Editor, The Beacon:
As an undergraduate in the 1960s, my religion, social science and history classes assigned readings that DeSantis and today’s book banners would not approve of.
I thought some were morally and politically wrong. But I read them and learned.
Then there was the ROTC class I’ll never forget. Our instructor, an Army Ranger, went ballistic. He had assigned a short article by Frantz Fanon.
Calling on a student to summarize Fanon’s argument, the student replied that he didn’t read that commie trash.
The colonel’s response went something like this: “You’re not worthy of being an officer! You can’t be a leader if you don’t know how other people think.” He screamed, “Read everything, especially stuff you don’t agree with. How else are you going to know what others think?”
He ranted about how our generals read books by Stalin, Mao, Ho Chi Minh, etc.
He looked squarely at the student and said, “You’re not officer material. ROTC might not be for you.”
Sam Sloss
DeLand
