Idaho Republican Proposes Bill Requiring Students To Read ‘Atlas Shrugged

[Ichingcarpenter]

Idaho state Senator John Goedde (R) has introduced a bill requiring students to read the Ayn Rand novel Atlas Shrugged. The conservative lawmaker’s bill would force students to pass a mandatory test before graduating from the educational enslavement of high school.

Sen. Goedde said he introduced the bill primarily as a rebuke to the State Board of Education, though the new requirement would also foster egoism and “rational selfishness” among high school students, a population known for their selflessness and excessive empathy.

While he hasn’t read the book in thirty years, Goedde claims, “That book made my son a Republican.” The anecdote undoubtedly relieved some of the state’s more conservative lawmakers, who distrust reading on principle.

http://www.thedailydolt.com/2013/02/06/idaho-republican-proposes-bill-requiring-students-to-read-atlas-shrugged/

[ananda]

1. I propose a bill to make all legislators read ...

... Grapes of Wrath and To Kill a Mockingbird.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

2. That's just cruel. "Silas Marner" was bad enough

but at least it wasn't full of tendentious libertarian nonsense.

[baldguy]

3. They should. They should read "Das Kapital" also.

And have a real, informed discussion about them & the history before and since.

[Johonny]

4. because every house has a coffee table with an uneven leg

[Initech]

5. If high school students are forced to read Ayn Rand's garbage...

Then why don't we pass a law requiring all elected officials to read and pass a test on the following:

- The Communist Manifesto
- Mein Kampf
- The US Constitution

Then they wouldn't make such asinine comparisons about us again.

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

6. That's cruel and unusual punishment.

Actually I thought it was one of the most boring and ponderous books I've ever read.

[question everything]

7. Does he realize that Ayn Rand was pro-choice, atheist,

supported free love and, gasp, was born a Jew?

And has the good senator ever read Shakespeare? Steinbeck? Faulkner? Twain? Any requirements there?