It takes a lot to shock me, it really does, but this one was a doosey.  I was reading an article from The Courier Journal in Louisville Kentucky that talked about how a school pulled a book when the students were more than half thru reading it.  It wasn’t until the last oh say 30 pages of the book when the parents decided to intervene on their seniors education and complain about Toni Morrison’s “Beloved”.  Granted, there are a few harsh words, which you would expect from Morrison, and it is about “antebellum slavery depicted bestiality, racism and sex”.

The school in Louisville has never had a policy on censorship and banning certain books.  The school board has to create a policy because they had more than two parental complaints about the book and its vulgarity.  Here is an interesting quote from the principal of the school and what he has to say about the complaints and the book.

However, of “Beloved,” Sexton said he believes “some of the language and some of the points made, from this principal’s perspective, are hard to have in high school.”

Sexton said that in 18 years, he’s only had four complaints like the ones about “Beloved” — and one of them was about a different Morrison novel.

Yes, some books are going to be a little rough for a high school class, but we as readers have to know that this is actually a college level class.  This is a senior AP English class, one that is supposed to prepare the 150 students in the class, for college.  Unfortunately, the book they resorted to, in place of “Beloved” was “The Scarlet Letter”.  This is a book that is read in freshman and sophomore English classes.  I don’t see how this is supposed to prepare AP students for the test they will be taking to get college credit.

“At one point, it’s talking about a plantation. And there’s no females. So the men resort to bestiality,” Leo Comerlato said, adding that he didn’t object because “we’re in a college-level class.”

But the novel is “quite appropriate for Advanced Placement high school students,” said Pat Scales, a former member of the library association’s Intellectual Freedom committee, who criticized Sexton’s move.

“The book is extremely important. The best literature may make us squirm a little bit … but it makes kids think more. And that’s what we want,” she said.

It is one thing to stop students from reading a book that is coming up in the future.  Even if it has only been challenged 4 times in 18 years, but there is no point to stop the students from reading a book when they have 30 pages left.  The challenge is causing some problems in the school because now they have to create a policy just in case parents complain again.  The principal even said that they may teach it again, but they just can’t teach it now.  I’m sorry, but I just don’t see the point at all.

Novel yanked from class
Handful of parents objected to content

By Chris Kenning
ckenning@courier-journal.com
The Courier-Journal

Full Article

I will admit it and I don’t really care that I am 22 and read Harry Potter avidly and with pleasure.  I am glad that there are people in this world that will stand by the weirdos and protest that Harry Potter brings people to books and it helps kids have an exciting imagination.  One college in Maine wrote an article on how ‘Potter’ fans take pride in reading books and reading young adult books even if some aren’t young adults anymore.

This is an interesting article that focuses on why Universities are so hard pressed to not think of J.K. Rowling as a literary artist.  And yet there will always be those professors that think that those who read Harry Potter are juvenile and don’t have any literary sense. 

Because scholars believe Harry Potter has no literary depth, Harry Potter followers, who are deemed more juvenile and less apt to be taken seriously, are academically excommunicated, unjustly. We’re forced to practice our praise in relative secrecy, away from the ears of the literary canon.

Unfortunately there are those that think that Harry Potter is stupid and that people above the age of 12 shouldn’t read those books at all.  I beg to differ.  I read those books because they are interesting and it is fun to think that there could be witches and wizards in the world and we wouldn’t know anything about it.  It is fun to imagine a world of magic and mystery, I kind of wish that I went to Hogwarts with Ron, Harry and Hermione.  If I can imagine such a fun, interesting world, then all the children reading these books can imagine something more in depth and exciting.

This article also talks about how some Universities around the country have incorperated Harry Potter classes into their curriculua.  The classes are examining how the books are connected to The French Connection.  Another class also offered examines the scientific possibilities of Rowlings books.

 ”The Science of Harry Potter,” taught in Frostburg State University in western Maryland since 2003, investigates the scientific possibilities of Rowling’s novels. Most notably, the somewhat eccentric professor in his early 60s actually goes to every lecture dressed as none other than Albus Dumbledore.

Some may still think that I am a little weird for reading Harry Potter at the age of 22.  But it has made me want to read all the more, including all the Lord of the Rings books and the Aragon series.  Hopefully people will see that the Harry Potter books are an outlet for outcasted kids to read something interesting and fun. 

‘Potter’ fans take pride in wizards, robes and literature

Book announcement inspires round of debate on literary value

Thomas St. Pierre

Issue date: 3/1/07

Full Article

I have decided to take a critically pediological approach to education in Michigan right now.  Although this isn’t exactly about my topic, I think this is a little more interesting considering the state of Michigan’s educational and political state right now.  I have decided that I am going to write a letter to Gov. Jennifer Granholm and explain to her my concerns about education and some things that she could do to make it better.  I would like the class’s opinion on whether I should send it or not.  I will if that is the consensus.

Dear Governor Granholm,

My name is Nicole Cherney.  I am a student at Grand Valley State University in Allendale.  At the moment I am studying to become a high school English teacher, and I have a couple of concerns.  Hopefully by the time I graduate in about a year, these issues will be addressed and my fellow students and I will be able to get jobs without having to travel out of state.

First, as of right now, if I were to graduate in June, I would not be able to find a job anywhere in Michigan because of the state of our education program.  The state of all the schools is unacceptable and I can’t believe someone elected to have Michigan’s best interests at hand would let them get this bad.  In one of my classes we were shown a clip of Bill Gates talking about the state of high schools across America and he had some interesting points on how they can change.  All we need is someone there to back up his thoughts and to implement them in schools across Michigan.

Today only one-third of our students graduate from high school ready for college, work and citizenship. 

The other two-thirds, most of them low income and minority students, are tracked into courses that won’t ever get them ready for college or prepare them for a family-wage job – no matter how well the students learn or the teachers teach.

Those numbers are pretty low and I know that West Michigan is having a hard time keeping their students from dropping out, considering how the Grand Rapids Public School District is trying to keep their numbers up, but is failing.  For example, because of buget cuts the Gateway Charter School has to close it’s doors because of lack of funding, leaving their students to struggle in public schools. 

The school’s enrollment stood at 128 last month, but this year’s $1.4 million budget was built on a projection of 164 students. The ideal number for funding — a state formula based on student attendance during two count days — and maintaining small class sizes and diverse programming was between 180 and 200.

Because of lack of funding and lack of student enrollment, a school that helps those students in need is going to shut down and those students are either going to end up on the streets because they won’t make it in public school or they will go to GRPS and fail because they aren’t getting the attention that they need and deserve.

There are many things wrong with Michigan today, one being education, but may you should take the advice and help Bill Gates and find a way to make Michigan schools up to par with good teachers and students that aren’t being ignored because the teachers aren’t getting their bonus checks.  There has to be a way to make sure that all the students are being prepared for college and the real world, and that just isn’t happening in Michigan right now.  Hopefully this is something that can be fixed by the time that I become a teacher because I intend to help everyone of my students get good grades and get into the college they deserve with the money they need.

Thank you,

A former high school student and future high school teacher

Nicole Cherney

I am curious at what everyone thinks about this post because I am very passionate about how Michigan schools are treating their teachers and students right now.  Please comment if their is anything you would like me to add, or if you think I should actually send this to the Governor.

Gateway charter school to close

 

Wednesday, February 14, 2007By Nate Reens

Full Article

Bill Gates National Governors Association/Achieve Summit

February 26th, 2005