HOUSTON - Alton Verm filed a "Request for Reconsideration of Instructional Materials" Thursday with the district regarding "Fahrenheit 451," written by Ray Bradbury and published in 1953. He wants the district to remove the book from the curriculum.
"It's just all kinds of filth," said Alton Verm, adding that he had not read "Fahrenheit 451."
He looked through the book and found the following things wrong with the book: discussion of being drunk, smoking cigarettes, violence, "dirty talk," references to the Bible and using God's name in vain. He said the book's material goes against their religions beliefs. The Verms go to Grand Parkway Church in Porter.
Alton Verm is the father of a fifteen year old who was given the classic anti-censorship book to read in class.
Alton Verm's request to ban "Fahrenheit 451" came during the 25th annual Banned Books Week. He and Hines said the request to ban "Fahrenheit 451," a book about book burning, during Banned Books Weeks is a coincidence.
The book has been used for at least 19 years in the district, and parents are given the option of having a different book assigned to their children. That, of course, is not good enough for Mr. Verm, who wants the book removed from the curriculum entirely. And just to prove the point about how dangerous thinking is, Diana Verm, the 15-year old in question, had this to say:
"The book had a bunch of very bad language in it. It shouldn't be in there because it's offending people. ... If they can't find a book that uses clean words, they shouldn't have a book at all."
They shouldn't have a book at all. Indeed.
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5 comments:
Shit. My ironyometer just broke.
How, err, ironic!
That you (Doc) blogged on this before me (a certified librarian) pisses me off (j/k). In my years as a school librarian I have had more staff members ask me to remove books than parents or community members. EVERY time this has happened, I have found that the book/item in question has NOT been read by the staff member AND that they have motivated by their RELIGIOUS beliefs...
Is Grand Parkway Church really the Texas Taliban?
RR, that's almost always true. People who are willing to read things that they might disagree with are less likely to try to ban them. The rest are just scared.
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