Posted on 05/22/2006 12:11:31 PM PDT by Borges
A northwest suburban high school board member seeks to ban seven books from classroom use because she thinks the profanity, depiction of graphic sex, and drug and abortion references in the literature are inappropriate for teenagers.
Leslie Pinney admits she only read passages of the controversial selections, including Kurt Vonnegut's Slaughterhouse-Five and Toni Morrison's Beloved, which were on the American Library Association's 100 most challenged books list between 1990 and 2000.
But Pinney said perusing the questionable parts of the books made it clear they weren't suitable for children and should be taken off Township High School District 214's proposed required reading list next year. The district is based in Arlington Heights.
Pinney was particularly offended by the explicit tales of masturbation and teen sex in Stephen Chbosky's The Perks of Being a Wallflower. The popular novel, often described as a modern-day Catcher in the Rye, was among the ALA's top 10 most challenged books two years ago.
'Isn't there ... a higher level?'
"We talk about the steady diet of trans fat and sugar, and we know the result is obesity and diabetes. But what are we feeding the minds of our students? They're getting a steady diet of foul language, violence and sexuality outside the classroom by the media. But when it comes to the classroom, isn't there something of a higher level to feed the minds of our children?" Pinney asked.
Other books Pinney wants replaced are The Things They Carried by Tim O'Brien; The Awakening by Kate Chopin; Freakonomics by Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner, and Michael Pollan's The Botany of Desire: A Plant's-Eye View of the World.
Many of the texts have been used in the district's six main high schools before and were reviewed by the department heads before the lists were sent to the board for consideration.
"These aren't books someone just picked out of a bookstore one Saturday morning and said, 'Hey let's put them on the reading list.' These are books that have gone through the process and were selected for their educational value," Board President William Dussling said.
'It cannot hurt to be informed'
Dussling is willing to listen to Pinney's concerns when the board meets Thursday, but he doubts the books will be removed from the curriculum. The district has an "opt out" policy if parents don't want students to participate in an activity or read a certain book, he said.
Levitt, a University of Chicago economics professor, can understand why some people may be uncomfortable with his nonfiction best seller, which correlates legalized abortion with lower crime rates. However, he said banning it for ideological reasons does not make sense.
"The book does deal with controversial topics like abortion, crime, guns and race. But we aren't making moral statements in the book about whether abortion should or shouldn't be legal, or guns should or should not be regulated. Instead, we try to look at the data and understand what impact legalized abortion or gun control has had on crime. I would think that whatever conclusion one comes to on the morality of an issue like abortion, it cannot hurt to be informed about the facts," Levitt said.
There were 404 challenges or written requests to have a book removed from a school or library filed with the ALA last year. There were 11 challenges in Illinois in 2005, compared with 10 the year before, spokeswoman Larra Clark said.
I don't see how. She's exercising her right to claim that this particular book is somehow inappropriate, and I'm exercising mine to point out that she's a stupid git who's obviously either a) bordering on the illiterate, or; b) attempting to use her position to quash ideas she finds personally offensive, regardless of their actual merits. Isn't free speech wonderful? I know you'll agree, being aware of what constitutes censorship and all ;)
Her job is to check up on the books being assigned by teachers. How many pages do you have to read before you decide it's not suitable to be forced on children?
How many teaspoons of dog crap are acceptable in a pan of brownies?
In addition, ONE priest's accusation does not make it true. Mighty, mighty scant evidence.
Does that mean that the film "The Lion in Winter" should be banned?
The Awakening, Beloved and The Things They Carried are hardly "dog crap."
You do and have proved it.
So you think that all books should be judged appropriate for recommendation and required reading for all age groups in schools?
"I bet if it were graphic gay sex it'd be ok."
Good golly, think before you reply and don't just send out a cliche smarta-- comment when you do it. The person objecting to these books doesn't want sex in the required reading at all.
Bruce I
Lance III
Bruce II
Liberace I
Bruce III
With a GUI.
[ducking]
Not Lance III!
Who knew?
"There are Plenty of Gay Kings to study in World History starting with James I."
We could cut their names out of the textbooks.
Exactly,
And William the Bruce was really William AND Bruce
Secondly, the info about Richard I was OLD, millennia old, even 50 years ago. And it was NOT openly talked about in any school system, 50 years ago.
Thirdly, I've read the Communist agenda thingy, that you're talking about...several times. It has, after all, been posted to FR several 100s of times, since FR's inception.
And lastly, there have been English and other countries kings and princes and dukes, etc., who were homosexual; some of them actively and VERY openly! It's just an historical fact. Are you attempting to claim otherwise?
Yes, the school board member has a right to voice an opinion. But just because books are required reading doesn't mean that the students are actually reading them. Why doesn't the school board discuss that problem?
What is the relative magnitude of the following problems?:
1. High school students who are functionally illiterate, can't spell, never read books, and are ignorant of the world.
2. High school students who have been led astray by a book in required reading list for an English class.
'Isn't there ... a higher level?
Of course there is, but apparently the public school bureaucrats have decided our children don't deserve it.
"King David and King Solomon
Led merry, merry lives,
With many, many lady friends
And many, many wives;
But when old age crept over them,
With many, many qualms,
King Solomon wrote the Proverbs
And King David wrote the Psalms”
--James Naylor
Parents certainly have that right.
However, since there is only limited space on a required reading list for high-schoolers, I believe a good board member will see it as a responsibility to see that the highest quality stuff is there.
I don't know why they should be castigated if they think that what they feel are lousy books should be barred from the classroom.
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