British and French educators are ready to abandon 500 years of progress owing to open intellectual inquiry through the use of logic. The schools won't confront or challenge students but rather will leave them safe in their prejudices.

Aside from the broader implications, such behavior constitutes a reinforcement of racism, intolerance and hatred in the name of a philosophy - political correctness - that is supposed to combat these things.

Note, also, that there have been no riots or mass protests to demand this rush to preserve ignorance. This is not only surrender but a preemptive one - offered before it's even demanded.

Up until now, democratic, modern societies have successfully absorbed large numbers of immigrants because of the process of assimilation (or, in milder form, acculturation). The idea, so successful in the United States, has been that immigrants must accept the society's rules. And why not, since it has been so successful? The West's stability, freedom and material benefits are why people come. Immigrants were and are free to keep most of their own culture and all of their religion.

But now the successful, free society feels compelled to adapt to less successful, unfree ones. Where does it end? Can schools teach democracy to those told this is heresy, because laws can only be made by God? Can evolution, if it contradicts what is said in mosques, or might provoke complaints in class?