<p>Recently, a school board member of a neighboring high school district (also a member of the right-wing christian party) decided that she would like to ban nine books the district uses in their curriculums. ALthough she has not read the books- and does not plan to- she gathered excerpts from the internet. From these excerpts, she believes the books promote homosexuality, bestiality, masturbation, sex acts, and the use of marijuana. In addition, two of the books are on the topic of the Vietnam war.
These books include:“Beloved” by Toni Morrison, “Slaughterhouse-Five” by Kurt Vonnegut, “The Things They Carried” by Tim O’Brien, “The Awakening” by Kate Chopin, “Freakonomics” by Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner, “The Botany of Desire: A Plant’s-Eye View of the World” by Michael Pollan, “The Perks of Being a Wallflower” by Stephen Chbosky, “Fallen Angels” by Walter Dean Myers and “How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents” by Julia Alvarez.
As a high school student, I wanted to here the perspectives of parents and other adults.</p>
<p>I don’t support banning books, ever, but I would compromise to say that if a particular book was a problem for a particular family, the teacher involved could work with that family and consider their feelings. I’d limit to one book and the teacher’s discretion to decide. The reason I would even go this far is because as a freshman in high school I had to read “Ordinary People” immediately after my sister’s suicide and it was one of my worst memories of high school. I can’t fully articulate to you how difficult that was for me and I wouldn’t wish a similar situation on anyone.</p>
<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showthread.php?t=194297[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showthread.php?t=194297</a></p>
<p>lots of stuff on this thread, I am pretty sure its the same
event</p>
<p>most schools that I ever heard of- let parents know about reading lists at beginning of year and arrange to have substitutes if there is a concern with one or more of the books.
zoosermom-
I am sorry to hear about your sister-
I know how you feel- my mother - ( incredibly insensitive) took me to see Harold & Maude shortly after my fathers suicide, when I was in high school. She thought it was hilarious-
considering I didn’t even like roadrunner cartoons when I was a kid, because I thought that the coyote was being taken advantage of- it wasn’t really a good choice.
Its a good movie- but the main character is obsessed with killing himself.</p>
<p>If I recall correctly (it was a long time ago) my HS lit teacher had a policy that anyone who objected to a particular book on the teaching list could substitute any two books from an alternate list. And no, there weren’t many takers.</p>
<p>CGM - yes, this is the same event - Leslie Pinney and the 7 deadlies - that we were all discussing on the other thread. The school district in question does have an “opt out” policy. BTW, she was voted down by the school board.</p>