Texas A&M has done something that I couldn’t manage to do during my childhood and teen years: ban discussions of Plato. As I’ve mentioned before, my father is a philosophy professor. I spent a decent part of my childhood trapped in cars as he pontificated on what Plato was really saying in The Republic. Just what every tween and teen wants to discuss on the way to Grandma’s house: the structure of the universe, the nature of the soul, human wisdom, education and learning, the qualities needed in good political leaders, the separation of political power from wealth, and the structure of an ideal society. Admittedly, I paid less than full attention to these unsolicited lectures. Then I took “Introduction to Moral Philosophy” my sophomore year in college. It was taught by an inexperienced and at times incoherent TA. I begged my dad to explain what the hell my teacher was trying to say and ended up with three-page fact sheets on each of the main readings that he faxed to a nearby Kinko’s. (I copied them and handed them out to the whole class when the TA wasn’t looking, though I probably should have given him a copy as well.) Rawls’ Veil of Ignorance is the philosophical idea that resonated most with me. It ensures empathy and fairness by suggesting that leaders make decisions as if they have no idea of their own position in society. But Plato’s philosopher kings always appealed to me as well. I want decisions made by the smartest, most well-educated people around; the ones who have spent their life learning. It’s what made The West Wing’s Jed Bartlett so appealing. This vision of royal smart people is even more appealing now as we’re seeing exactly what happens when a democracy is run by people who scoff at education and think not knowing is a badge of honor. But Texas A&M, despite being among the top 20 public universities in the country, does not want to train the next generation of philosopher kings. Or at least they don’t want them reading Plato unabridged, despite his importance to Western thought. As Alfred North Whitehead famously said: “The safest general characterization of the European philosophical tradition is that it consists of a series of footnotes to Plato.” ** Nevertheless, Professor Martin Peterson was told to remove Plato’s Symposium from his required reading list because it violated the school’s new policy that classes cannot “advocate race or gender ideology, or topics related to sexual orientation or gender identity” without special approval. Apparently, despite having been born around 428 BCE, Plato is too woke for Texas. I haven’t read the Symposium (though I struggled through The Cave with my daughter during her Senior year in high school), but the Atlantic’s Adam Kirsch offers a really good explanation of how it flaunts the University’s Trump-era rules:
This explains how some people end up homosexual: their other half was of the same sex. It also suggests that everyone might not, in fact, start out strictly male or female. Neither of these ideas sit well with administrators at Texas A&M who are still smarting from a summer semester scandal in which a professor was caught, well, teaching. Students in “English 360: Literature for Children” were reading Jude Saves the World, which has a nonbinary main character. As part of the discussion, Professor Melissa McCoul was teaching students about the difference between gender identity, gender expression, and sexual orientation. One student took issue and told the professor, “... I’m not entirely sure this is legal to be teaching.” The student went on to argue that the explanation violated Trump’s executive order which says there’s no such thing as gender identity, only biological sex. (No Dana, only Zuul.) She recorded the whole discussion that followed, which ended with her being asked to leave the classroom. Nothing in that asinine executive order prevents colleges from teaching a definition of gender that is more in line with reality, but the video was picked up by a Republican state lawmaker who railed against the transgender ideology and asked for a federal investigation into the professor. Administrators got spooked. By the beginning of fall semester McCoul had been fired, her dean had been demoted, and all professors would be required to submit their syllabi to the higher-ups for review going forward. Peterson is not the first to run afoul of these reviews, but the inanity of censoring Plato—who has literally been taught for millennia—has gotten a lot of attention. Peterson was told he could either remove the modules on race and gender and dump Plato or choose to be reassigned to a different class for this semester. In an email, Peterson told administrators that this decision would make Texas A&M famous, but for all the wrong reasons. Ultimately, though, he chose to take out the material they objected to. Instead, he’s going to teach a module on free speech in which he plans to use the articles written about his class as the replacement reading material.
When my nephew (pictured above eating Plato’s Republic) was in first or second grade, he asked my father what subject he taught. After listening to my dad’s undoubtedly long-winded explanation, Max said, “I get it Papa, you teach people how to think.” That’s exactly what frightens Republicans in Texas and elsewhere in this country. It turns out, people who think, vote for the other guy. ** As you might have guessed, this quote come directly from my father who served as guest editor for this issue. I admit that I had not heard of Alfred North Whitehead until now, but I was raised to understand just how important Plato is.Want More Babies? Try Making Condoms More ExpensiveIn April, the Trump administration invited pronatalist influencers to the White House to discuss how we could get American women to pop out more babies. The result was not an in-depth discussion about what we could do to make the United States more family friendly like, say, universal health care, affordable childcare, and paid family leave. Instead, suggestions included a one-time payment of $5,000 and a Medal of Honor to women who had more than six children. China has a slightly different idea: tax condoms. The country, which was once known for its one-and-done policy, is facing a declining birth rate. Its government has done a complete 180 and is now brainstorming ways to convince young people that babies are super cute. It’s a tough sell because China is one of the most expensive places to raise children. Some of the government’s moves seem sensical, like an annual childcare subsidy that is exempt from income tax. Some seem silly, like the plan to have colleges and universities offer “love education” designed to change attitudes about marriage, fertility, and family. The one that is getting the most attention, however, is a tax on all contraceptives, including condoms. As of January 1, contraceptives are no longer exempt from China’s Value-Added Tax (VAT). This version of sales tax accounts for 40% of the central government’s tax collection. When the one child policy was in effect, and the government wanted to limit the number of children, it made contraception cheaper by exempting it from the VAT. Without that exemption, condoms and other methods have become 13% more expensive. The move has been met with ridicule. Some have called it dangerous, saying it will prevent young people from using condoms thereby raising rates of teen pregnancy, HIV, and other STIs. Others just think it’s dumb. They point out that the math doesn’t math. Paying a little bit more for condoms is nothing compared to what it costs to feed, diaper, clothe, and house a small person. One young person who talked to the BBC likened it to a subway fare hike: it’s annoying, but it doesn’t mean you’ll stop taking the subway. Demographer Yi Fuxian from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, however, says we’re all “overthinking” this move by the Chinese government. He says it’s not about the birth rate; the government is just looking “to raise revenue” wherever it can. That might be true, but the same rewrite of the VAT rules has now made matchmaking services exempt from taxation in an effort to help the young and the fertile find love. Matchmaker, matchmaker make me match, find me a find, catch me a catch, but don’t charge sales tax. Sex on Wednesday is free today. But if you enjoyed this post, you can tell Sex on Wednesday that their writing is valuable by pledging a future subscription. You won't be charged unless they enable payments.
|
We Could Really Use Some Philosopher Kings
0 comments:
Post a Comment