At first this is about dumbing down of America. But then, it is about banned books. 

Not just banning story books. The schools are now banning academic books. Books that are good, but might take some afford to finish the whole books. 

"In 2010 the sixth circuit upheld the firing of high school teacher Shelley Evans-Marshall when parents complained about an assignment in which she had asked her students in an upper-level language arts class to look at the American Library Association's list of "100 most frequently challenged Books" and write an essay about censorship. The complaint against her centered on three specific texts: Hermann Hesse's Siddhartha, Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird and Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451. (She was also alleged, years earlier, to have shown students a PG-13 version of Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet.)"

Seriously,  reading books would not hurt anyone, unless the readers were led to believe that it is "divine words of some god". 

"Happily, there is pushback occurring against such anti-intellectualism. One of the most vibrant examples is a protest group called Librotraficante, or Book Trafficker. Organised by Tony Diaz, a Houston Community College professor, the group has been caravanning throughout the south-west holding readings, setting up book clubs, establishing "underground libraries," and dispensing donated copies of the books that have been removed from Arizona's public school curriculum. You can donate by visiting librotraficante.com."

Good to know. 

Hermann Hesse's famous novel Siddhartha was published in German already in 1922, but the first English translation didn’t come out before 1951. The story is set in ancient India at the time when Buddha found enlightenment under the Bodhi tree and made his teachings. In fact, the novel’s title as well as its plot remind of the life of Buddha who was born as Siddhartha Gautama, Prince of Kapilvastu. Also Hermann Hesse’s protagonist Siddhartha starts into life as a privileged child although not of an Indian king, but of a Brahmin. Growing older he finds his life empty of meaning and leaves home to seek enlightenment. In his quest Siddhartha is accompanied by his childhood friend Govinda who idolizes him. During their travels as wandering and begging ascetics they meet the Buddha – called Gotama in the novel – and listen to his teachings. Govinda decides to follow the way of the Buddha as a monk, but Siddhartha doesn’t get from him the answers that he is looking for. He continues his quest and falls in love with the beautiful courtesan Kamala. In order to please her, Siddhartha gives up his life as an ascetic and becomes a successful businessman. But neither his life with Kamala nor all the luxury that he revels in can satisfy him in the long run. Eventually, he gets restless again and leaves his comfortable home. Siddhartha is tired of life and longs for death. When he meets the ferryman Vasudeva who seems fully at peace with himself, he decides to stay with him and to learn the trade of a ferryman. Siddhartha also learns to listen to the river and its infinite wisdom, but life has yet another important lesson in store for him.

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