to highlight the importance of graduation requirements

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by Dain Fitzgerald

Staff Writer t

Image: michelleerba.blog.com

A bill that would force the state's high schoolers to make it through Ayn Rand's tome Atlas Shrugged has been shrugged off the agenda, reports The Week.

Not that Republican State Senator John Goedde had any real intention of putting teen eyes to the libertarian icon's most famous - and very lengthy - work.

"I don't intend to schedule a hearing on it," said Goode, who introduced the bill only to show his opposition to the repeal of rule mandating that high school students take two online courses in order to graduate. "It was a shot over their bow just to let them know that there's another way to adopt high school graduation requirements."

And that's likely a good thing too, at least if the status of Rand as something a free-thinking teen might read is to be preserved. A book officially ordained by the powers that be risks losing its edge, after all.

Via The Week.
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Would you like to see high schoolers read Ayn Rand in order to graduate?

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Comments (view in Forum)

  • u
    Clarke12
    !
    interesting read, but long. there are already hundreds of books that are great candidates for high school reading. don't reinvent the wheel.
  • jessejaymes
    !
    What the hell is the matter with people? Expecting high school kids to actually read anything. 70% can't read to grade level and they're busy learning how to be good little citizens by promoting gays, how to be a proud black gangster, why tattoos are necessary in a modern world, how La Raza plans to take over America, why "under God" is necessary in every phrase, when we should nuke the Chinese, saluting the flag before the most important high school function of all, FOOTBALL. Reading? Are you people insane?
  • kirbstomp1
    !
    I didn't start reading til college. People don't read unless they enjoy to. I just wish I read the book in high school, instead of college.
  • jessejaymes
    !
    @kirbstomp1 I'm seriously pissed here. People want to argue about what the kids read instead of focusing on getting them TO read.

  • View all 14 replies >

  • RoFroh
    !
    The are forced to read classics, so why not, they are not being forced to believe in the principles in the book, just be prepared to debate them or recall them for testing purposes.
  • u
    AceLuby
    !
    Maybe because it's poorly written and not a classic... There are plenty of better candidates w/ a similar message that are actually classics.
  • frigginhell
    !
    Why not the fountainhead? We can get into the head of the brillian author and her social commentary on more subject than wealth distribution. Like her progressive views on rape and how women are really asking for it and deserve it while secretly wanting it.
  • RoFroh
    !
    I don't care what book it is, the students aren't being indoctrinated, a so called "classic" has objectionable content and ideas but they are forced to read those, why are some ideas and books fine to discuss but others are not.
  • jaybebo84
    !
    @Cheenoguy I am fairly new...and I consider myself Tea Party leaning...but my statement was based on the fact California is mostly left-leaning and the uproar would be drowned by the applause in the state...
  • u
    Cheenoguy
    !
    @jaybebo84
    1) There would be uproar in CA, but it would be small.
    2) Nation wide it would be viewed the same as if they executed Paul Ryan in the courthouse square.

  • View all 8 replies >

  • DARSB
    !
    "There are two novels that can change a bookish fourteen-year old's life: The Lord of the Rings and Atlas Shrugged. One is a childish fantasy that often engenders a lifelong obsession with its unbelievable heroes, leading to an emotionally stunted, socially crippled adulthood, unable to deal with the real world. The other, of course, involves orcs."
  • Denizen_Kate
    !
    Where did you get that quote, DARSB? Please cite a source, it's so funny!

    Interesting that it mentions age 14. I've been reading since early childhood, but when my own son was 14 I despaired of ever getting him interested in reading actual books. Then I read a novel called "Ender's Game" by Orson Scott Card and when finished, I handed it off to him. He's had his nose in some book or other ever since. He actually gave "Atlas Shrugged" a shot once, but couldn't get past the first few chapters. He put it down in disgust and remarked "Wow, she really hates people, doesn't she?"
  • DARSB
    !
    @Denizen_Kate It's a John Rogers quote. Pretty funny and insightful guy. I like this one, too, “You don't really understand an antagonist until you understand why he's a protagonist in his own version of the world.”

  • View all 8 replies >

  • u
    tomincali
    !
    i would like to see all students who are not mentally challenged to be held to the same standards, removing all curves and other things that lower school standards. after years in the same classes there is no reason for some to be graded for less.
  • stepped_in_it
    !
    Welp, I could see a problem with them reading it. Does this book have lol, lmao, idk, bbf........etc in it? If not, most couldn't read it!(I did say MOST)
  • Post Removed by Moderators
  •
    harold_lloyd
    !
    @rkinsawjoe
    No, that's human nature. Somebody is always looking for an edge, and influencing state legislatures is a nifty way of doing that, especially if your ethics are a bit flexible.

    The defense is to keep an wary eye on every dollar as it comes in and goes out, and ask legislators who wrote that cool new bill they just sponsored.

    Reagan had it right,"Trust but verify." Trust is optional.
  • Dan_Tien
    !
    So John W. Goedde earned a BA in Hotel & Restaurant Administration from Washington State University and has worked as an insurance agent, which qualifies him to set educational reading requirements for graduating high school students rather than leaving that up to educators.
  • harold_lloyd
    !
    It would be a good exercise in false logic, and irrational utopianism.

    The whole things sounds so cool, until you ask yourself where do they get their toothpaste? Socks? Tampons?

    And if the president of GE, for example were to disappear, do you really think the company would fall apart?

    Ayn Rand was a pretty shallow thinker. Implications totally escaped her.
  • MarkJM
    !
    I enjoy the works of Ayn Rand. Atlas Shrugged is a great read and would recommend it whole-heartily without second thought. But to mandate it be read as a condition to graduate from high school is a bit much. The Right shouldn't be pushing for this just like the Left shouldn't be pushing for indoctrination measures either.
  • jessejaymes
    !
    Frankly I don't care what they read as long as they read. We had to read Silas Mariner in high school. Never has a book been so boring or so irrelevant to my thoughts as a high schooler. But guess what? I can read and write 50 years later as well as anyone. Today's high school graduates can't.
  • jessejaymes
    !
    The entire point here to me that is being missed is not any controversy over what students read but that 70% graduate without reading to grade level period. They can work the hell out of a joystick and they can memorize where the bad guys will pop out on the video game. They can speak ebonics (white just as well as anyone after 35 years of the rap culture) and can certainly count how many baby mama's they have that they don't support but THEY CAN'T READ OR WRITE. Maybe that should be the issue rather than what they aren't being forced to read?
  • DrFunkenstein
    !
    I support them to read any of the insane controversial books. Let them read Atlas Shrugged and see how backwards and elitist these Ayn Rand followers are and the unpatriotic way these people live their lives. I want every student to read the bible cover to cover because if they read it and understand what it says they will no longer be Christian just like anyone else that has really read the bible as opposed to the people that claim they did. Do they need a bill to force them to read it as part of school? no, that's nanny-state tripe.
  • NormalFlora
    !
    I read AtlasShrugged, The Fountainhead and The Virtue of Selfishness when I was a young sailor surrounded by lockstep repubs. At the time it sounded so cool to have a "noble" reason to be a selfish p***k. Then I grew up.
  • kregg
    !
    One of the best books I have ever read....and way before its time...She was a great Author...I have no problem with making that a must read in order to graduate...just as I believe that Tom Sawyer should be read in lower grades....
  • u
    DapperDave
    !
    I read and thoroughly enjoyed both "Atlas Shrugged" and "The Fountainhead", but I'm not sure requiring high school students to read "Atlas Shrugged" would be a good idea. Ayn Rand's writings are/were her way of promoting her somewhat radical"Objectiivism " philosophy. What would be next, requiring students to read L. Ron Hubbard's "Dianetics".
  • hereto
    !
    With all the issues that need to be addressed, this spendthrift wants to waste time and money by submitting a bill he's sure won't be passed, only to make a trifling point.
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