I might have (okay, I did) admitted to burning one book and recycling another, but I have to say that Wesley Scroggins is an idiot. If you don't know who Scroggins is, you can do one of two things. You can click on this link to read about it or just read on here. Oh, or you can close this page and go on about your merry way and leave the whole censorship thing to the rest of us.
Here's the gist: Scroggins is speaking out against Speak, a young adult novel by Laurie Halse Anderson, Slaughterhouse Five by Kurt Vonnegut, and Twenty Boy Summer by Sarah Ockler. He cites softcore porn, language, and promiscuity to be the "problems" with these works. As an aside, he is also miffed about the inclusion of homosexuality, oral sex, anal sex, and use of a condom being taught in 8th grade sex education and reproduction in 4th grade sex education.
First of all, Mr. Scroggins is an associate professor of management. He holds no degrees in education, psychology, sociology, or medicine. For some reason, he seems to feel that the rape in Speak is sexually exciting, the "f" word in Slaughterhouse Five is excessive, and the flirting and dating in Twenty Boy Summer is glorifying drunken teen parties and sex.
I don't know anything about Twenty Boy Summer, so I can't comment there, but on the other two? He's dead wrong. Speak is the story of a girl trying to move on and deal with a horrible rape. It has helped so many kids deal with situations and has helped others come to understand those circumstances and empathize. For those of us parents who read it with our children, it opened the door to communication about some tough topics. It is for High Schoolers, and that makes sense as far as the subject matter.
Slaughterhouse Five swears no more than the average 15 year old on the school bus. Yes, it's a lot, but Vonnegut is brilliant. Depriving High School students of his prose because of words they hear every day is idiotic. Just because they hear it doesn't mean they have to say it... at least that's what I have always told my sons.
Censorship is wrong. Our children are going to face all kinds of situations and language in their lives. It's up to us to teach them what to expect and to give them the tools to respond. I feel sorry for the children of the Republic School District in Missouri. We need to challenge people like Scroggins who scream about banning books. We need to use controversial literature to spark conversations with our children.
All I can say is this: Don't want your kid to read a particular book? Whatever. Just don't try to stop mine from reading it.
Well said, friend! Sometimes I wonder if those who want to censor have any education or sense, at all! Drives me batty, people thinking they know what is best for everyone else.
ReplyDeleteI can't even remember the swearing in Slaughterhouse V. I wonder what Mr. Scroggins is suppressing that he needs to focus on things that are not obvious to others. One of the most depressing things I read recently was how many groups there were who wanted to ban the "What's Happening to Me", and "Where Do I Come From?" books. I can tell you, as a 10 year old, they really helped me understand a lot. This kind of ignorance just seems to breed the fear and extremism that flavours so much of today's politics - kind of like 80 years ago in a European country which became famous for the VW. - rose
ReplyDeleteI stopped caring what this man thought when he said he was bothered by 4th graders learning about reproduction (from his essay it is fair to assume they are not learning about contraception or anything of the sort, just the basic facts of human reproduction). Average age of onset of puberty in American girls is 10 years old (Boys are, on average 12). In the 4th grade students are 9-10 years old. Done. This man is a moron. Reading on to his descriptions of the books in question it becomes clear this man knows nothing about literature. Without having read 2 of the 3 books (I have read Slaughterhouse 5) I could instantly tell he was missing the point of each of the scenes and themes he was describing. I wonder if he thinks The Scarlet Letter is about embroidery and Walden is an herbology text book. If he had degrees in literature AND child psychology/secondary education I might be willing to consider what he has to say regarding the age the books are introduced as required reading. As it stands now I just want someone to teach HIM the books.
ReplyDeleteWell said. I wish I could remember this one quote. It was something like "No problems were ever caused by reading a book, but many have been caused by *not* reading one."
ReplyDeleteMy child can read any book she desires and I stand ready to discuss them with her as needed. That is my job as her mother - not to shield her from the world, but to help her understand it.