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"We are talking about teaching ethics to our kids, and it starts out with the dad and the son talking about when the dad lost his virginity. It wasn’t explicit
by trs8080 5y ago
"We are talking about teaching ethics to our kids, and it starts out with the dad and the son talking about when the dad lost his virginity. It wasn’t explicit but it was in there. You see the naked pictures, you see the razor, the blade where the mom is cutting herself. You see her laying in a pool of her own blood. You have all this stuff in here, again, reading this to myself it was a decent book until the end. I thought the end was stupid to be honest with you. A lot of the cussing had to do with the son cussing out the father, so I don’t really know how that teaches our kids any kind of ethical stuff. It’s just the opposite, instead of treating his father with some kind of respect, he treated his father like he was the victim." [1]
You can tell that these people are so very close to actually understanding how literature can challenge you and force you to grapple with complex ideas and to introspect and reflect, and yet... they just miss it.
[1] https://core-docs.s3.amazonaws.com/documents/asset/uploaded_file/1818370/Called_Meeting_Minutes_1-10-22.pdf https://core-docs.s3.amazonaws.com/documents/asset/uploaded_...
- zionic 5y agoUpon further inspection I agree with the quoted parent. This novel is not appropriate for middle schoolers, and hiding that fact behind a veneer of “you’re trying to suppress information about the Holocaust” is shameful.
- falcolas 5y agoBecause middle schoolers don't have to deal with sexuality or suicide or arguments with parents? We did some 40 years ago when I was in middle school, has this really changed? Or are we just burying our heads in the sand and saying that the internet and such doesn't exist?
- happytoexplain 5y agoI read Maus in middle school. It gave me an excellent first awareness on difficult topics. It fascinated me and probably gave me a head start on social thinking. Even if I was an outlier, I can't fathom how it could do so much damage to some children that is worthy of robbing other children of its value.
- trs8080 5y agoDoes that mean you also rally against video games and movies that depict violence? Would watching a documentary about the Holocaust also be a bridge too far? Keep in mind this is the curriculum for eighth-graders. > hiding that fact behind a veneer of “you’re trying to suppress information about the Holocaust” is shameful. I think the veneer goes the other way. That is, the parents are banning something that illustrates an important and painful part of real human history under the pretext that it contains bad language and difficult themes. Well yeah, that's the point.
- allturtles 5y agoWow, these are some of the prudiest prudes that I've ever seen. One of them is concerned about the vulgarity of this poem: "I’m just wild about Harry, and Harry’s wild about me \ The heavenly blisses of his kisses, fill me with ecstasy \ He’s sweet just like chocolate candy \ Just like honey from the bee \ Oh I am just wild about Harry, and he’s just wild about me"