Just got disturbing email regarding English class for my rising freshman

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Just laughing because I went to a private school that even had weekly chapel and we read The French Lieutenant's Woman, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, The Crucible, When Heaven and Earth Changed Places, and so on. Because our school was primarily concerned with prepping us for college. How do you expect your kid to pass classes in college if they've never encountered uncomfortable subject matter before?

When they get to college, they will protest and force the administration to make sure they don't encounter any uncomfortable subject matter.

No need to protest, that's work was done a generation ago. I don't agree with the whole essay, but the gist seems to have been correct in 2015 and moreso today

https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2015/09/the-coddling-of-the-american-mind/399356/

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Note that certain lawmakers are why opt out legislation exists. If you use it or appreciate its existence, see who voted for it and make sure they hear how helpful it was to you.

+1
Before the form, I very naively went along with trusting that the professional educators had the best interests of my child in mind and could be relied upon to discern inappropriate classroom content for teens.
The policy requirement allowed me to realize that we are very very far from being on the same page about this. So I’ll now be more aware and can make my own informed decisions.
It was difficult for me to believe that anyone thought this book was a good idea for classroom instruction, but this thread illustrates that there definitely are—whether they’ve read it themselves or not. And that’s good to know.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Wait til ya’ll read the fun parts of the Bible 😂 ten bucks says all the Christian pearl clutchers kids know ALL those passages.

Weird that you assume the people who object to assigning 14-year-olds to collectively read descriptive passages about masturbation in class are Christian Pearl clutchers instead of parents who—as children—may have experienced similar grooming behaviors of adults (l sharing of sexual content in order to normalize) and are traumatized by that, and therefor don’t want their daughter thinking that having a read-aloud or discussion of graphic sexual passages with their 45-year-old male teacher is normal.
Nope, we aren’t all Pearl clutchers or Christian.
Just maybe had a bit more real life experience with this topic than you.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I remember my friend and I sneaking into the library’s Young Adult fiction to read Judy Blume’s “Forever” when I was in the sixth grade. This was after I had asked the children’s librarian why it wasn’t there and she said it was for older girls and not me. Made me go read it faster.

By freshman year, we had read many more books in that section.

Did not make me go out and have sex early. In fact, I was a late bloomer on that front.

My friends and I passed a paperback copy of this around in 6th grade! I remember sitting on the grass behind the school during recess, every one of us confused about what "came" meant, lol. We had no clue.

I read it in the library so I didn't have to check it out. I still remember what the male protagonist did with the aftershave. Ewww!
It was a pretty awkward and vulgar book in a lot of ways. I never warmed to any Judy Blume kid books. They all seemed to be about awkward people - that didn't make me feel informed or better prepared.

Here is why this is a different argument from book banning:
No one is asking the REMOVE The Poet X (or Forever) from the library.
They are saying “why ASSIGN a book that requires notification of explicit content as THE book that is being used by the entire class in a teacher-led unit as part of the curriculum?”
No one is trying to prevent YOUR kid (or mine if they are curious) from reading it and giggling in a corner and passing it around so that their friends can read the titillating graphic scenes and gawk as PP described.
What is being objected to is grownups pushing the book onto kids as part of the instructional classroom curriculum.
It’s not unreasonable to suggest there are a lot of books out there (without explicit sexual content and profanity on nearly every page and offensive slander of a major religion) that can accomplish the academic objectives of the poetry unit for a freshman English class.
And yes, it’s won many awards.
So assign it to seniors, who are mature enough to handle it. Teach it in an intro to English that every college freshman takes-fine.
But high school freshman are 14-15. I question the eagerness to choose this book. The kids are uncomfortable and if there are teachers who are enthusiastically sharing this content, that tells me to be cautious. Maybe as cautious as parents should be/have been around the Langley coach.

[Anonymous]

It is insane to me that you all believe you can/should censor the content your high schoolers are exposed to. Get a life.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I remember my friend and I sneaking into the library’s Young Adult fiction to read Judy Blume’s “Forever” when I was in the sixth grade. This was after I had asked the children’s librarian why it wasn’t there and she said it was for older girls and not me. Made me go read it faster.

By freshman year, we had read many more books in that section.

Did not make me go out and have sex early. In fact, I was a late bloomer on that front.

My friends and I passed a paperback copy of this around in 6th grade! I remember sitting on the grass behind the school during recess, every one of us confused about what "came" meant, lol. We had no clue.

Well if they had assigned it in class—your adult male English teacher could have explained it to you in detail or you could have gone—line by line—taking turns to share your interpretations of the meaning before he explained it. Or maybe you would have been quizzed on how you think the character was feeling in that moment. Or maybe you would be asked to share a similar experience in a small group discussion. These are normal classroom literary discussion options that I think would feel very uncomfortable for both the students and the teacher when explicit material is the theme.
And since the letter did not detail how this explicit content would be addressed/discussed/reviewed in the context of the classroom (are they reading passages aloud? Writing comparative essays centered around these topics? Reading these passages silently and then discussing in mixed-gender small groups? With or without guidance of an adult?), we decided to opt out of the in-class intro.
My kid is welcome to read it on her own though, and come to me with questions.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It is insane to me that you all believe you can/should censor the content your high schoolers are exposed to. Get a life.

Exposed to?
Or required to see and discuss at the direction of an adult?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It is insane to me that you all believe you can/should censor the content your high schoolers are exposed to. Get a life.

Exposed to?
Or required to see and discuss at the direction of an adult?

+1
It’s insane to me that the PP above you would think this is normal.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I remember my friend and I sneaking into the library’s Young Adult fiction to read Judy Blume’s “Forever” when I was in the sixth grade. This was after I had asked the children’s librarian why it wasn’t there and she said it was for older girls and not me. Made me go read it faster.

By freshman year, we had read many more books in that section.

Did not make me go out and have sex early. In fact, I was a late bloomer on that front.

My friends and I passed a paperback copy of this around in 6th grade! I remember sitting on the grass behind the school during recess, every one of us confused about what "came" meant, lol. We had no clue.

I read it in the library so I didn't have to check it out. I still remember what the male protagonist did with the aftershave. Ewww!
It was a pretty awkward and vulgar book in a lot of ways. I never warmed to any Judy Blume kid books. They all seemed to be about awkward people - that didn't make me feel informed or better prepared.

Here is why this is a different argument from book banning:
No one is asking the REMOVE The Poet X (or Forever) from the library.
They are saying “why ASSIGN a book that requires notification of explicit content as THE book that is being used by the entire class in a teacher-led unit as part of the curriculum?”
No one is trying to prevent YOUR kid (or mine if they are curious) from reading it and giggling in a corner and passing it around so that their friends can read the titillating graphic scenes and gawk as PP described.
What is being objected to is grownups pushing the book onto kids as part of the instructional classroom curriculum.
It’s not unreasonable to suggest there are a lot of books out there (without explicit sexual content and profanity on nearly every page and offensive slander of a major religion) that can accomplish the academic objectives of the poetry unit for a freshman English class.
And yes, it’s won many awards.
So assign it to seniors, who are mature enough to handle it. Teach it in an intro to English that every college freshman takes-fine.
But high school freshman are 14-15. I question the eagerness to choose this book. The kids are uncomfortable and if there are teachers who are enthusiastically sharing this content, that tells me to be cautious. Maybe as cautious as parents should be/have been around the Langley coach.

Virginia is conservatives are a few years behind conservatives elsewhere. The first step is parental opt out. The next step is allowing parents to challenge books at the school board level. After that come the statewide bans

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I might ask for an alternate book just to avoid reading a novel in verse, which my kid hates as much as I do.

I'm very left wing, but I'm actually a little disappointed that the schools are trending so hard away from reading the classics. I feel like kids will have lots of opportunities to read the controversial new lit-crit darling books. But when will they read The Grapes of Wrath, or The Crucible, Slaughterhouse Five, or Long Day's Journey Into Night, or anything by Hemingway or Wharton? (Seems like some of the classics, like Ray Bradbury, George Orwell and Toni Morrison continue to be popular among schools.) I subscribe to the "Make New Friends, But Keep the Old" theory of literature -- I feel like we are tossing out all the old friends. It would be easier to mix in the new ones if kids read 6 novels a year, but it seems like a lot of classes really only have 2-3, plus maybe some poems or short stories.

As a person of color, I get very little out of reading the "classics."

This is a good and important take.
I am all for a mix of classics and contemporary. But surely there are non-sexually-explicit options that are relatable representations of Latina culture apart from this one book, right? If this were the only book chosen to introduce my culture (or religion) to other students in my school who are not of my same culture or religion, I’d be pretty irritated.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It is insane to me that you all believe you can/should censor the content your high schoolers are exposed to. Get a life.

Exposed to?
Or required to see and discuss at the direction of an adult?

Do you not think having a discussion on content is better than just stumbling upon it on their own?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It is insane to me that you all believe you can/should censor the content your high schoolers are exposed to. Get a life.

Exposed to?
Or required to see and discuss at the direction of an adult?

+1
It’s insane to me that the PP above you would think this is normal.

These are not the things that are focused on during the classroom discussion. Ask any of your children. If it was even discussed, it was for a moment.

[Anonymous]

I remember feeling nervous and icky having to read Bible passages about 'carnal knowledge' out loud at Sunday School.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yeah this is the equivalent of prop 65 warnings for hazardous substances that appear on everything in California. Thanks Youngkin!

Worst moronic governor in Virginia’s history

Yeah because giving a heads up to parents about what their kids might be assigned to read is sooo dumb. But then people like you complain when parents are disconnected. Which is it?

It is dumb. Schools are in charge of educating our children, not parents. Parents should stay in their lane and leave education to the professionals. If left to their own devices, parents would indoctrinate their children in weird fantasies and superstitions like some zombie from 2,000 years ago died for their sins and is their savior.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yeah this is the equivalent of prop 65 warnings for hazardous substances that appear on everything in California. Thanks Youngkin!

Worst moronic governor in Virginia’s history

Yeah because giving a heads up to parents about what their kids might be assigned to read is sooo dumb. But then people like you complain when parents are disconnected. Which is it?

It is dumb. Schools are in charge of educating our children, not parents. Parents should stay in their lane and leave education to the professionals. If left to their own devices, parents would indoctrinate their children in weird fantasies and superstitions like some zombie from 2,000 years ago died for their sins and is their savior.

Education is stem, leaning to read and write business memos, slacks and emails.