This is an area of special interest to me, as I am a professional educator and a librarian. My experience with book banning parents, "concerned citizens," and administrators is not nearly as vast as other American Library Association members I know, but I have dealt with a few. None has EVER read the books that they wish to ban "for the sake of the kids." In fact, they tend to revel in their ignorance, relying instead on the counsel of those with agendas ranging from right-wingnut or religiously repressive to misguidedly politically correct. I felt compelled to write an open letter/email to Ms. Pinney - the contents of said letter are below...
Ms. Pinney,
In the interest of full disclosure, I want you to know that I do not live in your high school district. However, I am an educator, a librarian and a taxpayer in this state, and in those capacities, I take intense offense at your insistence in calling for the all-out ban of books recognized by critics, educators, librarians, and historians as works of literature and timeless reflections on themes very dear to thoughtful people everywhere. I suppose that had your call been based on some critical analysis of the content or the literary merits of the selections I might have been interested in hearing your arguments. Instead, as I do often find in these cases, you hide behind pointing out the odd offensive word and then trot out the tired old chestnut, "I haven't read it, but I know it's no good for our children" apologia.
At this point, under normal circumstances, I'd write a long and detailed defense of each of the works that you want to burn symbolically for the "sake of the children." However, I know that I'd be practicing mere mental masturbation, as you can judge a book without reading it, or by reading only a single page, paragraph, sentence, or WORD out of context. I am VERY glad that you have gone public, because you have exposed yourself for what you are: a sad and self-important, frustrated, self-loathing middle-aged woman who saw the opportunity to throw around her considerable weight. The good news is that the student body and parents have told you in OVERWHELMING numbers that you're wrong and that they won't be bullied by a shrill harpy. The better news is that you've made yourself UNELECTABLE in 2009. The best news is that you're only a couple of years away from being able to play "nazi" only in your own home.
::::::BLOGGER'S UPDATE::::::
According to the Chicago Tribune, the high school curriculum in Chicago's northwest suburbs will continue to be a safe haven for the subversive, pornographic, and/or graphically objectional books of such second-rate hacks as Kurt Vonnegut and Toni Morrison. The vote was a nail-biting 6-1... I wonder whether or not the good taxpayers in District 214 can recall their resident fascist before the 2009 school board elections...
of you have sat, and perhaps thought, with us!
4 comments:
When I saw her on the news last night, I was reminded of a character in "Planes, Trains, and Automobiles." Remember the lady behind the car rental counter who was talking to her friend when Steve Martin was trying to rent a car? She ignored him for several minutes, chatting about inane shit with her friend, and even doing the "pig snort" laugh?
Dye that character blonde, and you've got this fascist gasbag to a tee. She even has the same mannerisms...she described "Slaughterhouse Five" as "a bit 'ewwwww' ", complete with her nose all scrunched up.
If I didn't know better I'd have thought it was an SNL parody.
It's one thing when parents want to keep their own kids ignorant, but quite another when someone wants to keep other peoples' kids ignorant. I hope she gets hit by a bus.
Schmidlap, I rarely ever wish for something bad to happen to another human being, but here I'll make an exception: I hope that Kurt Vonnegut gets the opportunity to utter, "So it goes" in reference to "Pig's Snout" Pinney...
I have absolutely no problem with any of these books. I think this woman is despicable and if people want to raise ignorant kids it's surely none of my business to prevent them from doing so. It's a free country.
However, have you considered the fact that forcing the kids of parents who object to these books to read them is every bit as thuggish as Leslie Pinney's actions?
And herein lies the problem of one-size-fits-all public schools.
Anonymous.... First of all, thanks for posting, and please don't be a stranger!!
I have considered your point, and more important to the discussion, so have the schools in District 214. All of these schools have an "opt out" policy which allows students to read an alternative text if a student or parent finds a specific text objectionable. The chairperson of the English department at one of the high schools in the district pointed out that their policy includes a NO QUESTIONS ASKED provision!! Now, Pinney wants to FORCE parents to sign STATEMENTS allowing their children to read the "filth and perversion" that she says is being taught as literature.
Basically, this is a case of a christo-fascist trying to foist her narrow and twisted world-view on everybody else. Remember, among zealots, there is NO ROOM for an opposing viewpoint. "If you are not for me, you are against me."
As for your apparent disdain of a one-size-fits-all public education, it may a topic for another discussion, but I'd be DELIGHTED if we actually did have that kind of a public education system. The truth is that we don't, as the funding for education in this state penalizes the poorest districts TWICE -- once in per-pupil funding at the local level, and a SECOND time, as districts with fewer resources must somehow do what affluent ditricts do or be subjected to LOSING the crumbs of federal assistance through No Child Left Behind.
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