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.
"And if teenagers want to read about the sex lives of plants, more power to them!"
Yes, someone has to decide. How about Anais Nin, "Delta of Venus"? Appropriate? Hardly. Well maybe for married couples.
My college English professor had the decency to offer a choice in one book being used, without prejudice toward grade. The book that was chosen was, "Youth in Revolt" (C.D. Payne). Holy crap, was that ever explicit. I didn't think it was appropriate for the young uns. My term paper based the story against The Seven Deadly Sins, as commited by the characters in the book. Got an 'A'. I used a lot of humor, with a message ;-)
Has Ayn Rand been banned for any other reason besides the fact it would take the whole semester for some kids to get through it?
In the grand scheme of English/American literature, they are.
Considering that it would be rather difficult to fit the study of "all" books into the twelve years or so allotted for public education, it's probably safe to say that I disagree with the idea that "all" books should be "required reading".
In addition, I don't know what you mean by "recommendation". I could "recommend" lots of books to you, without endorsing the content of those books. I think you should read Das Kapital. The influence of that book on the course of history is both massive and undeniable, and hence you're not going to be very well educated if you aren't familiar with it. You probably don't agree with the ideas contained in that book. Neither do I. But that hardly means it shouldn't be studied.
As I said earlier, I've only read part of one of the books. Were I on the school board in question, and this issue was brought up by another board member, I would read them, or at least enough to have an informed opinion about those particular books. My issue here is the principle that SOME books (not necessarily these) are NOT suitable for kids and should not be on the required reading list, and if they have made their way onto the list, they're not unchallengeable. The school board is supposed to oversee teachers' and principals' decisions - that's what they're FOR.
"How many teaspoons of dog crap are acceptable in a pan of brownies?"
Depends who you're making them for, I'd say.
"They ate every day at the same table and from the same dish, and at night their beds did not separate them. And the king of France loved him as his own soul; and they loved each other so much that the king of England [Richard's father] was absolutely astonished at the passionate love between them and marveled at it."
But maybe they were just good friends...
One of those people certainly has great curves. And the other is shaped like a large Bell.
Pictures of Condi and the Moore-on prove that the Bell Curve is fiction? How so?
Banning books is negative only when applied to adults over the age of 18. Under that age is considered a child and not responsible for what they read, so adults have to make the choice. And this teacher is only talking about what is required reading in the schools. Outside the area where SHE is responsible, it is left to the parents, who can require their children to read the books if they so choose.
Chapter 3 makes it pretty plain that this is a couple being married.
You didn't read about it in Gorky's "Merchant of Rostov"?
Very nice!
King Richard The Fabulous
And then there were the Three Mousketeers led by d'Artagnan, and we know about Richard Chamberlain, don't we.
Don't think too hard Iggy. Of course maybe the authors just reversed the axes on that dang curve.
I'm still waiting for you to tell me the name of the city that has no Bibles on its public library shelves. Could it be that you were exaggerating?
Tell me the name of the city, and I will call the local library and pass along to you the shelf where you can find the Bible there.
Of course there were gay kings. But Richard I was most likely not one of them.
And banning books has always worked so well in the past....
King Solomon and King David
Had forty-'leven wives
Raised Cain in old Jerusalem
And lived unGodly lives
But when old age comed on apace
With all its many qualms
King Solomon took to Proverbs
And King David took to Psalms.
I never knew there was a real author.
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