Well, the committee has made its decision, and I don't think it's one that either Norman or Dobson will like. Barnard seems to have forgotten his "whacko" comments made a month ago. Does anyone actually think the school board is going to accept the committee's findings?
The committee made a smart decision. As long as parents are notified and an alternative assignment can be offered, no one should object to this novel being taught at the high school level.
A Student's Perspective
Selfish Fuss
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3 comments:
David Barnard. Now there's an opinion worth printing. I thought Arrick Gordon had better sense.
And Ms. Norman demanding excerps from books to be provided to the parents "because they are too busy" to read the material themselves. Well, consider the source.
There are two board members who actually read The Kite Runner. Obviously, there is absolutely no place in the News Herald for an INFORMED opinion.
The Five Slamma Jamma and Ms. Dobson are just mouthpieces for John and Carol Snow anyway. Everyone knows Barnard owns the empty house across the street from the Snows on Collett Street. Tracy used to work for Carol. Such odd coincidences!
I posted this comment on the skool bored blog earlier, and I am posting the same connets here with some additions responding to this blog.
These are my opinions regarding all this:
1) The Newless Harald's headline boldly pronounced that the "DA" labeled the book "pornographic." Well, he didn't. He said, and the Newsless H. printed this too, that parts of the book could be considered "pornographic."
2) Pornographic is defined as: NOUN: 1. sexually explicit pictures, writing, or other material whose primary purpose is to cause sexual arousal. Source: The American Heritage Dictionary.
3) If someone is going to make an opinion on literature, the opinion MUST BE BASED on the whole context of the material, not just a small part. There are many, many books that could be tossed out because certain selections, when read out of context, can be considered inflammatory, crude, insultive, sexually explicit, and profane. I know of one book where two characters run around a garden naked; this book references neighbors by informing that, thou shalt not "...covet his ass...;" and lust & murder are written about throughout the book: should this book be tossed?
4) As far as Mrs. Norman's argument that BCPS cannot enforce the no profanity rule when teachers have students read material with profanity in it, what an ignorant argument. Mrs. Norman obviously doesn't understand education - especially reading/language arts education.
The real issue is TEACHING: I'll use profane language as an example. Yes, there are school rules regarding profanity. Yes, there are societal rules regarding profanity. And yes, believe it or not, in many families there are rules against using profanity at home; however, if the teacher discusses the context, examines why the characters say what they do, discuss why the author selected certain words for the character to use; discuss with students that even though profane words are used in a selection, those same words should not be used at school or at McDonalds because... the students will get a larger understanding of the material, people, and what is considered right and wrong in the school setting in regards to profane language.
- Can you find an objective on the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction's Standard Course of Study regarding when is it appropriate to curse? NO.
-Do teachers teach issues regarding cursing and profanity to give students context and to support LAs/reading objectives? Yes.
- Is teaching students that certain people/characters can and do use profane language; that the same language isn't appropriate in school or McDonald’s because..., considered the "unwritten curriculum?" Absolutely!
This is all done to: teach different points of view, author's craft, study of language, word knowledge, context, reasons for character's actions, historical and cultural setting, and many, many other components of reading/language arts. And yes, these are all NCDPI objectives. LOOK HERE: http://www.dpi.state.nc.us/curriculum/languagearts/scos/2004/29english3
5) As far as sending letters home to parents with passages out of the book, it's not that parents don't have time with busy schedules to read a book to discover if it is appropriate or not, they are too lazy to read the book. Go to a PTA meeting when parents start blabbing all kinds of junk, talking out of ignorance, and saying they didn't know certain things. They would have valid points if it were not for the fact that the stuff they squak about has been printed over and over agiain in the newlsetters the schools send out WEEKLY. I doubt those parents would actually take the time to put down their cigarette, turn off the HDTV, turn off the cell phone, and take interest in their children as they read a letter asking for permission to read TKR.
6) There are only a few parents who actually take time to sign their student's stuff. My children tell me all the time about who gets in trouble because their parents didn't sign their agendas, progress notes, or letters home. Spelling it out for those parents as Mrs. Norman would like isn't going to help anything. Like a popular comedian likes to say: "you can't cure stupid!"
7) Teaching, instructing, disciplining, planning, and all the other 1 million and one things that must be done in the classroom should be left to the experts: the teachers who hold bachelors, masters, specialists, and doctorate degrees in education AND who are licensed by the State of North Carolina to teach in North Carolina schools.
8) Teaching, instructing, disciplining, planning, and all the other 1 million and one things that must be done in the classroom should not be done by education board members who are largely un-educated (in the field of education), un-proven, un-learned, and un-experienced. Yes, there are a couple of exceptions, like Mr. Wilkenson; however, how many of the other board memebrs have extensive EDUCATION backgrounds?
9) BCBOE: stay out of the classrooms, libraries, and schools. Stick with issues like: deciding if EBHS gets their lights, who will be Draughn's new principal, if board meetings should be held at 6:30 instead of 6:00, and if all the yellow gum balls should be removed from the central office gum ball machine because they clash with the purple gum balls. Your time is much better spent doing those things instead of stirring up and causing all kinds of drama, causing uncounted amount of teachers and administrators spending uncounted amounts of time going on and on about 1 book. Shouldn’t they be teaching and then going home instead of being out of class or staying late trying to appease a small minority of parents and board members?
10) Lastly, regarding Mrs. Norman’s track record of: lack of trust in our school system - her children were/are being home-schooled, lack of experience in education, and the amount of legal trouble her son is in, SHE DEFINATELY DOES NOT KNOW WHAT'S BEST FOR MY CHILDREN IN BURKE COUNTY SCHOOLS! She shouldn’t even think for a minute that her values are the same as mine, that she knows what's best for my children in the school, or that she is qualified, wanted, or is needed to be the spokesman between my family and Burke County Schools. My children know that if they see certain board members at George Hildebran or EBM, they are to run screaming into the night.
That is my opinion
Great comment! Too bad the Buff-Norman supporters won't be able to comprehend it. Too sensible.
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