Posted on 02/20/2006 5:01:05 PM PST by wagglebee
(AgapePress) - A school district in Maine has reaffirmed its reinstatement of a sexually explicit book several parents want removed from the local high school's curriculum. The Orono School Committee recently voted to retain the controversial novel Girl Interrupted in the ninth grade English literature class at Orono High School.
Girl Interrupted, a novel written by Susanna Kaysen, was affirmed for use in the high school curriculum over the objections of parents and local residents who take exception to the profuse profanity and sexual content in the book. Michael Heath, head of the Christian Civic League of Maine (CCLM), says this graphic work of fiction has no place in schools where impressionable young people will be exposed to it.
"It's a book about an 18-year-old," Heath explains, "who ends up in a mental asylum and has a number of conversations with mentally disturbed people -- conversations of the most graphic sort, especially sexual. The f-word [appears] 30 times in one page, and this is being given to freshmen in high school as literature. It's absolutely horrifying."
School board members argue that using Girl Interrupted in the classroom honors free speech and that prohibiting it would amount to unconstitutional censorship. However, the CCLM spokesman feels the board members are making a spurious claim when they cite First Amendment freedom as a justification for obscenity.
The Civic League's representative at the board's meeting contested that idea from the floor, Heath points out. "When one of the school board members said to not have the book in the curriculum would be the practice of censorship," he notes, "our representative objected and said, 'Look, you censor Playboy. You don't allow people to read Playboy in the schools, so that's a non-issue. You're lying.'"
The Orono school board has the responsibility to make decisions about content and does in fact make such decisions all the time, Heath contends. He feels parents and pro-family citizens in the Maine community have every right to be outraged over the school committee's decision to retain a sexually explicit novel in Orono High School's ninth-grade English literature classes.
Who gets to establish the standards for a community? The majority or the minority?
In my experience, most folks are reasonable. If there's a minority who feels offended they are usually accomodated via some form of compromise. These parents seem unwilling to compromise or be accomodated.
Because it was a movie, everyone has probably seen it? I haven't. Have you? Have you read the book, too? I haven't.
Just so. I loved reading Moby Dick in high school but it needs a friendly introduction, whereas Huck Finn is accessible to anyone--although it has depths to it that deserve discussion.
And I suppose it helps these days to explain that Nigger Jim is the noblest character in the book and that one of its purposes is to deplore slavery, which SHOULD be enough to defuse the controversy over the word except with the stupidest of literalists. Which is more important, the word that Mark Twain accurately has his characters use, and by using it demean themselves, or the nobility of the character?
Once I understood that Ishmael isn't exactly meant to be likeable, as most heroes are, I was over the biggest hurdle with Moby Dick. And when you understand Melville's wry humor, even the sub-sub librarian is fun.
I like Melville, but sometimes he makes me tired. People say we Southerners are crazy, but I'd put that nest of New England weirdos - Melville, Thoreau, Hawthorne, Hawthorne's wife's peculiar oldest sister (Elizabeth Peabody?), and that gasbag Emerson - up against the looniest we have to offer.
. . . and I forgot about Bronson Alcott. Can't leave him out. Louisa must have been a saint . . . ditto her mom . . .
No problem.
I don't mean to marginalize your opinion, but the "Nanny-State" attack could also be applied to the parents who want the book banned, becuase they seem to think society is responsible for adhering to their own set of beliefs that in many ways seem to be sheltering these children from certain realities of human existence.
Hi, I'm off work and getting ready to go to class.
I did want to explain my position on the Wife. Last semester, I took a class just on Chaucer. In the midst of all the research I came across an article in which the writer contrasted the Wife with the writings of Christine de Pizan. De Pizan would have been considered an intellectual and social equal of Chaucer's. Anyway, the writer of the essay advanced the idea that de Pizan's writings put the Wife in perspective - de Pizan would not have considered the Wife's portrayal as a positive one at all. It was all very interesting, and made me totally reconsider my take on the Wife (which, at least for me, is the fun of the whole thing).
Consider, however, that in the beginning of the book, Huck doesn't really know if he even wants to go to heaven. Remember that he asks if Tom Sawyer will be there (which the widow thinks is doubtful). Huck isn't sure he wants to spend time in heaven if folks like the Widow Douglas are there). Just something to think about.
I think Huck's decision is a life-changing one, though. He is distraught after making it; it is not a frivolous decision.
I've seen the movie. It's nothing different than anything a kid sees on MTV
I'm not sure you understood what I said about the nanny-state. I was attempting to make a broad point that all parents should be so involved in their children's education to the point that they cannot help but end up having disagreements with the school at times. No-one, liberal or conservative, always agrees with everything that others do. If you are truly involved and parenting, you will at the very least end up presenting alternative views to your kids from time to time from what you know their teachers to be providing. Of course you might also go a lot further than occasional discussion. For example, I would (and have) assigned my children required reading at home occasionally. I fully agree with you that the point applies to both sides of an issue. However I do not agree to apply it specifically to the parents in the article who have been shown to be involved--Their kids are no doubt fully aware of their parents’ actions and views as would be the kids of parents who showed up at the school board meeting to present the opposite point of view (if there were any who did this). It is the kids whose parents don't monitor and respond to what is going on at the school who will end up learning apathy and a belief that the schools should operate without interference from parents or other concerned citizens.
Well, I picked up the book at the library. All I can say about it so far is that, to my surprise, it is non-fiction and it was located in the adult section of our local library, (and I know that our local librarians have no problem classifying anything that a kid might be interested in as juvenile fiction and providing a copy in the juvenile section, including things I would see as better reserved for the adult section). Is it just a colossal mistake on my part to have assumed that this was a class where works of fiction were being studied? Maybe my ignorance is showing.
"Who gets to establish the standards for a community? The majority or the minority?"
I'm still wondering where you got the idea that it was a minority of parents.
I'm also still thinking that this was an article from Agape press. Agape press has an audience that would see this as newsworthy. Just like the masses of people who have already pulled their kids out of public schools, thinking they can no longer be trusted to be a good environment for children or teens, many in Agape's audience will consider this story of being worth their consideration and possibly store it away in their memories where it may affect future decisions, such as how closely to monitor a child's education.
If these parents are unhappy with the school board's decision there is no moral or political principle that should stop them from letting it be known to others or from taking other actions, such as pulling their kids out of the school. Maybe they will go on to try to make sure more parents in their school district are aware of the situation. Maybe one or more of them will run for the school board in the future. These are all valid actions for concerned citizens to take.
Of course you don't have to let your kids watch mtv or in anyway give your kids the impression that movies, tv, cable tv etc. are a good guideline for life or standards. I wouldn't bother trying to discuss this with someone who is so totally excepting of everything the modern media present for her consumption (not to mention thinks that all kids have to be free to consume any and all of it). You have the right idea, but you won't convince her to start thinking.
I'm still wondering where you got the idea that it was a minority of parents.
I googled the news story. It was actually one guy according to several accounts in the local papers.
Well, good for you. Goes to prove that where there's a will there's a way. And I am sure both you and your son were the better for it. I totally agree with you about the public schools. Most employers wouldn't permit what your very generous employer did. And because the majority of children are not able to be home schooled, or to attend a private school, we must be ever vigilant about what takes place in the public schools, for the sake of us all. God bless.
Well, I have to agree with you about Emerson. I took a graduate seminar at Harvard on the American Renaissance with a famous visiting scholar. As it turned out, there were only two of us in the class, which was a kind of tutorial.
Anyway, it was supposed to be on Melville, Hawthorne, Thoreau, Whitman, and Emerson, but the other student and I revolted and said we'd gladly read more of the others but we drew the line at Emerson! Fortunately the professor agreed. Emerson was a major influence on our country, but mostly malign, IMHO. He reminds me of everything about Harvard that I like least.
Yes, I have always recommended "The Discarded Image" for anyone reading in the Renaissance. It's an excellent book.
Parents should definitely voice their opinions if a school does something they dislike. That is what is lacking in the bad, inner-city schools.
I also thought the book was fiction. Are you sure it wasn't a mistake by the library?
The book is actually a memoir based on the author's actual experiences. I just found that out.
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