My karma ran over your dogma.

Where suspicion fills the air and holds scholars in line for fear of their jobs, there can be no exercise of the free intellect. . . . A problem can no longer be pursued with impunity to its edges. Fear stalks the classroom. The teacher is no longer a stimulant to adventurous thinking; she becomes instead a pipe line for safe and sound information. A deadening dogma takes the place of free inquiry. Instruction tends to become sterile; pursuit of knowledge is discouraged; discussion often leaves off where it should begin.

Justice William O. Douglas,United States Supreme Court:Adler v. Board of Education, 1951.

Hey Tracy, Did you know . . .

In 1987, a school system in Alaska banned the American Heritage Dictionary. Apparently, they thought their kids might learn some "bad words." Maybe you should find out who those people were and move to their town. I'll bake you a going-away cake.


***Note: Before someone accuses me of making a Barnard-like comment, Alaska is a beautiful state populated by many wonderful people. Unfortunately, like everywhere else in this great nation, they too have their Buffs, Barnards, and Normans.

Pornography, Witchcraft, and Other Issues

I am terrible saddened by some of the letters that I saw in today's News Herald. That anyone would write in support of banning a book that he/she admittedly has not read is astounding. Each person should educate himself/herself before making a statement. If you think the book is inappropriate, you're entitle to your opinion. But if you haven't even read the book, you have no business make comments that might affect others.


About filth/Playboy/pornography: According to the Oxford University Press and Brittannica Concise Encyclopedia, pornography is anthing that is meant to cause sexual arousal. If you have read The Kite Runner, you know that the disputed passage is no no way intended to arouse. If it does give you a thrill, then there's something wrong with you.

About the Harry Potter series: I can remember my mom reading a story to me when I was little, and I'm sure that folks who think Harry is a bad influence would want it banned. It had magic in it. It had a witch in it. It even included a character who was supposed to cut out another character's heart. Yep, folks. I'm sure many of you would be shocked if you knew that your five year-olds were reading such non-Christian filth. Why don't you get up a petition? I'm sure you'll find lots of people who will support you in banning the story my mom read to me when they realize that it's probably in every school in the county. Yes sirree, that "Snow White" might turn me into a Satan worshipper.

Click here to see the NCTE/NCAC letter

Here's some reading material for Barnard, Norman, and Buff.

Everything I Ever Needed to Know I Learned From the School Board????

Everything I Ever Needed to Know I learned From the School Board . . .

• My ABC’s—no, wait! That was from my mom.
• How to read—Oh, that was a teacher.
• How to do algebra—nah, another teacher
• Compassion—That was from a five year-old who was patted my hand while I cried.
• How to drive a stick shift—Nope, that was my daddy.
• How to tell time—my pre-school teacher.
• How to spell my name—My mommy, again.
• You can’t believe everything that you hear—That lesson came from my grandfather.
• The corner biscuit is always the best one—Gee, that was my uncle.
• You should always tell the truth—my parents.
• Not to take my freedoms for granted—my civics teacher.
• That sometimes the right thing isn’t the easy thing—Grandma taught me that one and how to bake a cake from scratch!
• Persistence—Wile E. Coyote
• Snakes aren’t slimy!—a difficult lesson from my big brother.
• That you should always share—My kindergarten teacher.
• That some kids didn’t have the advantages that I had—Mrs. B. in first grade.
• That Jesus loves the little children—My first Sunday school teacher
• You can’t get pregnant by just kissing—Some little fourth grader told me that one.
• All the “bad” words—I probably learned them from the previously mentioned fourth grader.
• Where babies come from—I picked that one up from a classmate too.
• If you swallow an orange seed a tree won’t grow in your belly—Big Bird and the rest of the Sesame Street gang.
• Squirrels like peanut butter—My uncle T.
  
  Gee Whiz! I guess I haven’t learned as much from the school board as I thought. Oh, wait! I have one:
  The rules don’t apply to the people in charge—That’s what the school board has taught me.

Dr. Hosseini's Page

If you would like more information on The Kite Runner, you should visit the above link to Dr. Hosseini's pages. Once there, you will find a link to his blog. You may want to comment and let him/his publishers know of the recent controversies. Your comment will not show up on the blog immediately, as it would on this one.

Another shocking book found in schools!

My child came home the other day and told me the most shocking things. She said she had been reading a book that several other students at her school are also reading. In fact, she said that she was sure there was a copy of it in her school library and many teachers had copies of it on their classroom shelves. I asked her what was so scandalous about this book. The following list contains many of the topics that she found discussed in the book:
· Sex/Lust
· Prostitution
· Adultery
· Lying
· Stealing
· Murder
· Witchcraft
· Demons
· People worshipping non-Christian gods
· Violence
· Words such as bastard and damn
· Animal sacrifice
· Fathers trying to kill their own children
· People being stoned to death
· People being left to be devoured by vicious animals
· People being beaten and tortured
· Polygamy
· Homosexuality
· Sodomy

I couldn’t believe what I was hearing! How could all those serious subjects fit into one literary work? Who would think that reading it would be appropriate for my sixteen year-old? I asked her to let me see the book. I just knew that if I had a copy of it and bookmarked certain pages, I could email it to Ms. Norman, Mr. Buff, and Mr. Barnard. Surely they would see all this “obscenity” and do their best to keep it out of our schools! Then, when my daughter handed me the book, I realized that she had been reading the Bible.

Yes, ladies and gentlemen, I realize that the scenario above was trite and predictable. However, it does illustrate a point. For centuries, mankind has realized that in order to raise our children to be moral and just, we must arm them with the necessary knowledge. Sometimes that knowledge isn’t pretty. It won’t always come wrapped in pretty ribbons and tasting sugary sweet. There are times when it is necessary to taste the vile bitterness in order to understand and grow. The fact that a book is upsetting, has a little violence, or has a few words that you wouldn’t say yourself, doesn’t mean that it has no educational value. You should remember that Ms. Norman the next time you sit in Sunday School.

Bad Influences

For those of you who are worried that our children might be harmed by reading, think about this quote from former NY mayor James Walker:

"I never knew a girl who was ruined by a book."

With all the issues our teens are facing (drug abuse, pregnancy, physical abuse, etc.), why are some people upset that our children are actually reading? When a teacher finds a resource that makes students excited about learning, why would you want to take that away?

Censorship and Obscenity

The following paragraphs are taken from the American Library Association page about intellectual freedom. Using the Supreme Court's own guidelines, I don't see how anyone can find
The Kite Runner pornography and/or obscene.



What Are The Most Frequently Censored Materials?
Throughout history, books have been challenged for many reasons, including political content, sexual expression, or language offensive to some people’s racial, cultural, or ethnic background, gender or sexuality, or political or religious beliefs. Materials considered heretical, blasphemous, seditious, obscene or inappropriate for children have often been censored.
Since the dawn of recorded human expression, people have been burned at the stake, forced to drink poison, crucified, ostracized and vilified for what they wrote and believed.

Aren’t There Some Kinds Of Expression That Really Should Be Censored?
The United States Supreme Court has ruled that there are certain narrow categories of speech that are not protected by the First Amendment: obscenity, child pornography, defamation, and “fighting words,” or speech that incites immediate and imminent lawless action. The government is also allowed to enforce secrecy of some information when it is considered essential to national security, like troop movements in time of war, classified information about defense, etc.

What Is Obscenity?
Sexual expression is a frequent target of censorship. But the Supreme Court has told us that material is not obscene unless a judge or jury finds that an average person, applying contemporary community standards, would find that the material appeals to the prurient (or morbid, shameful, and unhealthy) interest in sex (note that, by its definition, the Court implicitly recognized that there is such a thing as a healthy interest in sex!); that it depicts or describes certain sexual acts defined in state law in a patently offensive way; and that a reasonable person (community standards do not control this last element) would find that the material lacks serious literary, artistic, political or scientific value. All three elements must be present for material to be judged by a judge or jury as obscene and, therefore, illegal.

Some Commonly Banned Books

• Bible
• Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
• The Lorax by Dr. Seuss
• Bridge to Teribithia
• Goosebumps (series)
• The Pigman
• The Outsiders
• Where's Waldo

First Post

I am greatly concerned by the events of the past few weeks. As many of you who know me know, two members of the Burke County Public Schools Board of Education are trying to ban The Kite Runner without following proper challenge procedures. Also, it is quite obvious that the members have neither truly read nor thought about this book. They see it as dangerous and morally corrupting. It is neither. I am encouraging any and all people to let these board members know that you are disgusted by their closeminded efforts to deny our children a proper education.

School board members' addresses can be found at www.burke.k12.nc.us.

Also, check out skoolbored.blogspot.com to learn more about the atrocities being enforced upon Burke County's children, parents, teachers, and communities.