June 11^th

Thomas Sowell’s column today is focused on political correctness; as you might guess he’s very upset about it. His high school, the highly regarded, Walter Johnson High School in Maryland, is ranked seventh in the state in achievement. But Sowell’s advice to parents is to withdraw you children from that school as quickly as you can, “before you, and the nation, have lost them to an alien intellectual philosophy and a hostile moral power.” Why would Thomas Sowell so excoriate his old high school, particularly since it is highly ranked in the achievement of its students?

The answer begins with the change in the color of the students’ graduating robes: This change is evidence of a pernicious threat to all that is good and holy about secondary education at this high school. Previously boys had worn green robes and girls had worn white ones. Students claimed that this distinction did not accommodate all the nuances of gender identity so now all students will wear the same colored robes when they graduate. Now keep in mind that the administration has not insisted on anything like unisex showering after gym classes. Everyone wearing the same colored robes is still evidence of a political correctness (PC) all which deeply offends Sowell. (I’m curious about why the sexes at that high school had different colored graduation robes to begin with.)

I have trouble understanding why Sowell has trouble with PC. There is no law requiring people to observe this convention but many people do so as not to insult others of different or unusual, ethnic/racial/sexual identification. The “humor” from stereotyping the presumed stupidity of black people no longer supports “Amos and Andy” or the stumbling bumbling Stepin Fetchit. These insults to the black community are gone; so are terms like, kike, wop, coon, burr head, queer, rag head and many others; does Sowell find their absence offensive?

Sowell has trouble with people declaring their gender identity, particularly if that identity is not obvious by simply looking at the person. He suggests getting children out of public schools as quickly as possible before they become contaminated by these evil influences. It is interesting that this is exactly the position taken by southern bigots in response to “Brown vs Board of Education.” After that ruling there was considerable emphasis on private schools so that white children and adolescents would not face contamination by studying and sitting close to their black counterparts. Much of Sowell’s rant against public schools now would have exactly fit the mood of the southern bigots seventy-five years ago. The only difference is in their targets. I wonder if Sowell has thought of that.

A final curious factoid: I checked the internet for information about Walter J. Johnson High School; as I mentioned it’s a very good school. The source also listed their “famous alumni.” Among them was Cal Thomas another well-known right wing pundit. Thomas Sowell’s name was not to be found; could that have had anything to do with Sowell’s rage at his old high school? Surely not.