Administrators at a high school in Alabama have removed a teacher’s highly partisan summer reading list for his advanced-placement government and economics students.
The summer reading list, compiled by Spanish Fort High School teacher Gene Ponder, contains 31 books and tracts all — or virtually all — written by decidedly conservative and libertarian authors.
There’s “Libertarianism in One Lesson,” an excellent essay by David Bergland, and Ronald Reagan’s “Abortion and the Conscience of a Nation” (which was published while he was president).
There’s also “End the Fed” by Ron Paul, “Guilty” by Ann Coulter and “God & Government” by Chuck Colson, President Richard Nixon’s “hatchet man” who later became an evangelical prison leader.
In addition, there are two books by conservative radio host Mark Levin and no fewer than five books by Michael Savage, another conservative radio host, including “Liberalism is a Mental Disorder.”
The president of the local board of education, Shannon Cauley, said she learned about the reading list through social media.
“I saw a concern and addressed it with the Superintendent,” Cauley wrote on Facebook, according to Gulf Coast News Today.
“As a courtesy, the school principal called to let me know that the list had been removed and assignment cancelled,” Cauley also wrote. “He’ll be sending an email to all Senior students/parents to notify them that there will be no summer reading assignment for this AP government class.”
Baldwin County school district superintendent Eddie Tyler also issued a statement repudiating the summer reading list.
“Mr. Ponder’s reading list that is going around on social media has not been endorsed by the school system,” Tyler said, according to Gulf Coast News. “The list has been removed by the teacher.”
Tyler assured parents that the district will do a better job of vetting future summer reading lists.
Ponder, the teacher, ran unsuccessfully to be the lieutenant governor of Alabama in 2010. He ran as a Republican.
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