High School Parents Trying to Ban Book

[Texsox]

So of course LCR, parents could never be right? That the English teacher is omnipotent?

 

Amazing how you support civil disobedience if it suits *your* political agenda. I'll bet if this was some right wing piece that the kids didn't want to read, you'd be coaching them, talking about rights and process.

 

The President of the US has a check and balance, I think a high school English teacher should also.

[LowerCaseRepublican]

So of course LCR, parents could never be right? That the English teacher is omnipotent?

 

Amazing how you support civil disobedience if it suits *your* political agenda. I'll bet if this was some right wing piece that the kids didn't want to read, you'd be coaching them, talking about rights and process.

 

The President of the US has a check and balance, I think a high school English teacher should also.

If they don't want their child reading it, then don't have them read it. Case closed. Accept the grades that one gets as a result. Complain to the teacher about the choice of the book. However, don't go on a crusade making every parents' decision for them by trying to ensure that nobody gets to read the book. Plus, most of the time that parents are "concerned" about something just means that it is a lot of undue stress and problems for the teacher which end up getting resolved with the teacher being correct. (from personal experience in the places where I've done my professional observations and my current job)

 

And yes, I've actually had to read plenty of pieces in high school that I found less than palatable to my own opinions and taste (oddly, the same book that the other honors kid didn't think was appropriate) but I read the book because it is challenging to read. Overcome the simple "OMG THERE IS TEX SEXORS!!!!!1111!1! ELEVENTY!" and see why it is placed in there, the context of the situation, etc.

 

Banning books in schools is absolutely insane, from any political agenda.

 

And such a political hatchet job from you, Tex. I honestly expected more.

[Mplssoxfan]

As Flaxx (I think) stated above, most school systems have a procedure in place as to what books are acceptable. I assume that the district in question said, before the class was being taught, that the books by Conroy were acceptable for the class they were going to be used for. I don't think those books would be acceptable for a fifth grade class, but for a class full of Seniors, I think it's ok.

 

Let the parents go to the school board and complain. That's fine. The school board can then point to its guidelines and say that the book is approved. The parents then can sue the school board, I guess, but it probably won't get them anywhere. After the suit, they can run for the school board if they care to. I still do not think that one or two parents should dictate what the school curriculum should be.

 

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Vandy, if you wish to take a AP level voluntary elective, don't you want it to be as challenging and as rigorous as an actual college class? If I were one of the parents of the rest of the class, I would resent one or two people trying to mess with my child's right to an education. I wouldn't want to take that class and be reading texts meant for ninth graders. It wouldn't make any sense. Also, as Flaxx pointed out, these students probably hear things every day in the hallways that are far worse than the book passages.

[Texsox]

If they don't want their child reading it, then don't have them read it. Case closed. Accept the grades that one gets as a result. Complain to the teacher about the choice of the book. However, don't go on a crusade making every parents' decision for them by trying to ensure that nobody gets to read the book. Plus, most of the time that parents are "concerned" about something just means that it is a lot of undue stress and problems for the teacher which end up getting resolved with the teacher being correct. (from personal experience in the places where I've done my professional observations and my current job)

 

And yes, I've actually had to read plenty of pieces in high school that I found less than palatable to my own opinions and taste (oddly, the same book that the other honors kid didn't think was appropriate) but I read the book because it is challenging to read. Overcome the simple "OMG THERE IS TEX SEXORS!!!!!1111!1! ELEVENTY!" and see why it is placed in there, the context of the situation, etc.

 

Banning books in schools is absolutely insane, from any political agenda.

 

And such a political hatchet job from you, Tex. I honestly expected more.

Quit with the banning the book. Applying this definition would mean the teacher banned every book that wasn't selected. Implying that the kids can only read the books that a teacher has selected for them works both ways. Someone is making decisions on what is being read. If you want to call it selecting one and banning the others, then accept that teachers are banning millions of books, and these parents want to ban one. After all, the teacher said this is the only book they can read.

 

Accepting your argument would mean that there is zero chance that a book would not be appropriate for High School kids and if there are, that no teacher would ever assign that material. We both know that there are materials not suitable for a High School classroom, and we both know that some teacher would want to "push the envelope" and "challenge" the kids.

 

If the teacher doesn't want any oversight, start their own school. Public oversight in public schools. No other person employed in a public capacity has total authority, and I believe someone that is so influential with our nation's kids, should certainly be reviewed and some check and balance occur,

 

I agree that there are easy solutions to this. If enough citizens, and administrators agree, redact the offensive materials. Assigning only certain chapters is done in College survey classes all the time.

[YASNY]

The school board is elected by the people and it every ... EVERY .... parents right to question what is being done within the walls of the schoolhouse. Just because a teacher doesn't like being questioned or second guessed, well tough s***. I pay your salary. I'll have my say.

[EvilMonkey]

OK, LCR, you start off posting the story, pick out a few of the comments to highlight, then throw in a snark about the parenst and the bible, even though the story never says anything linking this to religious convictions, etc. You just assumed she was a religious nut. Way to show your bias early. The only religious reference is in the section where the ALA says that lots of books are reported, "including the popular Harry Potter series, which some Christians believe promotes witchcraft.". I guess the writer had to find a way to throw religion in there somehow.

 

A curious aside, why did the article feel the need to post this line:"Neither Frazier nor the Tyrees have listed phone numbers."

 

I think from the various posts, we can all agree that simple outright banning is not good. However there seems to be some differences in deciding what is good. Side A says you need oversight, parental or other, and Side B seems to be saying that the teachers/school know best. How is a parent supposed to react when the author of the stories in questions thinks this of them: "They don't know how the world works — but writers and English teachers do." So just because Conroy's dada was a Grade-A SOB means HE knows better that a parent? That is the type of condescending attitude that helps to make parents go off on educators like this. This is just like politics, getting polarized. Each side thinks they know best, and can't take criticism from the other. If the parents don't like the books, they SHOULD make their opinions known. And the teachers have an obligation to listen to those concerns, instead of dismissing them outright because they 'know better'. am not for one or two parents trying to force thier opinions on the whole school, but likewise I am not for some teacher thinking they know better also being the sole arbiter of what is taught. Teachers need to learn to take questions and criticism with a little more backbone, and parents need to learn to use the proper channels first for questions/problems without going to the nuclear option right off the bat.

Edited November 11, 2007 by Alpha Dog

[LowerCaseRepublican]

The school board is elected by the people and it every ... EVERY .... parents right to question what is being done within the walls of the schoolhouse. Just because a teacher doesn't like being questioned or second guessed, well tough s***. I pay your salary. I'll have my say.

And then what do I get after you're done putting a teacher through undue stress and problems all because you having an opinion?

 

I'm just into this a bit personally because I had a parent who had it out for me with a perceived situation that never actually happened -- long story short, held a student for a detention and her friend's daughter told her mom and dad that something "may have happened". No proof and a really big headache of numerous meetings, having to get with my union rep and ended up finding out for the district that the dad had a whole ton of f***ING IDIOT fall out of his mouth.

 

Or the parent who called me out in the local paper because I didn't force my students to stand for the Pledge. I mainly don't force them to because if I did, it would be illegal. Instead of talking to me and getting the facts straight, the mom went straight to the newspaper (and I later wrote in a letter to the editor which set everything straight -- and I got a apology call much long after the fact)

 

There have been great parents who come in and talk with me, get both sides of what happened and talk to me directly before going over my head. This whole thing about the book banning smacks of parents wanting attention and attention whoring much more than it does for actually changing anything in the district. If the parents were that concerned, why didn't they initially -- I don't know -- schedule a meeting with the teacher and find out why the teacher chose the book for the class before putting sole prints on the teacher's scalp by going straight to the media about the perceived slight?

 

I didn't even get an apology from "something could have happened" parent for it either. Plus, it was even better during the whole thing when he kept criticizing me, I asked him bluntly "What do you want me to do? Instead of just saying 'I don't like this'., give me some ideas." He sat there with a blank stare on his face.

 

And YAS, there is a big difference between just questioning what is going on and going on an all out crusade to ban a book from the curriculum for everybody. I'd rather trust the teacher, the administration who put the teacher in the classroom, the superintendent who hired the teacher, the school board who approved the teacher being in the classroom as a competent teacher much, much, much, much, much more than some ignorant, book-banning hardon rube of a parent who is "offended" at an act in a book.

Edited November 11, 2007 by LowerCaseRepublican

[NorthSideSox72]

I think YAS had it right earlier when he said that the school board should have say in the curriculum. And if the parents dislike the curriculum, they can express it to the board. If the board doesn't act in the interests of the parents, then vote them out.

 

One other thing - there can be an opposite extreme here. For example... I happen to know a teacher in the Chicago Public Schools, who teaches older and also honors-level English classes. They got a large chunk of money from a Gates Foundation grant, which has been a help. Unfortunately, the Gates money comes with a very stringent curriculum as a condition. The choices of what books to teach leave zero room for flexiblity at a given school or for a given teacher. And apparently, some of the choices are odd. For example, for "American Literature", one of the required books is Into the Wild. Now, I happened to like that book a lot, but... is that really even in the vicinity of classic American literature? Its more like journalism to me.

 

Anyway, point is, teachers should have guidelines and requirements, but also some flexibility. School boards should have the authority to step in to make changes. And parents should stay involved and informed, and use the school board meetings and elections to mold change.

[Texsox]

I'd rather trust the teacher, the administration who put the teacher in the classroom, the superintendent who hired the teacher, the school board who approved the teacher being in the classroom as a competent teacher much, much, much, much, much more than some ignorant, book-banning hardon rube of a parent who is "offended" at an act in a book.

 

Would you call every teacher that didn't use Prince of Tides as an ignorant, book-banning hardon rube?

 

Perhaps there would not be so many parents like that if there were not so many "f*** parent's opinions, they are ignorant rubes" teachers like you.

 

If this is your attitude with parents no wonder you have all those problems.

[LowerCaseRepublican]

Would you call every teacher that didn't use Prince of Tides as an ignorant, book-banning hardon rube?

 

Perhaps there would not be so many parents like that if there were not so many "f*** parent's opinions, they are ignorant rubes" teachers like you.

 

If this is your attitude with parents no wonder you have all those problems.

I wouldn't use that terminology for all parents -- just the ones who are clearly on an attention whoring crusade by obviously being so angered by the images in this book that they are not only telling them what they are to the kids at school but also to the school board, the local media and the national media. If you honestly believe that they are worried about children, then why give so much free pub and free press to this supposedly "dangerous" book? Now the minds of millions of children will be irrevocably warped beyond recognition by the demon inspired violence and sexual depictions of this book There is a protocol for these situations and these parents clearly went over the teacher's head to try to get themselves some attention rather than actually solve the situation.

 

Those parents are clearly in the minority but having them interfere with the situation when they are clearly wrong and it wastes everyone's time, is a bit grating...and we wonder why teaching has such a high turnover rate. 9 times out of 10, interactions with parents are positive. However, there are the ones that just want to be there to b****. If I walked on water, they'd rail to the school board that I didn't swim. In this case, that's what these parents are. If they were so concerned, they could have followed the protocol rather than go straight for the media.

[Texsox]

There is a criteria used in selecting the works that are used in a course. Thousands of English teachers chose different works than this one. They decide that other works are better suited for teaching AP History. Yet, if parents hold that exact same opinion, you believe they are ignorant, book-banning, hardon rubes.

 

I believe public schools are owned by the public, and the public has a right and responsibility for what occurs in the school. No other public servant has complete and absolute power. If the teacher finds scrutiny that upsetting and stressful, there are plenty of private schools where they can teach whatever they want. But be forewarned, the scrutiny in private schools is 100 times greater.

 

[LowerCaseRepublican]

There is a criteria used in selecting the works that are used in a course. Thousands of English teachers chose different works than this one. They decide that other works are better suited for teaching AP History. Yet, if parents hold that exact same opinion, you believe they are ignorant, book-banning, hardon rubes.

 

I believe public schools are owned by the public, and the public has a right and responsibility for what occurs in the school. No other public servant has complete and absolute power. If the teacher finds scrutiny that upsetting and stressful, there are plenty of private schools where they can teach whatever they want. But be forewarned, the scrutiny in private schools is 100 times greater.

Nice gloss over Tex and a very well constructed straw man. You took what I actually wrote, ignored the clarifications and continued to attack the straw man that you were so deftly able to knock down. Perhaps you should read a bit more clearly in what I wrote. Here it is again.

 

I wouldn't use that terminology for all parents -- just the ones who are clearly on an attention whoring crusade by obviously being so angered by the images in this book that they are not only telling them what they are to the kids at school but also to the school board, the local media and the national media. If you honestly believe that they are worried about children, then why give so much free pub and free press to this supposedly "dangerous" book? Now the minds of millions of children will be irrevocably warped beyond recognition by the demon inspired violence and sexual depictions of this book. There is a protocol for these situations and these parents clearly went over the teacher's head to try to get themselves some attention rather than actually solve the situation.

 

There is a substantial difference between being responsible about what happens in a classroom and going deliberately over the teacher's head to create some attention for one's self in a political hackery campaign.

Edited November 11, 2007 by LowerCaseRepublican

[Texsox]

Nice gloss over Tex and a very well constructed straw man. You took what I actually wrote, ignored the clarifications and continued to attack the straw man that you were so deftly able to knock down. Perhaps you should read a bit more clearly in what I wrote. Here it is again.

 

I wouldn't use that terminology for all parents -- just the ones who are clearly on an attention whoring crusade by obviously being so angered by the images in this book that they are not only telling them what they are to the kids at school but also to the school board, the local media and the national media. If you honestly believe that they are worried about children, then why give so much free pub and free press to this supposedly "dangerous" book? Now the minds of millions of children will be irrevocably warped beyond recognition by the demon inspired violence and sexual depictions of this book. There is a protocol for these situations and these parents clearly went over the teacher's head to try to get themselves some attention rather than actually solve the situation.

 

There is a substantial difference between being responsible about what happens in a classroom and going deliberately over the teacher's head to create some attention for one's self in a political hackery campaign.

 

And how did you come to decide that these parents are on an attention crusade?

 

Why are kids going to be warped by NOT reading this book? Talk about straw argument? Free pub and free press? That's like attacking any drug education. If you honestly believe that they are worried about this supposedly dangerous crack, why give it so much free pub?

 

And I don't think all teachers are wrong. Just the ones that attack parents by calling them attention whores, ignorant, hardone rubes for making the same decision that thousands of English teachers have made.

[LowerCaseRepublican]

And how did you come to decide that these parents are on an attention crusade?

 

Why are kids going to be warped by NOT reading this book? Talk about straw argument? Free pub and free press? That's like attacking any drug education. If you honestly believe that they are worried about this supposedly dangerous crack, why give it so much free pub?

 

And I don't think all teachers are wrong. Just the ones that attack parents by calling them attention whores, ignorant, hardone rubes for making the same decision that thousands of English teachers have made.

Tex, how many teachers have used this book and not had any parents come out in the media about it? I'd be it'd be more than this 1 parent that was offended.

 

And I came to decide that they were on an attention crusade because nowhere in there does it talk about them going through the traditional protocols of complaining in a sane fashion to a district.

Edited November 11, 2007 by LowerCaseRepublican

[Texsox]

Tex, how many teachers have used this book and not had any parents come out in the media about it? I'd be it'd be more than this 1 parent that was offended.

 

And I came to decide that they were on an attention crusade because nowhere in there does it talk about them going through the traditional protocols of complaining in a sane fashion to a district.

 

Since it is the Board of Education that removed the works, I would assume they did follow some protocol.

 

A student group is vowing to sue the Kanawha County Board of Education if the removal of "Beach Music" and "The Prince of Tides" from two Nitro High School classes is made permanent and expanded countywide.

 

I do not know how many have used this text without a complaint, nor do I know how many have not used it and people complained that it should have been used. Are you suggesting that the first complaint isn't valid? Doesn't someone have to be the first person to say "this isn't right". Using your logic, that first person should have shut up because it would give free publicity and they can't be right because no one else has complained.

 

I also am not in favor of national standards, so the it's used everywhere else logic doesn't work for me. It would seem you are in favor. Frankly, I am very surprised by that. You would be only the second educator that I know that agreed with national standards.

Because the two books were temporarily banned "every kid in that county will read them, every single one of them. Because book banners are invariably idiots," Conroy wrote in the letter published Oct. 24 in The Charleston Gazette. "They don't know how the world works — but writers and English teachers do."

 

Again with the banned stuff. If a teacher was using this in a 6th grade health class to teach about safe sex, would anyone have a problem telling it was inappropriate? Would they be screaming banning? Banning is stopping everyone from ever reading the book. This is an issue of deciding if the book the best vehicle to teach AP History at this school.

 

The hubris of his last statement is just amazing.

 

 

 

 

 

[vandy125]

Vandy, if you wish to take a AP level voluntary elective, don't you want it to be as challenging and as rigorous as an actual college class? If I were one of the parents of the rest of the class, I would resent one or two people trying to mess with my child's right to an education. I wouldn't want to take that class and be reading texts meant for ninth graders. It wouldn't make any sense. Also, as Flaxx pointed out, these students probably hear things every day in the hallways that are far worse than the book passages.

 

I actually agree with you. I think that their opinions should go to the board and then left at that (I think you are saying that anyhow). That is what they are elected for, right? I was just trying to get out the point that these may not be as "voluntary" as people say they are. Depending on where you go to school, your options for taking AP classes may be limited, and if you want to get into a really good university, you may need every single one of those classes. It may not really be a choice. From one little story, we do not know the whole situation.

[Texsox]

Vandy is correct, the kids are told that colleges want to see a challenging schedule when deciding on admissions. The class is only optional for those kids not interested in attending a top tier University. And I fail to see much of a difference. Would those that think the teacher should be the only decision maker in electives, supporting public review over the core subjects? And if you are concerned about challenging, wouldn't you be against a book that was recently made into a movie and could be rented at Blockbuster? Remember, thousands of teachers are not using these books and their courses are just as challenging. It's like saying we can't teach Shakespeare because no one gets screwed in the ass.

[Rex Kickass]

So if you are so concerned about what school your High School senior will be attending the next year, and want to challenge them to be a successful student and learn to think critically, why on earth would you challenge a curriculum based on one scene in one book that the class is required to read? What changes between someone's senior year in high school and freshman year in college that makes "The Prince of Tides" so heinous?

 

What happens when all of a sudden, the college professor requires your kid to read Tropic of Cancer?

[Texsox]

So if you are so concerned about what school your High School senior will be attending the next year, and want to challenge them to be a successful student and learn to think critically, why on earth would you challenge a curriculum based on one scene in one book that the class is required to read? What changes between someone's senior year in high school and freshman year in college that makes "The Prince of Tides" so heinous?

 

What happens when all of a sudden, the college professor requires your kid to read Tropic of Cancer?

 

I think we have to define challenging and how different works become "challenging". If Prince of Tides is only challenging because of these scenes, then that is a problem. If a book can be circumvented by watching a movie, that is a problem. What difference does 16 to 17 make in what movies they can watch? Society sets rules, has thresholds. Can some kids drive well at 14? Should some kids wait until 18? We set the legal age at 16. Same with drinking, voting, you name it.

 

One rational is kids hear this or worse in the hallways. Shouldn't education raise them up, not sink to their level? Imagine a teacher telling a student, hey n****, your answers were so ghey. It's absurd of course, but if a teacher hands them a book that is similarly "challenging", what are we teaching?

 

But the central issue is this, the Board of Education stepped in and removed the book. Their process is continuing. I would be on the side of the teacher in assigning this work, but I would also be supporting the process, not calling the other parents attention whoring, ignorant, hardon, rubes. And if their process does result in the teacher assigning other works, I do not think the students will be any less challenged by the work. Plenty of other school districts have managed to teach AP English without Prince of Tides. Parents and students that feel that strongly about the value of reading that book can still go to the library and check it out, but it at Amazon, or borrow it from a friend. Local control at local schools.

[FlaSoxxJim]

Local control at local schools.

 

Of course, that's why the apparent handful of intelligent people in Kansas have to put up with the semi-annual attack on the teaching of evolution. So let's just go with it and let the locals call the shots. We won't bother teaching evolution in Kansas and we'll cut all the civil rights chapters room civics classes in the deep south. There's no place for national oversight from the likes of competent trained scientists like those at NSF. If enough mouthbreathers manage to get themselves on the Kansas school board this year then Kansas can be the state that shows us just what local control at local schools can do for the students who might otherwise have been forced to suffer an education that would have prepared them to compete favorably with a global workforce.

 

Edit: I used that mouthbreathers dig on purpose just so y'all could haul off on me. I, of course, have the utmost respect for anybody who thinks that we should toss out 150 years of scientific progress because the Bible clearly says we didn't come from no gawd-damn monkeys.

Edited November 12, 2007 by FlaSoxxJim

[santo=dorf]

I want my kids to learn that 2+2=5. I'm a taxpayer damnit!

 

If you signed up for an English AP elective class and were expecting to learn about anal sex from the teacher, you're either a perv with a hot teacher, or you're not ready for college.

Edited November 12, 2007 by santo=dorf

[Texsox]

Of course, that's why the apparent handful of intelligent people in Kansas have to put up with the semi-annual attack on the teaching of evolution. So let's just go with it and let the locals call the shots. We won't bother teaching evolution in Kansas and we'll cut all the civil rights chapters room civics classes in the deep south. There's no place for national oversight from the likes of competent trained scientists like those at NSF. If enough mouthbreathers manage to get themselves on the Kansas school board this year then Kansas can be the state that shows us just what local control at local schools can do for the students who might otherwise have been forced to suffer an education that would have prepared them to compete favorably with a global workforce.

 

Edit: I used that mouthbreathers dig on purpose just so y'all could haul off on me. I, of course, have the utmost respect for anybody who thinks that we should toss out 150 years of scientific progress because the Bible clearly says we didn't come from no gawd-damn monkeys.

 

Nice jump there. Clearly all those thousands of teachers not using Prince of Tides should also be held to the same scorn and ridicule? This is about the tool that is used to teach AP English. That is different than not teaching AP English at all. If the Board of Education upholds their decision to remove the work, the only thing that will not be taught is anal sex. Perhaps that it a terrible injustice in your book.

 

Tell me, if the book was removed from a national list, you would be OK with that?

 

And since this book is so important, what would you do with a 16 year old who is eligible to take AP English? The movie, which was fairly close to the book is R-Rated. A 16 year old could not see the movie, should he be allowed to read the book?

[Texsox]

While we are taking some jumps, I had a funny thought.

 

If this teacher was accused of murdering someone, we would have no problem accepting the assembly of eight citizens, taken at random, to decide if she/he would live or die.

 

But questions their choice of a book!? Noooooooooooooooooooooo!!! Ordinary citizens could not possibly be entrusted with something that important. You know, just saying.

[Rex Kickass]

While we are taking some jumps, I had a funny thought.

 

If this teacher was accused of murdering someone, we would have no problem accepting the assembly of eight citizens, taken at random, to decide if she/he would live or die.

 

But questions their choice of a book!? Noooooooooooooooooooooo!!! Ordinary citizens could not possibly be entrusted with something that important. You know, just saying.

 

Actually, I would have a huge problem with that. A large chunk of the population does, actually.

[FlaSoxxJim]

Nice jump there. Clearly all those thousands of teachers not using Prince of Tides should also be held to the same scorn and ridicule? This is about the tool that is used to teach AP English. That is different than not teaching AP English at all. If the Board of Education upholds their decision to remove the work, the only thing that will not be taught is anal sex. Perhaps that it a terrible injustice in your book.

 

Tell me, if the book was removed from a national list, you would be OK with that?

 

And since this book is so important, what would you do with a 16 year old who is eligible to take AP English? The movie, which was fairly close to the book is R-Rated. A 16 year old could not see the movie, should he be allowed to read the book?

 

I don't see the jump you're talking about. You made a blanket statement about local control at local schools, not circumscribed to this particular case. I replied with what I thought was a cogent argument against letting local control supercede all else.

 

If anybody is making jumps, it is you every time you suggest that assigning a book with a single passage depicting a brutal act is "teaching anal sex". That is an utterly parabolic statement.

 

Is there even a national list of acceptable, level-appropriate American literature? If so, heck, I'm not quite comfortable with that notion. Certainly there are national recommendations, and I have consulted these myself in assigning texts and supplemental readings for AP Biology. But I never saw any national proscriptions against using certain broadly aproved materials, and I'd have been aghast if I had.

 

You know something? I read and liked Prince of Tides, but if I was putting together an AP American modern literature course it wouldn't make the cut for me. Not because of the pages you conflate into being an entire course on anal sex unto themselves. Rather, it's because I think there are other more important works with which to build a foundation of appreciation. But I support the instructor in this instance who assigned what was at the time a locally-approved reading. If the local powers that be buckle to pressure initiated by a single family who would rather play thought police for the entire school system rather than restrict their parenting to their own child, that is very unfortunate but it's the way it goes sometimes.

 

And the whole film adaptation thing. . . you are really hung up on that, aren't you? There's not an English teacher out there worth his/her chalk that doesn't know how to test to weed out students who read the book versus those who watched a film adaptation. You have no apparent concerns about the more troubling cheats available at freebooknotes.com, pinkmonkey.com, or any other of a half-dozen websites that actually provide cliff notes of the source material itself and not a derivative work. Fortunately, however, most good teachers these days do. So in a way I guess I do agree with your local control at local schools. I just want everybody to keep in mind that the classroom teacher is as local as it gets, and that he/she has already gone through any number of local hiring, certification, and approval processes and is always under scrutiny by on-site administrators. These aren't rogue smut peddlers and agents of anarchy. They are our teachers and they deserve more respect than to be reduced to the perceived status of smut peddlers in the eyes of the public, or to be assumed incapable of testing whether students have read the material or just popped down to Blockbuster to rent the film.

 

While we are taking some jumps, I had a funny thought.

 

If this teacher was accused of murdering someone, we would have no problem accepting the assembly of eight citizens, taken at random, to decide if she/he would live or die.

 

But questions their choice of a book!? Noooooooooooooooooooooo!!! Ordinary citizens could not possibly be entrusted with something that important. You know, just saying.

 

Please speak for yourself. I have serious problems with our criminal judicial system and it's continued reliance on the non-deterrent of capital punshiment and the critically flawed processes it employs.

 

Huh, imagine that. Someone as craven as I who continues to champion the Pat Conroy Treatise on All Things Anal Sex thinking there might actually be worse horrors perpetrated by our society than writing unseemly fiction.