Posted on 08/15/2007 11:16:07 PM PDT by napscoordinator
An angry parent has blasted the East Penn School District for requiring its students to read books he said are "full of filthy vulgarity."
Richard Jones of Upper Milford confronted the school board Monday about some of the books on his 15-year-old son's 10th-grade summer reading list at Emmaus High School, saying they're trash.
Following its standard practice, the board limited Jones to three minutes and didn't respond to his criticism during the meeting. But later, board President Ann Thompson said, "We listened carefully and it is being investigated carefully."
(Excerpt) Read more at mcall.com ...
C.S. Lewis’ The Abolition of Man sums it up.
The entire public education systems is one big “Experiment House”
“Why schools are going away from classics is beyond me.”
The reason is simple. The classics were written by dead white men mostly and schools today think kids have to read books written by a diverse set of authors. So they select contemporary books written by women, blacks, Native Americans, Peruvians, Guatemalans, drug addicts and convicts, etc., etc. so all the kids’ “voices” will feel “represented” by the authors. Never mind that the books are poorly written, have little redeeming value, or may have been outright frauds. It’s the diversity that counts.
Nice summary.
Right up there with Math problems: 2+2 and 3 joints + 2 joints.
Probably because sound thinking, and the basis for it, is a real threat to some people.
I read some pretty skanky books in high school. After I’d read them I wondered what all the rush was for me to read them.
Look, I’m not in the business of advocating the banning of books or setting limits on what movies portray to our kids. I’d just like to think that a few movie makers and book writers could produce products that would teach our kids some positive things, without dragging them through filth to do it.
Today only leftist propaganda qualifies as material that needs to be taught, and as for dragging kids through filth, every aspect of a wholesome value system will be destroyed if at all possible.
I agree and more. The classics require thought and the ability to discern meaning. The new books are simply words the reader hear in everyday life. It's like watching tv - it requires no imagiation or thought to "get" the story.
Meant to add:
Therefore the teachers don't have to do any work to get the children to understand the books. They don't have to stand in front of the class and draw out a discussion about the story.
When one of the books he was having to read last year had bad language in it, I commented to his teacher. She has to pick material from the AP English website. She can't pick her own material (not that she would make different choices).
Because new classics have been written since then? Tom Wolfe's Electric Kool Aid Acid Test is a very good book. I like Huck Finn as much as the next guy, but there's nothing wrong with bringing things up to speed a bit. We don't ride horses and buggies anymore, either. Beowolf? Totally worthless.
Ouch!
Maybe The 13th Warrior was totally worthless, but the Beowulf story itself is great. It provides an interesting glimpse of a pagan society through Christian eyes (Grendel and his mother are described as descendants of Cain, for example). The struggle of good to overcome evil is inspiring.
Then it might have some use in a history class. But it's worthless as literature, particularly for 21st century teens. Totally pointless, and will only serve to turn them off to reading, literature, English class, and school.
At least they are not reading Harry Potter novels. Those books are riddled with murder, kidnapping, torture, slavery, theft, child abuse, animal cruelty, voyeurism, interspecies lust, underage drinking and inter-racial dating.
I kind of liked the screen play based on Michael Crichton's Eaters of the Dead. Granted, it's a pre-9/11 sympathetic view of muslims, and it's pretty difficult (if not impossible) to now view it without thinking about our enemies in the WOT, but I wouldn't call it, "worthless." It certainly had its entertainment value and celebrated some virtuous themes like heroism, courage, and good vs. evil...Given what Hollywood has cranked out in the past few decades, it wasn't a bad effort.
It sounds rather like the Iliad and the Odyssey, now that you mention it ... and Beowulf!
I agree that some classic literature is not likely to be of interest to most teenagers. Dickens, Hardy, Austen, the Brontes, etc., weren't writing for teenagers - these authors are considered "classic" because their books were popular with adults.
However, the Greek and Roman classics are blood-and-thunder thrillers - sex, drugs, drinking, and interspecies excitement. My teenagers really like them, especially if I read aloud. Excellent new translations have come out in the last few years.
lol. You can always count on the Romans. My point is that those works should be a part of the Roman history curriculum. Dickens is awful. Worse than water boarding. Bronte is for chicks. Never heard of the others.
I guess it comes down to the question of whether literature is a dead art or not. It's as if you had a music class and only offered classical music and jazz. It gives the impression it's a dead thing. No offense to old music, but what's wrong with bringing it up to date a little bit?
If the issue is cultural literacy (sounding smart at cocktail parties) fine, make sure they know all the know-it-all's favorite books. But otherwise, find some new stuff that might actually have something to do with current life, something that will demonstrate the usefulness of the art form, if indeed it has any usefulness.
ping
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