My words in bold
In regard to John Zimmerman's letter about that unending book issue, John it is not necessary to read that stupid book to make an informed decision about whether or not to read it.
I don't think informed means what you think it means.
People get a grip.
Would it be necessary to try crack cocaine before you could make an informed decision on whether or not you should become a crack-head?
Are you serious? You are comparing a book to an illegal drug. Apples to oranges.
One could easily examine testimony from others and do a little research to determine if something as simple as a book would be to one's liking or not.
Or you could read the book and think for yourself. I prefer not to outsource my thinking and reasoning skills.
The best solution to the problem is this: If a teacher is caught with a book that depicts child sexual abuse, put them in jail. It is a crime you know.
It is illegal for a teacher to have a book that depicts child sexual abuse? I guess I can never become a teacher (in Burke County). I own To Kill a Mocking Bird, The Lovely Bones, and A Clockwork Orange.
Can I get a link to that Statue and some court cases where it has been upheld? You know, so I can make an informed decision.
Mike Higgins
Hildebran
http://2speakup2.blogspot.com/ has more on the subject.
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12 comments:
Mr. Higgins, I hope, was using hyperbole when he suggests teachers be jailed for possessing a book that speaks about child sexual abuse. Even so, it is inappropriate and smacks of ignorance. The passages that "depict" such abuse in TKR are in NO WAY painting child sexual abuse in a positive light and are not graphic, gratuitous or pornographic.
I've actually read the book and have it in my own home. I am suggesting it to my High School daughter. Maybe I should be fired from my job and thrown in jail. How about water boarding to get me to "admit" to "the crime" of reading?
The vast majority of our teachers are dedicated to their students and to providing a safe and intellectually stimulating education to them. They spend hours of their own time developing lessons, spend their own money for classroom supplies, spend hours in continuing education, work tirelessly to teach students to think, respect each other and become productive members of a democracy.
Now we are not only banning books in Burke County, we are threatening jail? I think I'll carry my copy of TKR with me everywhere I go. Try to arrest me. Maybe I'll wear a T-Shirt saying "I read TKR". How about a bumper sticker on my car? Pull out your stainless-steel brass knuckles, Assef. I will fight for my freedom and I think I will give you a good fight.
Why the vitriol. Either it is appropriate to have teenagers read about the muscles tensing and relaxing as he goes back and forth into the young man or it is not. My opinion is that a person should have the maturity to make decisions regarding whether they should or should not expose themselves to the depravity of man. Maybe you can absorb these things easily. Some people cannot.
"the muscles tensing and relaxing as he goes back and forth into the young man or it is not"
I don't remember this exact detail in the book? On what page can I find it? Forgive me if I am wrong, but your description is a bit more graphic than what I'm reading in the novel.
To "J",
I'm thinking our honors 10th graders have that maturity to deal with tragedy if guided properly. They are also aware that they can request an alternate assignment.
You give our students no credit for being able to deal with difficult circumstances or for knowing their limitations. If a 15-year-old found you mangled and dying in a ditch, would you ask the child to stay knowing your time was too short for the paramedic on the way to do you any good? Or would you send him away because he isn't mature enough to give you aid or comfort? Would you value that child's company in your last moments? I would hope that you would because his staying with you would be important to you.
As my friend watched his father slip away, the doctor encouraged him to stay and assure him he was not alone. "Tragedy and death are as old as the ages," he said, "But it's always a new experience to the dying. You should stay."
Makes you wonder if YOU would abandon a friend or a stranger or a loved one who was being bullied or brutalized or who was in his or her last moments. The Kite Runner's protagonist made the choice to not help his friend - a choice he regreted most of his adult life.
I cannot help but believe that Amir's poor choice was made because he was totally oblivious to the harshness and cruelty and sadness and discomfort in life.
And try as we might to protect the innocent, we actually make them vulnerable - not because they are young or innocent, but because we have allowed them to remain ignorant.
Jail the teacher? No, jail the sorry caregivers who would refuse to prepare our young people for the difficulties in life they will surely face and would do so in the name of "decency".
Please read the decision by the FHS Media Advisory Committee today on Morganton.com. I totally agree with their decision and applaud their courage. The hysterical part of the article is Barnard's comment, "I feel that the findings of the committee are on par with my own feelings surrounding the issue" School Board Member David Barnard said. "For me, this was never a censorship issue, it was a parental rights issue and more importantly, one of choice." Could I possibly be the only one that remembers his comments at the board meeting, something like "whacko review, whacko part of the world". Does he belive everyone has forgotten what he said? He is unfit to hold any job that affects school children.
Warning: Don't send your kids to Catawba County- they read The Crucible there! They even ACT out the trial of Abigail Williams! (GASP!)
http://www.hickoryrecord.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=HDR/MGArticle/HDR_BasicArticle&c=MGArticle&cid=1173355039707
This book is about witchcraft and adultery. Ban it, Tracy!
And while you're at it, will you please get some more books out of our schools? Here's a list to start with:
http://www.harperchildrens.com/features/topten.htm
That Shel Silverstein fella- he's just crazy! (He should move to San Fransicso with the rest of those crazies.) He encourages our children to break dishes and become cannibals.
Of course, we could send home a parent permission slip for books that might be offensive. How much paper do the schools have? We'll need lots, you know. One per student for every single book they plan to read. Because EVERY book would be considered inappropriate by SOMEONE (as evidenced in the link above).
Moral of the story:
Once you start banning books, you'll find it very difficult to justify KEEPING ANY books.
The full link to the article about The Crucible isn't showing. Here it is again:
http://www.hickoryrecord.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=HDR/MGArticle/HDR_BasicArticle&c=MGArticle&cid=1173355039707
Here's a shorter version of the link to The Crucible article:
http://tiny.cc/LBSoO
These are my opinions regarding all this:
1) The Newless Harald's headline boldly pronounced that the "DA" labeled the book "pornographic." Well, he didn't. He said, and the Newsless H. printed this too, that parts of the book could be considered "pornographic."
2) Pornographic is defined as: NOUN: 1. sexually explicit pictures, writing, or other material whose primary purpose is to cause sexual arousal. Source: The American Heritage Dictionary.
3) If someone is going to make an opinion on literature, the opinion MUST BE BASED on the whole context of the material, not just a small part. There are many, many books that could be tossed out because certain selections, when read out of context, can be considered inflammatory, crude, insultive, sexually explicit, and profane. I know of one book where two characters run around a garden naked; this book references neighbors by informing that, thou shalt not "...covet his ass...;" and lust & murder are written about throughout the book: should this book be tossed?
3) As far as Mrs. Norman's argument that BCPS cannot enforce the no profanity rule when teachers have students read material with profanity in it, what an ignorant argument. Mrs. Norman obviously doesn't understand education - especially reading/language arts education.
The real issue is TEACHING: I'll use profane language as an example. Yes, there are school rules regarding profanity. Yes, there are societal rules regarding profanity. And yes, believe it or not, in many families there are rules against using profanity at home; however, if the teacher discusses the context, examines why the characters say what they do, discuss why the author selected certain words for the character to use; discuss with students that even though profane words are used in a selection, those same words should not be used at school or at McDonalds because... the students will get a larger understanding of the material, people, and what is considered right and wrong in the school setting in regards to profane language.
- Can you find an objective on the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction's Standard Course of Study regarding when is it appropriate to curse? NO.
-Do teachers teach issues regarding cursing and profanity to give students context and to support LAs/reading objectives? Yes.
- Is teaching students that certain people/characters can and do use profane language; that the same language isn't appropriate in school or McDonald’s because..., considered the "unwritten curriculum?" Absolutely!
This is all done to: teach different points of view, author's craft, study of language, word knowledge, context, reasons for character's actions, historical and cultural setting, and many, many other components of reading/language arts. And yes, these are all NCDPI objectives. LOOK HERE: http://www.dpi.state.nc.us/curriculum/languagearts/scos/2004/29english3
4) Teaching, instructing, disciplining, planning, and all the other 1 million and one things that must be done in the classroom should be left to the experts: the teachers who hold bachelors, masters, specialists, and doctorate degrees in education AND who are licensed by the State of North Carolina to teach in North Carolina schools.
5) Teaching, instructing, disciplining, planning, and all the other 1 million and one things that must be done in the classroom should not be done by education board members who are largely un-educated (in the field of education), un-proven, un-learned, and un-experienced. Yes, there are a couple of exceptions, like Mr. Wilkenson; however, how many of the other board memebrs have extensive EDUCATION backgrounds?
6) BCBOE: stay out of the classrooms, libraries, and schools. Stick with issues like: deciding if EBHS gets their lights, who will be Draughn's new principal, if board meetings should be held at 6:30 instead of 6:00, and if all the yellow gum balls should be removed from the central office gum ball machine because they clash with the purple gum balls.
7) Lastly, regarding Mrs. Norman’s track record of: lack of trust in our school system - her children were/are being home-schooled, lack of experience in education, and the amount of legal trouble her son is in, SHE DEFINATELY DOES NOT KNOW WHAT'S BEST FOR MY CHILDREN IN BURKE COUNTY SCHOOLS! She shouldn’t even think for a minute that her values are the same as mine, that she knows what's best for my children in the school, or that she is qualified, wanted, or is needed to be the spokesman between my family and Burke County Schools. My children know that if they see certain board members at George Hildebran or EBM, they are to run screaming into the night.
That is my opinion.
Has Oprah donated money to Obama's church? Just wondering?
Anonymous said...
The word on the street is that Ms. Dobson has appealed the FHS decision regarding The Kite Runner to the next level.
Now, a SYSTEM-WIDE advisory committee will review the book to determine its literary value and decide if the book should be made available to high school students.
Not a time to roll over and give up!
X Done
3. If the complainant is not satisfied with the school-based decision, he/she may appeal the decision to the System-Wide Media/Technology Advisory Committee by filing a Request for Reconsideration of School-Level Recommendation with the district Media Coordinator within ten working days after formal notification of the decision.
X Done
4. Upon receipt of the completed form, the System-Level MTAC will be convened to:
a. review the challenged material
b. survey appraisals of the material using professional reviewing resources
c. weigh the value of the material as a whole, not just on isolated passages
d. prepare a written recommendation to the superintendent.
Did they skip this step?
5. The superintendent will review the recommendations of the System-Wide MTAC and render a written decision to the committee and to the complainant.
6. Either party may appeal the superintendent’s decision to the Board of Education within five business days of receiving the superintendent’s decision. The local School Board has final authority and discretion to determine whether a challenge has merit and whether challenged material should be retained or removed.
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