Students protest against a Jefferson County School Board proposal to emphasize patriotism and downplay civil unrest in the teaching of U.S. history in Littleton on Sept. 25. (Brennan Linsley, The Associated Press)
Re: “Itap about balance, not censorship, in Jeffco,” Oct. 9 Mike Rosen column.
Mike Rosen insists that our Declaration of Independence was not an act of civil disobedience but rather a “precursor” of armed rebellion. Really? The fighting, underway since Lexington and Concord in April of 1775, had been going on for over a year by July 4, 1776. Already the Battle of Bunker Hill had been fought in June of 1775. Itap tough to be a precursor of anything so long-running.
I think Rosen defeated his own argument by making that his first point against the school curriculum protests in Jefferson County. The nature of protest — be it a petition for redress of grievances, civil disobedience, rioting in the streets, domestic terrorism, and outright armed rebellion — is the perfect subject for classroom study and debate. Letap trust our children to develop the wisdom to judge as we have, and if they see things differently, then perhaps we can learn something from them.
Harry Puncec, Lakewood
This letter was published in the Oct. 13 edition.That Mike Rosen would presume to lecture high school students on “critical thinking” had me laughing. I’ve read him for years and he has plenty of strong opinions, but I would rarely accuse him of having arrived at them critically. Even when I might agree with him, I discount his words because they are so frequently vitriolic and bullying. To characterize “Klan cross burnings on the lawns of blacks” — which are clearly acts of racial intimidation against individuals — as acts of civil disobedience is unconscionable.
Rosen has blinders on, in my opinion, and instead of evaluating the good and bad points of issues, candidates, events and decision makers on both sides of the political spectrum — and evaluating them critically — he just vilifies the side he isn’t on.
His columns are full of critical, but it isn’t thinking.
Mary Young, Castle Rock
This letter was published in the Oct. 13 edition.
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