From fictions like Fahrenheit 451 to real world events during World War II and the Middle Ages, the destruction of books often appears as a cornerstone of dystopian societies. Unfortunately, it’s looking like we can add Michigan’s educational system to this frightening list.
Last week, school workers revealed that a dumpster in Highland Park was filled with books meant for children to read and learn from, taken out of the high school and thrown away on orders from an Emergency Manager.
Some in tears, community volunteers recovered what was left of the school’s library: less than 1,000 volumes of a library that once contained 10,000 books and audio-visual materials.
In a city where children are struggling to learn to read in schools ill-equipped to teach, it's horrifying to think that educational and cultural materials have been ripped out of the hands of citizens by an all-powerful authority who announced "We are not in the business of libraries."