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| censorhip by ignorance |
| 05.24.06 (12:58 pm) [edit] |
An article in today's Chicago Tribune discusses how the state's second-largest high school district is mulling a plan to ban or limit certain books currently offered in AP English courses. Among the books in discussion are "Beloved" by Toni Morrison (bestality), Pulitzer-Prize finalist "The Things They Carried" by Tim O'Brien, and "How The Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents," by Julia Alvarez.I can understand some parents being uncomfortable with more explicit or violent subject matter (I certainly limit those elements for my little ones), but one or two comments by the torchbearer really upset me: "Pinney, the mother of a District 214 graduate, admits she has not read all the books." Okay, that's first. You can't take a small passage of a book you haven't read out of context and deem it completely unsuitable. Shit, that would disqualify a lot of books I read in school -- take the sex and violence ou t of Homer's Odyssey and all you get is a couple of guys on a boat. The article goes on to say how there is an "opt-out" clause that allows families of students to substitute a disputed book with another book that deals with similar themes. So Ms. Pinney responds to that by saying: "'The opt-out clause is flawed because unless you're digging around the student's backpack, looking at the books and reading them, how exactly will you know what your student is reading?'" This smacks of the same bullshit reasoning that leaves some parents to assume that their kids' wellbeing is solely up to their educators. Um, how about when you get the kid's reading list for the semester, you pick up the books at the library and read them yourself? How about you involve yourself enough in your kid's life to know what their schoolwork entails? Okay, America... just shut your eyes and cover your ears while you hum through the scary parts of childrearing, and see how your kids turn out. |
posted by: Orange (reply)
post date: 05.24.06 (4:13 pm)
Wow. That's...awesome. She's not only an uninvolved parent with little interest in what her kid's learning (unless it has to do with Inappropriate Material)—she's not afraid to say it publicly! What a fool.
posted by: Krupskaya (reply)
post date: 05.24.06 (7:03 pm)
I wish more people would read "The Things They Carried." That is one of the Top 10 things I've ever read.
