Book banned in Fort Cherry

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette ^ | 11/29/03 | Jane Elizabeth

[Dane]

"Battle Royal" is perhaps the most memorable chapter in Ralph Ellison's acclaimed novel, "Invisible Man," published 51 years ago.

It likely will make an impression on the class of 2004 at Fort Cherry High School, though not necessarily for its literary value.

[Dane]

JMO, but the writer is using Ellison's chapter as the main impetus of the "banning", but it seems that the three other stories are what caused the controversy.

Again JMO, but I don't think those stories are appropriate for a high school English class and kudos to Mr. Fanning for speaking out.

[kitkat]

I'd have to read the stories before I could comment. I remember too well the local highschool which had to ban "Catcher in the Rye." The parents who complained had not even read the book. My own daughter, as a sophomore in a private school, read it as a class assignment, and it was discussed and explained. It was a beautiful book.

As I said, I'd have to read these stories before I could comment.

[Lyford]

bump for later

[HiTech RedNeck]

"Our teacher told us that 'some of this material could make you squirm in your seat

There are tens of thousands of English novels in the world, and today's educrats, sure nuff, zoom in to the "squirmy" ones, like flies to manure. Seems ta me most of this outrage ought to go to the likes of the NEA. Outrages over particular books are like trying to treat individual pustules of a case of measles.

[Skooz]

Thank you for a post consisting of balance and reason.

Some cannot resist the "Fundamentalists banning books again/Soon they'll build a bonfire like the Nazis" hyperbole.

[Dane]

Some cannot resist the "Fundamentalists banning books again/Soon they'll build a bonfire like the Nazis" hyperbole

I just posted the title as it appeared in the paper. I didn't mean it to set off any hyperbole.

Also HTRN's comment #4 is also spot on about the NEA being the impetus of the trouble.

[jimtorr]

""There are tens of thousands of English novels in the world, and today's educrats, sure nuff, zoom in to the "squirmy" ones, like flies to manure.""

Well said. A candidate for quote of the day?

I see the NEA's agenda as not just a dumbing down of America, but also a moral decay of America.

[yoe]

I see the NEA's agenda as not just a dumbing down of America, but also a moral decay of America.

I agree about the NEA but what about M TV? Banning titillates and once titillated, curiosity takes over. By banning something you can be sure you have advertised a No-No and that gets attention for the very thing you are trying to hide or silence.

[sauropod]

"kudos to Mr. Fanning for speaking out."

Agreed. If folks do not stand up against filth, filth is what you get.

[patton]

Hmmmm. Not a fan of book-banning - but then, that doesn't meen they need to be on the shool cirriculum.

[Dudoight]

You said what I was thinking.

[ladylib]

Here's another article about book banning in Florida. I think the girl has grounds for a suit (which the parents are looking into) because she was treated in a spiteful manner (hostile school environment) by her teacher.

http://www.palmbeachpost.com/news/content/auto/epaper/editions/saturday/news_f38cf14020fb32220039.html

When school administrators pull nonsense like this, don't they think that there will be some legal repercussions, especially in today's litigious society?

[KentTrappedInLiberalSeattle]

But he said no one was forced to read the material and that discussion focused strictly on literary, not lascivious, qualities.

Hard for me to work up any real sense of moral dudgeon over material no child was actually forced to read, if they didn't want to.

My opinion; worth what you paid for it.

[The Great RJ]

Instead of this crap students should be reading Orwell's 1984, Hemmingway's A Movable Feast, Mark Twain's Huckleberry Finn and Melville's classic Moby Dick.

[zook]

US Supreme Court is on record stating that school officials (principals, librarians, board members, teachers, etc.) may not simply "ban" a book or remove one from the library without some kind of regularized process for evaluating their merits.

[sourcery]

The problem is public education, which converts what should be family issues into political ones. When the country was founded, there were no public schools. Government schools make just as much sense as government newspapers: which is to say, none at all.

[ladylib]

Yeah, they don't actually offer a Great Books curriculum do they?

Here's a follow up on that F-word controversy in VA a week or so ago:

http://www.pabbis.com/news.htm

[Savage Beast]

Because of my own personal sensitivies, I would be very reluctant to use racially or sexually charged language--whether reading aloud, quoting verbatim, or whatever--in a classroom, maybe even at college level. If it were necessary for me to do so, I think I would give some explanation and possibly an apology.

Huckleberry Finn is a great book, but I would not like reading that ridiculous, tedious, distracting, poorly written, and quite unnecessary "dialect" (more precisely trying to read it) out loud, and the other racially charged material as well, even though Samuel Clements' message was strongly anti-racist.

The few racially charged passages in The Great Gatsby are also offensive, and I would not like having to read them aloud either. I would be tempted to censor them voluntarily. They have little to do with Fitzgerald's excellent novel. They do reflect the mindset of the times, including Fitzgerald's, and, in a larger context, suggest that the moral dilemma presented in the story was less a problem for Fitzgerald than it would be for many of us, a subject well worth exploring in itself.

[Savage Beast]

Post #15: Yes, or what about The Scarlet Letter. I don't think there's anything offensive in that.

You have to be careful. You never know what's hidden in the text--that you overlooked...and that horrified somebody!