Cooper 7th Grade Book List

[Anonymous]

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While I personally hold nothing against the topics above, when did English class become a brain washing course with hidden agenda? Why can't the kids simply learn the beauty of the English language, and be inspired by the great minds, even from a complete different time? Or am I living in such a sheltered life that the topics are prevailing way of life now? Shouldn't all the current events be part of civics class?

I don't know if the list is specific to his class or to Cooper, but my question to the wise readers here--what should I do? Tell my kids not to read these books which means going against the school? Or ask for an alternate list?

- It hasn’t. Have you read all of the books? ANY of the books? It sounds like you’re really running wild with your assumptions. So I’d suggest that you read at least a few of the books and see if they offer ways for kids to learn the beauty of the English language, and to be inspired by great minds.

I think it’s bizarre for you to ask for an alternate list — when you apparently haven’t read any of the books. What would you ask for? Books written by dead white people? Books that only reference “current events” from at least 60 or more years ago — and prohibiting any class discussion that relates in any way to more recent current events? I’d be curious to learn how those conversations go.

English class indeed became a brain washing course with hidden agenda. In Cooper's 7th grade English syllabus, a list of concepts of study starts with "Identity", ends with "Change". For parents who want their kids to learn English, go find some other resources for your children. Besides classics, you may introduce the books such as Animal Farm, 1984, Please Stop Helping Us, Discrimination and Disparities, Irreversible Damage to your children.

Those are the units that are outlined by the county, not by Cooper. If the word "identity" bothers you, there are huge issues in your life. Identity is a huge concept for adolescents who are trying to determine who they are and how they fit into their communities. Are they athletic? Artistic? A combination of the two? Are they quiet and introspective? Risk-takers? Conservative in their approach to new things? Are they leaders? Team players? Religious? Community-service-driven? Scouts? Musicians? Readers? Humorous? Dramatic? Son's? Daughters? Siblings?

The identity unit is not political, nor is it "woke." It's relevant to adolescence.

Amazing how we got through school back in the 80s and 90s without any units on “identity.”

We also weren't vaccinated against meningitis, varicella, and HPV. We've advanced since the 80s and 90s.

We also didn't all ride in car seats until we were safe in a seat belt, and many of us rode in a lap belt only. We've learned since then.

Many of grew up getting spanked and harshly punished. We've learned the error of our ways.

Many of grew up being told that depression and anxiety were signs of weakness. Thankfully we've learned that isn't isn't case.

Isn't it INCREDIBLE how we can be better educators, parents, and providers now? Let's do better than what we had.

We are certainly trying very hard at all of these improvements but the proof is in the pudding. Kids these days are anxious, unsocialized, distracted messes.

What can we expect when kids are constantly bombarded with messages that deconstruct their world as they knew it and that are very confusing and depressing:

You are born in the wrong body.
Your parents don’t know anything.
Your parents are haters and racist.
It’s Ok to lie and hide things from your parents.
Men are toxic and abusers.
Women are oppressed and victims.
Climate change is ending the world anytime now.
Whites are oppressors.
Non-whites will ALWYAS be victims.
You ought to be ashamed of being American.
You’ll be shot to death at school.
You are not overreacting: The problems of the world are overwhelming, so it’s normal to feel depressed.
God is not real.

“Constantly?” I’d be really interested in seeing this list annotated with actual examples. None of those things “bombard” the students whose lives and curricula I’m familiar with. Although they are generally aware that school shootings occur, that America is far from perfect, that citizens in many other countries have resources that most Americans lack, and that the vestiges of legal,racial segregation are still very much with us.

Who taught them that nonsense? SMH

Multiple sources. They’ve travelled, they have friends who’ve lived in other countries, and they have conversations with adults who have lived, worked, and attended schools in other countries. Start with healthcare; low cost or free early childhood education; low cost or free university. All of these are resources that citizens in many other have that most Americans lack. Many kids are well aware of this. They also know that they have resources that some kids in other countries may lack. It’s a big, diverse, complex world, and the students that I know well recognize that their lives are both constrained and nurtured based on the priorities of adults / taxpayers / politicians / administrators around them.

- No annotated list, I see. Actual examples too much for you?

Have they traveled to Cuba, Venezuela, Nicaragua, Bolivia, and Argentina? These countries have socialized health care and education systems. If not able to travel within the region, a short trip to Sanctuary cities in the US will give them a realistic insight of how these all subsidized (socialized) systems work for the citizens of those countries who have just crossed the border into the US.

Go back to school and learn the difference between an authoritarian government with a socialist economy and a democratic government with a socialist economy. See what the real problem is then, simpleton.

Aside from Cuba, the other countries mentioned (Nicaragua, Venezuela, Bolivia, and Argentina) are democracies which have been destroyed by the corruption and greed of authoritarian socialists who enriched themselves at the expense of others. They accused the US of Imperialism and kicked most American initiatives out of those countries, yet they moved to sell their economies to China and Russia. Decades later, they still acuse the US of their failures. Go figure!

Unfortunately, people with your same beliefs support these authoritarian governments. Apparently, you also would like to see them replicated in the US.

Who supports AUTHORITARIAN governments? Everything you are saying is so false and strawman-y I can't keep up.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Holy Cow OP! Let's hide modern texts from kids and have them only read the stuff that was written 100 years ago. That'll really resonate with modern teenagers.

To Kill a Mockingbird is the story of a WHITE SAVIOR. How about reading some books with black characters who are the HEROS? The Hate U Give is fantastic for middle school kids.

It's time for parents to modernize. Kids are different. Schools are different. Teaching is different. Just because you did school a certain way 30+ years ago doesn't mean school is the same, or should be the same, as it was then. Nobody is trying to brainwash your kid. They are trying to turn your kid into a THINKER!

Great post!

“The Hate U Give” has been characterized as “pervasively vulgar.” Why should FCPS subject students to such profanity? The School Board would shut down any speaker in a hot minute for using the type of language that it insists on imposing on tweens. Disgusting.

Who has characterized it this way, and please share examples.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Holy Cow OP! Let's hide modern texts from kids and have them only read the stuff that was written 100 years ago. That'll really resonate with modern teenagers.

To Kill a Mockingbird is the story of a WHITE SAVIOR. How about reading some books with black characters who are the HEROS? The Hate U Give is fantastic for middle school kids.

It's time for parents to modernize. Kids are different. Schools are different. Teaching is different. Just because you did school a certain way 30+ years ago doesn't mean school is the same, or should be the same, as it was then. Nobody is trying to brainwash your kid. They are trying to turn your kid into a THINKER!

The protagonist of The Hate U Give,Starr, thinks that her dad follows the Black Panther’s Ten Point Program more than the Ten Commandments, and he also agrees with the Nation of Islam on certain points. He has his children memorize the Ten Points of the Black Panther movement. - Angie Thomas.

Not everyone in FCPS does relate to the Black Panther’s philosophy, nor the Nation of Islam as sources of strength our kids need to get inspiration from. There are other black people in current American history we would like them to learn from. Many of them are introduced in the Uncle Tom documentaries.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Holy Cow OP! Let's hide modern texts from kids and have them only read the stuff that was written 100 years ago. That'll really resonate with modern teenagers.

To Kill a Mockingbird is the story of a WHITE SAVIOR. How about reading some books with black characters who are the HEROS? The Hate U Give is fantastic for middle school kids.

It's time for parents to modernize. Kids are different. Schools are different. Teaching is different. Just because you did school a certain way 30+ years ago doesn't mean school is the same, or should be the same, as it was then. Nobody is trying to brainwash your kid. They are trying to turn your kid into a THINKER!

Great post!

“The Hate U Give” has been characterized as “pervasively vulgar.” Why should FCPS subject students to such profanity? The School Board would shut down any speaker in a hot minute for using the type of language that it insists on imposing on tweens. Disgusting.

Who has characterized it this way, and please share examples.

Posters on this forum would either get a time-out from the moderator for using the language that appears in this book (or the posts would be caught in a filter and not posted).

[Anonymous]

7th grade? Really?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Holy Cow OP! Let's hide modern texts from kids and have them only read the stuff that was written 100 years ago. That'll really resonate with modern teenagers.

To Kill a Mockingbird is the story of a WHITE SAVIOR. How about reading some books with black characters who are the HEROS? The Hate U Give is fantastic for middle school kids.

It's time for parents to modernize. Kids are different. Schools are different. Teaching is different. Just because you did school a certain way 30+ years ago doesn't mean school is the same, or should be the same, as it was then. Nobody is trying to brainwash your kid. They are trying to turn your kid into a THINKER!

Great post!

“The Hate U Give” has been characterized as “pervasively vulgar.” Why should FCPS subject students to such profanity? The School Board would shut down any speaker in a hot minute for using the type of language that it insists on imposing on tweens. Disgusting.

Who has characterized it this way, and please share examples.

Posters on this forum would either get a time-out from the moderator for using the language that appears in this book (or the posts would be caught in a filter and not posted).

The language in Huckleberry Finn and To Kill a Mockingbird would get caught by the filter here. That's a dumb argument.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Holy Cow OP! Let's hide modern texts from kids and have them only read the stuff that was written 100 years ago. That'll really resonate with modern teenagers.

To Kill a Mockingbird is the story of a WHITE SAVIOR. How about reading some books with black characters who are the HEROS? The Hate U Give is fantastic for middle school kids.

It's time for parents to modernize. Kids are different. Schools are different. Teaching is different. Just because you did school a certain way 30+ years ago doesn't mean school is the same, or should be the same, as it was then. Nobody is trying to brainwash your kid. They are trying to turn your kid into a THINKER!

Great post!

“The Hate U Give” has been characterized as “pervasively vulgar.” Why should FCPS subject students to such profanity? The School Board would shut down any speaker in a hot minute for using the type of language that it insists on imposing on tweens. Disgusting.

Who has characterized it this way, and please share examples.

Posters on this forum would either get a time-out from the moderator for using the language that appears in this book (or the posts would be caught in a filter and not posted).

Such drama over the eff word and inability to contextualize when words are appropriate and not. Ad supported space--no---because of google ad restrictions. Not because the moderator has a Victorian idea of what hearing a bad word can do to our tender ears.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Holy Cow OP! Let's hide modern texts from kids and have them only read the stuff that was written 100 years ago. That'll really resonate with modern teenagers.

To Kill a Mockingbird is the story of a WHITE SAVIOR. How about reading some books with black characters who are the HEROS? The Hate U Give is fantastic for middle school kids.

It's time for parents to modernize. Kids are different. Schools are different. Teaching is different. Just because you did school a certain way 30+ years ago doesn't mean school is the same, or should be the same, as it was then. Nobody is trying to brainwash your kid. They are trying to turn your kid into a THINKER!

Great post!

“The Hate U Give” has been characterized as “pervasively vulgar.” Why should FCPS subject students to such profanity? The School Board would shut down any speaker in a hot minute for using the type of language that it insists on imposing on tweens. Disgusting.

Who has characterized it this way, and please share examples.

Posters on this forum would either get a time-out from the moderator for using the language that appears in this book (or the posts would be caught in a filter and not posted).

The language in Huckleberry Finn and To Kill a Mockingbird would get caught by the filter here. That's a dumb argument.

Thank you--exactly.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Holy Cow OP! Let's hide modern texts from kids and have them only read the stuff that was written 100 years ago. That'll really resonate with modern teenagers.

To Kill a Mockingbird is the story of a WHITE SAVIOR. How about reading some books with black characters who are the HEROS? The Hate U Give is fantastic for middle school kids.

It's time for parents to modernize. Kids are different. Schools are different. Teaching is different. Just because you did school a certain way 30+ years ago doesn't mean school is the same, or should be the same, as it was then. Nobody is trying to brainwash your kid. They are trying to turn your kid into a THINKER!

Great post!

“The Hate U Give” has been characterized as “pervasively vulgar.” Why should FCPS subject students to such profanity? The School Board would shut down any speaker in a hot minute for using the type of language that it insists on imposing on tweens. Disgusting.

Who has characterized it this way, and please share examples.

Posters on this forum would either get a time-out from the moderator for using the language that appears in this book (or the posts would be caught in a filter and not posted).

Such drama over the eff word and inability to contextualize when words are appropriate and not. Ad supported space--no---because of google ad restrictions. Not because the moderator has a Victorian idea of what hearing a bad word can do to our tender ears.

Nope. You can substitute letters to get past the filter but your inappropriate post will still get reported by the community and deleted.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Holy Cow OP! Let's hide modern texts from kids and have them only read the stuff that was written 100 years ago. That'll really resonate with modern teenagers.

To Kill a Mockingbird is the story of a WHITE SAVIOR. How about reading some books with black characters who are the HEROS? The Hate U Give is fantastic for middle school kids.

It's time for parents to modernize. Kids are different. Schools are different. Teaching is different. Just because you did school a certain way 30+ years ago doesn't mean school is the same, or should be the same, as it was then. Nobody is trying to brainwash your kid. They are trying to turn your kid into a THINKER!

Great post!

“The Hate U Give” has been characterized as “pervasively vulgar.” Why should FCPS subject students to such profanity? The School Board would shut down any speaker in a hot minute for using the type of language that it insists on imposing on tweens. Disgusting.

Who has characterized it this way, and please share examples.

Posters on this forum would either get a time-out from the moderator for using the language that appears in this book (or the posts would be caught in a filter and not posted).

Such drama over the eff word and inability to contextualize when words are appropriate and not. Ad supported space--no---because of google ad restrictions. Not because the moderator has a Victorian idea of what hearing a bad word can do to our tender ears.

I think the community would be well served by getting rid of school employees and School Board members who make excuses for subjecting kids who aren’t even in high school to a constant stream of obscenities in classroom materials.

[Anonymous]

40 books and you are complaining about 5? I don't get it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:40 books and you are complaining about 5? I don't get it.

35 seems ample.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My kid just started 7th grade at Cooper and he's not in AAP. The book list from his English class contains about 40 books. I looked at the books and was shocked to see that none of the books are classics. There's no Tom Sawyer, To Kill a Mocking Bird, Great Expectation or Oliver Twist, which in my mind, are great books for this age, even though the language might be different. (I'm a 50-yr old immigrant who speaks English as a second language, for background)

The first 5 books are:
1. A good kind of trouble, by Lisa Moor Ramee, keyword when I searched county library catalog suggests BLM;
2. All American Boys by Brenan Kiely and Jason Reynolds, library catalog keyword racism;
3. Amal Unbound by Aisha Saeed, keyword Pakistan/family
4. Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe by Benjamin Alire Saenz, keyword homosexuality
5. Blended by Sharon M. Draper, keyword black father white mother

While I personally hold nothing against the topics above, when did English class become a brain washing course with hidden agenda? Why can't the kids simply learn the beauty of the English language, and be inspired by the great minds, even from a complete different time? Or am I living in such a sheltered life that the topics are prevailing way of life now? Shouldn't all the current events be part of civics class?

I don't know if the list is specific to his class or to Cooper, but my question to the wise readers here--what should I do? Tell my kids not to read these books which means going against the school? Or ask for an alternate list?

Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe by Benjamin Alire Saenz
https://www.npr.org/2013/02/20/172495550/discovering-sexuality-through-teen-lit

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kid just started 7th grade at Cooper and he's not in AAP. The book list from his English class contains about 40 books. I looked at the books and was shocked to see that none of the books are classics. There's no Tom Sawyer, To Kill a Mocking Bird, Great Expectation or Oliver Twist, which in my mind, are great books for this age, even though the language might be different. (I'm a 50-yr old immigrant who speaks English as a second language, for background)

The first 5 books are:
1. A good kind of trouble, by Lisa Moor Ramee, keyword when I searched county library catalog suggests BLM;
2. All American Boys by Brenan Kiely and Jason Reynolds, library catalog keyword racism;
3. Amal Unbound by Aisha Saeed, keyword Pakistan/family
4. Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe by Benjamin Alire Saenz, keyword homosexuality
5. Blended by Sharon M. Draper, keyword black father white mother

While I personally hold nothing against the topics above, when did English class become a brain washing course with hidden agenda? Why can't the kids simply learn the beauty of the English language, and be inspired by the great minds, even from a complete different time? Or am I living in such a sheltered life that the topics are prevailing way of life now? Shouldn't all the current events be part of civics class?

I don't know if the list is specific to his class or to Cooper, but my question to the wise readers here--what should I do? Tell my kids not to read these books which means going against the school? Or ask for an alternate list?

Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe by Benjamin Alire Saenz
https://www.npr.org/2013/02/20/172495550/discovering-sexuality-through-teen-lit

Omg. Not ok.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

While I personally hold nothing against the topics above, when did English class become a brain washing course with hidden agenda? Why can't the kids simply learn the beauty of the English language, and be inspired by the great minds, even from a complete different time? Or am I living in such a sheltered life that the topics are prevailing way of life now? Shouldn't all the current events be part of civics class?

I don't know if the list is specific to his class or to Cooper, but my question to the wise readers here--what should I do? Tell my kids not to read these books which means going against the school? Or ask for an alternate list?

- It hasn’t. Have you read all of the books? ANY of the books? It sounds like you’re really running wild with your assumptions. So I’d suggest that you read at least a few of the books and see if they offer ways for kids to learn the beauty of the English language, and to be inspired by great minds.

I think it’s bizarre for you to ask for an alternate list — when you apparently haven’t read any of the books. What would you ask for? Books written by dead white people? Books that only reference “current events” from at least 60 or more years ago — and prohibiting any class discussion that relates in any way to more recent current events? I’d be curious to learn how those conversations go.

English class indeed became a brain washing course with hidden agenda. In Cooper's 7th grade English syllabus, a list of concepts of study starts with "Identity", ends with "Change". For parents who want their kids to learn English, go find some other resources for your children. Besides classics, you may introduce the books such as Animal Farm, 1984, Please Stop Helping Us, Discrimination and Disparities, Irreversible Damage to your children.

Those are the units that are outlined by the county, not by Cooper. If the word "identity" bothers you, there are huge issues in your life. Identity is a huge concept for adolescents who are trying to determine who they are and how they fit into their communities. Are they athletic? Artistic? A combination of the two? Are they quiet and introspective? Risk-takers? Conservative in their approach to new things? Are they leaders? Team players? Religious? Community-service-driven? Scouts? Musicians? Readers? Humorous? Dramatic? Son's? Daughters? Siblings?

The identity unit is not political, nor is it "woke." It's relevant to adolescence.

Amazing how we got through school back in the 80s and 90s without any units on “identity.”

We also weren't vaccinated against meningitis, varicella, and HPV. We've advanced since the 80s and 90s.

We also didn't all ride in car seats until we were safe in a seat belt, and many of us rode in a lap belt only. We've learned since then.

Many of grew up getting spanked and harshly punished. We've learned the error of our ways.

Many of grew up being told that depression and anxiety were signs of weakness. Thankfully we've learned that isn't isn't case.

Isn't it INCREDIBLE how we can be better educators, parents, and providers now? Let's do better than what we had.

We are certainly trying very hard at all of these improvements but the proof is in the pudding. Kids these days are anxious, unsocialized, distracted messes.

What can we expect when kids are constantly bombarded with messages that deconstruct their world as they knew it and that are very confusing and depressing:

You are born in the wrong body.
Your parents don’t know anything.
Your parents are haters and racist.
It’s Ok to lie and hide things from your parents.
Men are toxic and abusers.
Women are oppressed and victims.
Climate change is ending the world anytime now.
Whites are oppressors.
Non-whites will ALWYAS be victims.
You ought to be ashamed of being American.
You’ll be shot to death at school.
You are not overreacting: The problems of the world are overwhelming, so it’s normal to feel depressed.
God is not real.

“Constantly?” I’d be really interested in seeing this list annotated with actual examples. None of those things “bombard” the students whose lives and curricula I’m familiar with. Although they are generally aware that school shootings occur, that America is far from perfect, that citizens in many other countries have resources that most Americans lack, and that the vestiges of legal,racial segregation are still very much with us.

Who taught them that nonsense? SMH

Multiple sources. They’ve travelled, they have friends who’ve lived in other countries, and they have conversations with adults who have lived, worked, and attended schools in other countries. Start with healthcare; low cost or free early childhood education; low cost or free university. All of these are resources that citizens in many other have that most Americans lack. Many kids are well aware of this. They also know that they have resources that some kids in other countries may lack. It’s a big, diverse, complex world, and the students that I know well recognize that their lives are both constrained and nurtured based on the priorities of adults / taxpayers / politicians / administrators around them.

- No annotated list, I see. Actual examples too much for you?

Have they traveled to Cuba, Venezuela, Nicaragua, Bolivia, and Argentina? These countries have socialized health care and education systems. If not able to travel within the region, a short trip to Sanctuary cities in the US will give them a realistic insight of how these all subsidized (socialized) systems work for the citizens of those countries who have just crossed the border into the US.

Go back to school and learn the difference between an authoritarian government with a socialist economy and a democratic government with a socialist economy. See what the real problem is then, simpleton.

Aside from Cuba, the other countries mentioned (Nicaragua, Venezuela, Bolivia, and Argentina) are democracies which have been destroyed by the corruption and greed of authoritarian socialists who enriched themselves at the expense of others. They accused the US of Imperialism and kicked most American initiatives out of those countries, yet they moved to sell their economies to China and Russia. Decades later, they still acuse the US of their failures. Go figure!

Unfortunately, people with your same beliefs support these authoritarian governments. Apparently, you also would like to see them replicated in the US.

Who supports AUTHORITARIAN governments? Everything you are saying is so false and strawman-y I can't keep up.

People who express themselves like you do. You will find them glorifying people like the Che Guevara, when in actuality the ideology behind the legend differs so much from reality. I hope students are taught to discern the difference:

https://humanprogress.org/the-truth-about-che-guevara-racist-homophobe-and-mass-murderer/