catapult magazine

One more thought pertaining to your comment from your first posting….at what point do we pull books for one student or from the library shelves?
For one student?….not if you’re already in it…see my other posting for compromise in this matter. For consideration to be pulled for next year?…definitely considerable if there is a replacement of equal worth and if it won’t compromise requirements or set a precedence. Sometimes it pays to lose a battle for strategy’s sake…send this set of parents off happy and prevent an all out public jumping on the bandwagon. Wisdom my dear!
Now a library…that’s another matter altogether. It is a rare, rare book that I would ever want pulled from a library shelf. Are there some I might choose to never put on our Reformed Christian library shelves? yes. Do I practice wisdom in book selection guidance and purchasing? I try to…prevention sometimes applies here, especially at the elementary library. I discuss openly with the elementary students about books they ask about us not having on the shelves and why…I try to teach respect for different points of view and why I choose to not purchase some popular titles. I also point out that with their parents permission they can visit a public library where the selection may include these books for checkout.

Sorry it has taken me so long to respong, Norbert. It has been busy and I have had a small amount of time for one or two liners here or there…yet, this requires much more than a pat answer. Thank you very much, Kirstin, for taking my idea about throwing the scriptures themselves at the parents. That is what I get for taking my time to think about this whilst watching an animated bear stroll around chased by humans too sophisticated to be present with wooly mammoths according to current anthropological standards. Another post for another day…

This seems to be more about allowing this child (whilst being a junior in HS she is still a child) to experience passion and life outside of the tiny box the parents know and are comfortable with. They have values that they hold dear, but most likely don’t entirely know why. They were brought up this way. Now I say most likely because there are the occasional folk who actually know what the hell they are talking about and still have those views…as long as they have made an informed personal decision I’ve got no beef.

I guess my struggle is over the banning of any book. I remember when Kirstin’s uncle was going through a struggle in his kids Christian school (he was on the board) over the Harry Potter books. Parents were labeling them “of the devil” and were worried their kids were going to learn paganism and witchcraft from little Harry and his rugrat friends. I remember him asking me what I thought of the books and my immediate response was to ask him whether or not he had read any of the books. His answer was no. I told him to go borrow a copy from the library and read it and then we would talk.

Now Harry Potter has no business along side of Cedars…but same dif. Have the parents really read the book and made contact with the plot and the characters, or have they merely skimmed it for the dirty parts and procured a campaign off of the hearsay of others? Can they sit down with you and have a meaningful conversation over the story and the personalities and delve into the passion of what is being uttered in the passages of the book? If so, then listen to them and try to find what they are getting at…chances are, though, that the can’t and they don’t really know what the dickens they are talking about.

Thanks Jabird,
but…
As far as I know they still haven’t read the book and made connections with the theme and characters. I too don’t have much of a problem with them feeling uncomfortable with their daughter reading it. I don’t like that their challenge to the validity and appropriateness of the book is based on incompetence and extends to the entire school community. If they don’t know what they’re talking about, how do I/we defend our books and art and music? Far too many people (me included I’m sure) make uninformed decisions that effect too many others all for the sake of what is right.
Moralism and artistic merit are too often at odds with eachother.

I agree that there doesn’t seem to be an easy middle ground in situations like this. I think Alice had some wonderful ideas about how to deal with these types of situations.

I do have a problem with the tactic of throwing scripture in their faces, particularly the passage from Ezekiel. Doing so is such a cheap shot! Quoting scripture out of context to Christians is exactly what the most facetious atheists do. That passage, in context, is about repentance (and ultimately redemption only through the one true God.) The ultimate in “literary merit.” The description of their sinfulness is timeless and relevant.

Christians throwing scripture around at each other in an unconstructive fashion is immature and won’t get you anywhere in this discussion with those parents. It will just make them defensive, and rightfully so.

Though taking things out of context is exactly what these parents are doing. I guess I see it as more of a dose of their own medicine than a cheapshot. As Christians, we all understand the peril of taking Bible passages out of context to serve their purposes. As an English teacher and lover of good literature I see the same problem when people do this with other books.

Oh. Is that what radical Christianity is all about? Giving people doses of their own medicine? Then I’ve been misinterpreting what we’re really asking God to do when we pray “forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us.”

All I’m suggesting is that you take the high road on this one.

You know as well as I do Annie, that there’s a difference between forgiveness and pointing out potential errors in judgement. Christians are not supposed to look the other way when they see short-sighted brothers making a mistake (even if I may be too far-sighted).
I’ll take it under advisement though.

I feel like I am back in High Scool watching Footloose. Kevin Bacon awkwardly reading passages out of the Bible to a “Christian Bible thumping preacher”. Immature, probably so, but whatever it takes to get them to dance.

It’s your duty as a Christian to point out errors in judgment when it comes to decisions that lead to sin, not what you think is a bad decision. It is also your duty to point these errors out in a loving, prayerful manner. These parents are not guilty of a sin – only guilty of being overprotective and being obtuse when it comes to literature. I also don’t think a loving and prayerful manner is the prevailing spirit here, but rather the desire to be right.

If one wants to deal with these parents Christian-to-Christian, why not suggest that they read the book with their daughter and talk about it with her? They are allowed their distaste for the book, but they can use it as a teaching tool, enabling her to come back to the classroom and participate in discussion with a different perspective that could allow her to act as the salt and the light in a secular place?

Since it’s a small town, I’d recommend making a personal visit to their home to hear them out and find a compromise. Show love and understanding. You don’t have to agree with them, but you don’t have to make them feel stupid, either.

p.s. If the parents are originally from that town, ask if they had to read “Catcher in the Rye.” That was more controversial in its day and I know for a fact that high school English students there read the book in the 1970s. That might put things in perspective for them, too.

Thanks for the catcher in the rye comment. I forgot your dad graduated from this school.
I do think that we have been very patient and accomodating with the parents. We have invited them to read the book. We have invited them to join a discussion on the book, its contents and its appropriateness in a high school classroom and library. My distaste for their attitude is not founded on a desire to be right, though I do like to be right. It’s founded on a displeasure that they are attacking my department’s responsibility as English teachers to choose and teach literature.
Teaching discernment is the biggest reason for teaching literature. I understand that discernment must be taught by the parents, but I’m not sure they see that teachers (whether in a public or private school) also teach it. To me, it shows a lack of trust in the teacher, the department and the school. Therefor I feel frustrated. The Bible verse mentioned gets at the discernment thing. We talk about Rahab in Sunday school but don’t emphasize the part about her being a whore. We emphasize her participation in God’s plan for the Israelites—her goodness and faithfulness. In the same way we want an opportunity to speak to Snow Falling on Cedars to teach not bigotry and sex positions, but to teach the fallibility of gov’t, social opinions and the power of love, trust and the truth (no matter how cheesy that may sound).