Nov 14 2008
Do parents have no say in what is taught in school?
Concerned parents took turns at the microphone recently during the Burke County Board of Education meeting to blast school officials for allowing certain books with mature content and profane language to be assigned reading.
Elaine Harmon said she moved to Burke County from New York to find moral comfort deep within the Southern Bible Belt. Harmon said it appalled her to find books with a variety of questionable themes – including homosexuality, rape and incest – are required reading for some students.
Harmon singled out “The Color Purple,” a Pulitzer Prize-winning novel by Alice Walker. She said the main father figure in the book takes indecent liberties with his 11-year-old daughter.
“Why are such books being given to children?” Harmon asked the school board. “Such literature will warp the morals of our children.”
Carol Snow, dressed in 1960s-era hippy attire, said, “Isn’t it ironic that we have a bunch of parents today questioning the reverse of the ’60s’ mission and challenging the liberals? My 15-year-old daughter came to me on the evening of Jan. 28 to discuss the rape scene in ‘The Kite Runner.’ I had a tough time discussing what rectal bleeding is with her; she wanted to know what that meant. Why wasn’t I notified regarding the nature of this reading?”
Snow said excerpts from books such as “Beloved” and “The Kite Runner” couldn’t be read aloud in the boardroom.
“What does it tell us all here tonight, when excerpts from these books can’t even be read aloud in this public forum?” Snow asked.
This is not the first time “The Kite Runner” created controversy. In February, Vicki Dobson challenged the school board regarding the use of author Khaled Hosseini’s book in high school classrooms. School board Vice Chair Tracy Norman said vulgar language and graphic descriptions of a sodomy rape made the book inappropriate for a 10th-grade honors English class at Freedom High School. The school district’s Media and Technology Committee eventually voted not to ban use of “The Kite Runner.” Dobson dropped her challenge.
Speaking at this week’s board meeting, Mark Gordon said it upset him when his third-grade son asked about several curse words he had been exposed to in reading class.
Dewayne Riddle said, “We don’t ask any of our young people to go to war under the age of 18 or allow them to drink alcohol under the age of 21. So why are we subjecting our children to this kind of material without parental oversight? At least give parents the rights to oversee what their children are reading.”
Following the parents’ comments, school board Chairman Tim Buff said there is no policy in place regarding usage of written works in the classroom or requiring that parents be notified about reading lists. He said there are legal issues involving what can and can’t be done.
Read more here.
[From me]
I’m sure there are some who think those books are fine. Well, I’m not one. I don’t want my children reading explicit books about rape, incest, rectal bleeding, etc… How can books like that be considered classic literature? This link was sent to my wife by a friend who is at Prep school here in the Charlotte area. Their English teacher has these books as well as one we were sent an excerpt of that was just plain pornographic. The teacher won’t even apologize for making the students read it and her administrator is standing by her. Why? When do parents get to have a say? Why would a woman want kids to read graphic rape scenes?
Honestly, this and just no peace, made us re-examine our school choices and as you read this we are making a quick trip to Birmingham and back. God help us.
What do you think?
