Book Babblings
Oct. 20th, 2005 05:43 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
neadodsAUGH! Department:
Montgomery County schools are supposed to be some of the best in the state. So when the fishwrap prints an article about a Mont. Co. 8th Grade class given the list of 100 most-banned books and asked to work with their parents to pick one to read as part of an assignment on society, book banning, and censorship, you'd think "how cool," wouldn't you? After all, it's impossible to protest all 100 of the books, right?
Of course wrong. Although last year there wasn't a peep out of the parents, this year soon after the list went home, the principal sent out this message: "It has come to our attention that an eighth grade outside reading assignment contains material that some families may find controversial. In response to the concerns that have surfaced, the assignment will be replaced."
*headbang*headbang*headbang*
If that wasn't bad enough, when reporter Marc Fisher pressed the principal as to how many parents complained, the response was "less than five." Fisher found two. Two parents out of a class of 30+. And what did one of the parents say when asked why she protested? "There were titles on there I did not need my daughter exposed to... They were really undermining my role as a parent."
Titles. Not text (remember, the parents help pick the book), titles. She objected to her 14-year-old daughter even knowing the title of books the mother objected to. Because we all know the very BEST way to prepare kids for adulthood is to leave them ignorant about huge chunks of of the world and then toss them in to sink or swim.
Bolly Books
Am taking a break from forensics and mayhem to indulge in a little more Indian exploration. For Matrimonial Purposes by Kavita Daswani started out amusing enough, but then sank like a deflated souffle, unable to continue the cute. I have higher hopes for Born Confused by Tanuja Desai Hidier. If nothing else, she gets major bonus points for the line, "It had been the beginning of a cruel summer, spent with my head in the fridge and my heart in the garbage disposal."
Montgomery County schools are supposed to be some of the best in the state. So when the fishwrap prints an article about a Mont. Co. 8th Grade class given the list of 100 most-banned books and asked to work with their parents to pick one to read as part of an assignment on society, book banning, and censorship, you'd think "how cool," wouldn't you? After all, it's impossible to protest all 100 of the books, right?
Of course wrong. Although last year there wasn't a peep out of the parents, this year soon after the list went home, the principal sent out this message: "It has come to our attention that an eighth grade outside reading assignment contains material that some families may find controversial. In response to the concerns that have surfaced, the assignment will be replaced."
*headbang*headbang*headbang*
If that wasn't bad enough, when reporter Marc Fisher pressed the principal as to how many parents complained, the response was "less than five." Fisher found two. Two parents out of a class of 30+. And what did one of the parents say when asked why she protested? "There were titles on there I did not need my daughter exposed to... They were really undermining my role as a parent."
Titles. Not text (remember, the parents help pick the book), titles. She objected to her 14-year-old daughter even knowing the title of books the mother objected to. Because we all know the very BEST way to prepare kids for adulthood is to leave them ignorant about huge chunks of of the world and then toss them in to sink or swim.
Bolly Books
Am taking a break from forensics and mayhem to indulge in a little more Indian exploration. For Matrimonial Purposes by Kavita Daswani started out amusing enough, but then sank like a deflated souffle, unable to continue the cute. I have higher hopes for Born Confused by Tanuja Desai Hidier. If nothing else, she gets major bonus points for the line, "It had been the beginning of a cruel summer, spent with my head in the fridge and my heart in the garbage disposal."
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no subject
Date: 2005-10-20 03:16 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-10-20 05:54 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-10-20 05:53 pm (UTC)I remember looking through it, and I'm sort of wondering what the schools will find worth teaching from it.
no subject
Date: 2005-10-20 05:54 pm (UTC)But not all of it, and not for the reasons given sometimes.