This is the fifth in a series of local columns that seek to defend higher education against recent political attacks.
In four previous op-eds, I have drawn on my 18 years of experience teaching at the college level to explain why politics should not dictate what is taught in the classroom. In this piece, I invite readers to imagine the following scenario: You’re reading a book. You finish Chapter 12, turn the page – and suddenly it’s Chapter 14. At first, you assume it’s just a typo. You keep reading, but something feels off. The main characters are angry and fighting. This doesn’t make sense – when you left them in Chapter 12, things weren’t perfect, but they certainly weren’t this bad. What happened? What are they arguing about? You’re missing a crucial piece of the story. Without Chapter 13, you can’t fully understand what’s going on.
Most of us would be frustrated if a book we were reading was missing an entire chapter – let alone multiple chapters. Many would ask for a refund and stop buying books from that publisher. This is the situation Mississippians may face when it comes to higher education.
If race, gender, and sexuality become taboo topics in college classrooms, students will no longer receive a full education. While these topics aren’t essential to every subject, they are crucial in fields like healthcare, business, economics, culture, history, and society at large. Just as we wouldn’t buy a book missing vital chapters, why would students choose to attend college in a state where essential subjects are omitted?
College students are adults. They can vote, serve in the military, drink, smoke, and make major life decisions. They should also be trusted to hear different perspectives and form their own conclusions. If college is meant to be the final step before entering the “real world,” then we owe it to these students to ensure they’re fully prepared – not just with practical life skills like balancing a checkbook, but with the ability to engage thoughtfully with complex, often uncomfortable issues that affect our society. While parents can teach practical life skills, it takes experts – drawing on decades or even centuries of research – to guide students through the complex social issues they’ll face in the real world.
We don’t buy abridged books and pretend they tell the whole story. Why would we accept an abridged education? When we read a book, we trust the author – the expert — to tell the full story. We don’t need someone else deciding which chapters are worth reading and which ones aren’t. Similarly, we should trust educators – the experts – to present the full picture and let students decide what to take from it.
Let’s not sell students short. Let’s give them the full story.
Dr. Raymond E. Barranco is professor of sociology at Mississippi State University. He earned his Ph.D. in Sociology from Louisiana State University, and his work has been published in multiple criminology and sociology journals. Dr. Barranco invites readers to send feedback and sociology-related questions you’d like him to address in this space to [email protected].
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