I hate to give them the attention they crave but Petrified Truth noted Judson ISD's ("Where Bright Futures are Built") Superintendent Ed Lyman's move to over-rule a committee's decision to keep The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood in the Advanced Placement English curriculum. Lyman has pulled the book from the AP curriculum.
Alert reader, Leslie, forwarded this Express-News link about the story.
The report just affirms several of Book Moot's points about book challenges.
Book Moot point # 3
Know-Nothings should read the whole book (but they never do!)
Lyman, who said he has read "80 (percent) to 90 percent," of the book, said school board members have been reading it...
Book Moot point #5
Know-Nothings have to accept that sometimes the answer is NO!
In my experience most review committees take their responsibilties very seriously. Most of their work is off the clock. How demoralizing to have the superintendent just toss their decision out the window because he disagreed.
Thank goodness:
The committee that approved its use has appealed Lyman's decision to the school board, which is to render a decision at its regularly scheduled meeting Thursday.
Hopefully the school board will affirm the committee's decision. If administrators are not going to follow their own policies, they should cease the charade of writing them and just have a public flushing of the district policy manual down a ceremonial toilet.
Book Moot point #7
Know-Nothings should know that we are on to them and we understand it is REALLY NOT about the book. It REALLY IS about: their anger with someone at the school, their guilt about not being there for their child, their sad bid for attention and/or their desperate and pathetic desire to be someone of consequence and power.
Cindy Pyo, who said she holds degrees in English, Bible and education, requested her son be given an alternative assignment, a request the school honored. He and a handful of other students in the class read Aldous Huxley's "Brave New World" instead of "The Handmaid's Tale," she said.
That wasn't solution enough for Pyo, who said Tuesday that she feels it's her duty to ensure no student be able to read "The Handmaid's Tale" in class.
One sidebar about the Express-News article:
Staff writer Karen Adler notes that Superintendent Lyman is a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The implication is that despite his denial, it was a factor in his decision. If she is presenting it as a religious issue then in fairness, Adler should have noted the religions of all the parties involved pro and con The Handmaid's Tale. Someone supporting the book might be influenced by their religion too.
In my experience book banners come from all religions and all corners of the political spectrum. Some folks want more religion in the library, others want all religion removed from the library. Folks want their political POV represented and want the other guy's ejected. There is no one, single religious or political point in the galaxy from which book banners set sail.
2 comments:
It REALLY IS about: their anger with someone at the school
Precisely. I don't have time to look up the actual quote at the moment, but one of the factors being thrown around in the current Oklahoma legislation (to require certain books to be shelved in adult-only areas) seems to be the originating legislator's recently having lost a local battle over King and King, and being mad.
The book is just the vehicle they use to "drive by" and wreck havoc. Book challenges are a fact of life in schools now like testing and peanut allergies. Administrators need to stiffen their spines and deal with it, which means following their own policies. Caving to individual parents does nothing to advance education and only encourages more of the same. They end up in a cycle of distraction.
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