Blue Valley Book Banning

I managed to get a discussion going this a.m. on the Comp 1 list about the Blue Valley challenge to the recommended book list. I had been waiting for someone to bring it up--someone who lives in the district--but nothing. Not a word. Finally, the talk program, Up to Date, covered the topic yesterday, so I used that link to open up the conversation.

I was surprised at how engaged people got on the topic, especially since it had sat dormant for so long. What troubles me about the issue is that neither side is really in the "right." The school has some real trendy but mediocre book choices mixed in with some modern classics (Lord of the Flies and Catcher, for example). This mix gives the challengers two strands of attack: books with low reading levels and books with vulgaries. What it is really all about, though, is control of the curriculum. As parents in this district are notorious for, the challengers want to control the curriculum.

I about died when I read the list of books the challengers want to impose: Witness by Whitaker Chambers, Middlemarch--a real popular hs book, and Ivanhoe--one that should make both conservative Catholics (the Inquisition doesn't come off very pretty) and Jews mad.

That has a trickle down effect on us, in terms of textbook selection, quality of students, and how much we want to do battle with over-educated, underemployed moms who have been oprahized into psycho-speak.