I sometimes use A People’s History when teaching the survey. I once had a conservative activist go through the university legal department to get my syllabus through a FOIA request. Which was stupid of her, as I would have gladly sent her a copy if she had emailed me to ask. Nothing came of it, because I was doing nothing wrong, using a history book to teach history, and I have no idea what the woman was hoping to accomplish in asking for a copy of my syllabus.
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How do your students take it? Are they scandalized?
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Not much came of it. I don’t think I told the students I was teaching this semester. I did send an email to a colleague of mine over at Emory (where the woman was an adjunct, teaching English classes, I believe) and he commiserated over it with me (as did my fellow grads in my department). But after I sent it to the university for them to forward to her, I heard nothing else. Turned out to be nothing because I wasn’t doing anything wrong. I don’t even have a clue how she came across my syllabus, given that I was just some TA teaching a survey course…
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The way I employed the book was more to explore how history is made. He puts his biases right up front in the first chapter. He talks about what he’s doing and why and I didn’t expect students to take everything he said at face value, but to think about his point of view and why he came to it.
And I can’t even think of the woman’s name now, honestly. It was… 3 or 4 years ago, I guess?
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No, no, not the public syllabus. She wanted a copy of your Secret Liberal Academic Agenda. See definition 2 of “syllabus”:
2 (in the Roman Catholic Church) a summary of points decided by papal decree regarding heretical doctrines or practices.
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Well, whatever she wanted, she either got it and didn’t get it.
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How syl-la of her.
…
I’ll see myself out.
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Probably both at the same time 
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I should think those would lead to a lot of atheist socialists who hate authority.
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I was referring to the book itself. I imagine that a lot of kids from deep red school districts who grew up believing in American exceptionalism might be uncomfortable with the book. That was true of many of my classmates when we are reading it.
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My son’s eighth grade history class last year used Zinn. It totally corrupted him. He lives in the attic now, chained to a radiator. We can’t risk him getting out and spreading the word.
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Time to ship her out of here on the silly bus.
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Ah, that would be like letting a bull in a China shop.
A silly bull.
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Horrified by attempts to destroy the traditional literary canon and to remake English studies as an anti-Western (and anti-intellectual) project
Threw up in my mouth a little.
she has become an indefatigable critic of progressivism in all its guises.
Threw up all the way
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Right near the top:
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. to schedule me to speak to your group.
It’s not an email address, it’s a website. And you’re an English teacher, so you should know that “to schedule me to speak to your group.” is not an actual sentence.
Not the sharpest tack, is she?
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She comes off as one of those people who thinks they are the bulwark of the enlightenment and “western values” whatever those are - all while seeking to shut others up.
Nothing came of it, of course, because I did nothing wrong. We have a fair amount of latitude in determining what our courses look like. I certainly don’t lie or cover up my political beliefs.
Your words, not mine! 
I suspect that she’s, like many people, finished up her degree and didn’t get the position she felt she deserved (a tenure track position right out of her program) and then blamed liberal professors for it. But I got news for her, that most of the jobs are going to people out of ivy league programs, not “liberal” professors.
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(Slowly beating that image to death)
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White People: “No, we refuse to understand history! You can’t make us! Whaaa!”
Whether you did something “wrong” isn’t really the point for them (they can never point to anything anyone has done wrong, besides be liberal); you’re just another bit of evidence of a liberal conspiracy. Do you know if you ended up in any databases of evul librul perfessers, as a result of that?
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