Just got disturbing email regarding English class for my rising freshman

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I mean, wouldn't any work of classic literature that references sexual activity get this warning? E.g. To Kill a Mockingbird, The Sound and the Fury, Lolita, and lots more.

You wish - The don't read the classics that reinforce the patriarchy. They read new books about gay sex and how minorities are targets. We're in a very sad and depressing time in history.

WTF? You’d rather go back to oppression and no voices aside from white men?

No, I'd rather go back to reading the best stories and novels ever written by anyone throughout history. I could care less about who wrote it nor who that person has sex with. It just doesn't matter. I don't judge my neighbors by their skin or their sexual preferences, and I don't judge authors by it either.

You do realize that the canon (the "classics") as you're defining it was entirely based on who wrote it. So you can say you're only wanting to read the best books, but you're using a criteria that explicitly selects only for white male authors. There is a wealth of literature that is beautiful and edifying that you will never encounter if you only read "the classics." Or do you actually think nothing worthwhile has ever been written outside western Europe/US?

Emily Bronte? Jane Austen? One of Maya Angelou's 7 autobiographies? (yes ladies, she really has 7)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I mean, wouldn't any work of classic literature that references sexual activity get this warning? E.g. To Kill a Mockingbird, The Sound and the Fury, Lolita, and lots more.

You wish - The don't read the classics that reinforce the patriarchy. They read new books about gay sex and how minorities are targets. We're in a very sad and depressing time in history.

WTF? You’d rather go back to oppression and no voices aside from white men?

No, I'd rather go back to reading the best stories and novels ever written by anyone throughout history. I could care less about who wrote it nor who that person has sex with. It just doesn't matter. I don't judge my neighbors by their skin or their sexual preferences, and I don't judge authors by it either.

You do realize that the canon (the "classics") as you're defining it was entirely based on who wrote it. So you can say you're only wanting to read the best books, but you're using a criteria that explicitly selects only for white male authors. There is a wealth of literature that is beautiful and edifying that you will never encounter if you only read "the classics." Or do you actually think nothing worthwhile has ever been written outside western Europe/US?

Emily Bronte? Jane Austen? One of Maya Angelou's 7 autobiographies? (yes ladies, she really has 7)

Austen and Bronte are very late adds to the canon (think within the last 40-50 years) and Angelou wouldn't be considered a "classic" because she is too modern.

I'm not arguing we shouldnt read them - we should - I'm just pointing out that calling for reading "the classics" *almost* exclusively means white men. Unless you don't actually mean "the classics" and just mean things you already read/know

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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.

Exactly this.
I understand the point is to teach them to write and analyze the text but why not do it using tried and true classics.
Besides I don’t see a single thing my “not Hispanic or Latino” make child can relate to in this book. Yes they already learned about consent in Health. The rest like fighting isn’t relatable luckily.

I mean my half Latina/half white girl doesn’t have any personal experiences with gangs and street fighting. But she still appreciate The Outsiders.

It’s LATINX.

Do better. Stop being so offensive and prejudiced.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OMG OP, it's not like they're going to be reading The Happy Hooker in class.

No, but they could be assigned the graphic novel Gender Queer in FCPS.

Why don’t you post the c0ck / d1ldo-sucking illustration from Gender Queer here to DCUM, and see what happens?

I mean, since that image / material is approved for our children in FCPS, by FCPS, why wouldn’t it be OK here on a parents forum, right?

It’s in the middle school libraries; why not post that image here? I mean, seriously?

Let people decide for themselves.