Posted on 04/10/2005 6:42:44 PM PDT by Texasbock
Pasadena Independent School District superintendent Dr. Rick Schneider has banned the book "Forever" by popular children's author Judy Blume from the shelves of libraries within the district.
The book had previously been found in the collections of one intermediate and three high schools. Advertisement
"It is never an easy decision to pull a book from the shelves. The superintendent has the responsibility to put materials in the system that are educationally suitable and appropriate. In this particular case, after reading the book, he felt that, though the theme is not unsuitable certain passages are and decided to remove the book," said district spokesperson Kirk Lewis.
The complaint was initially lodged by a parent at Thompson Intermediate School.
According to district policy process, a campus review committee was formed to study the book.
The issue was next studied by a central office committee comprised of administrators, instructors and parents and then by Schneider.
Though an initial committee recommendation was that the work be removed from only intermediate and not high school libraries, it was ultimately decided to withdraw "Forever" from the district library system completely due to what was deemed "sexually explicit content.
"Certain passages were not appropriate for any students of the school district," continued Lewis.
The novel, first published in 1975, is self-described as "a moving story of the end of innocence."
According to the American Library Association, it is the eighth "most frequently challenged" book.
A challenge is defined as a formal, written complaint, filed with a library or school requesting that materials be removed because of content or appropriateness. The ALA Office for Intellectual Freedom received a total of 547 challenges last year. According to Judith F. Krug, director of the Office for Intellectual Freedom, the number of challenges reflects only incidents reported, and for each reported, four or five remain unreported.
The US public educational system, particularly the liberal kind, must be completely abolished!!!!!!!
Our nation was built by ingenius and great spirits. Our builders of tommorow are being forced to recite easy lessons and they are given little more than training for taking standardized tests!!!!!!! It becomes infinitely worse when parents refuse to let their kids become smarter than themselves.
If any more fiction books are taken out of these schools, we can declare the US public educational system the single most horendous weapon of mass destruction to have EVER worked against the US!!!!!!!
The good old days of one-on-one mentorships are sadly long past....onward to autocratic sadomasochism!!
That book is trash, total trash. Hell, its almost 20 years old.
What does this mean?
The Bible is over 2000 years old, does that mean its trash?
Well, of course not, because it's a fictional story; and if she had, it wouldn't have fit the book's plot.
In real life, you never know. My grandmother was wed at 17 to my grandfather after my mother was conceived, and they stayed married until my grandfather's death.
I am currently re-involved with my "first" (I was also her "first"). I was 16, she was 15 at the time. We are now 48 and 47.
Throughout history, all over the world, people have married in their teens. The fact of someone's teenaged status doesn't preclude him or her from loving someone forever...it is no different today.
I was thinking of Dickens and Shakespeare and you blew my examples to smithereens.
The favorite words of the insecure, the deluded, the mediocre and the irrelevant.
A fool is an adult with the reading comprehension skills of a 10 year old vehemently trying to enforce upon others a single, rigid personal preference from the most intricately designed and beautiful literary work ever created (i.e the Bible).
Just keep telling yourself that sweetheart...but I doubt that it will do you any good. I do and say exactly what I was born to do, what god has designed me to do, and I have no reason to regret that. You should also have no regrets about doing what you were meant to do.
I'm in fact smart enough to laugh at myself when I make an error, to never forget important lessons from my elders, to learn from the mistakes of others, and to spend every moment of my life in unending joy and compassion. I do everything in my power to aid humanity and serve god and then jump in muddy puddles all at the same time.
If you are attempting to quash my spirit than all I can do is laugh. I can't take you seriously. If you want to beat me than you should be doing so with light-hearted humor. If you are not human than that may be out of your league.
So there!! Go ahead and waste your time with personal attacks against me I'm rather enjoying it ;)
Don't mind poiticket. She thinks bible verses are the answer to any question. You won't actually be able to get a logical argument out of her.
Well, I guess that's really where we disagree then. I don't applaud what these parents did, and you do. It's the most fundamental of disagreements. And....since you brought your parenting experience into it, I disagree despite having put 2 children through the public school system myself, and I'm currently homeschooling 2 more. I put 2 kids through public school myself, and I'm homeschooling 2 more.
Post 111 contained a few verses from Proverbs, which while meaningful in their own rights, weren't even vaguely related to the subject matter. The only tie-in is that the verses you chose are about a woman, and Judy Blume happens to be a gyno-American. But hey....if you think that you were making sense, that's all that really matters in this age of self-esteem.
Here is the deal on this book by Judy Blume: I will cut to the chase and say kids today know too much about math, science, and writing, and not enough about sex. Parents have failed in their duties and so, it is up to schools and hollywood to teach kids about sex and sexual relationships.
Mea culpa. Mixed you up with someone else.
They also know that Modernman has this illusion that HE is the ultimate source of knowledge in his universe.
Not even close to being true.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.