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Over the years, revered authors, scholars, educators and the cast of Footloose have tried to get people to stop banning books. The beat goes on.
Concerned parents spoke out strongly against The Chocolate War at a local school council meeting this week. The book, which is required reading for 7th graders at John H. Kinzie School on the Southwest Side, has been called into question by parents ever since its debut in the mid-70s due to explicit language, violence and sexual content (masturbation).
It’s not the book’s sensational content that keeps drawing teachers and administrators but its themes. Robert Cormier wrote a book about individualism in the face of conformity from a young adult’s perspective, and that’s what many argue makes it fitting for 7th graders dealing with peer pressure, the awkwardness of puberty and, yes, sometimes masturbation.
Kinzie principal Sean Egan is sticking with the book, and wrote a letter to parents addressing their grievances, and explaining the reasons why The Chocolate War will still be required reading for 7th graders in the district.
Image via teenreads.com.
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I, for one, never jerked off in the seventh through 12th grades. I am shocked, SHOCKED!
I loved that book! I don't remember the "jerking off part", but I do remember the poster in the dudes Locker that read "Do I Dare Disturb the Universe". I'm shocked, this certainly isn't a book that would be on the Daleyite approved list read by Daley fans
It always seems like the books that schools or PTAs or school districts have problems with involve masturbation. forget about violence or racism or sex or drug use, it's always the masturbation.
how naive do these parents think (or pretend) their kids are? that subject matter is appropriate for 7th graders
Individualism in the face of conformity ... guest will keep that in mind as Chicagoist tries to force him into joining their club.
i always get a kick out of when PTAs try to ban Fahrenheit 451.
I have to give it to Kinzie. Every day I feel like I'm disappointed (at best in some cases) by the news coming out about our education system and the people who run it. However, I think he's handled this really well by not ignoring the issue but standing by his teachers and considering the best interests of his students. Great to have some good news today!
I always roll my eyes at parents trying to ban books in school. What the Hell? How about letting the kid read something, and then, I don't know, TALKING TO THEM ABOUT IT?!?!
So, if Joseph and Mary had "actually" had sex, would the Bible be banned?
I remember reading a book in fifth grade, not sure which one it was, in which a boy around 13 or 14 is at summer camp and the kids are passing around a pornographic novel, which causes him to have a wet dream. This was assigned reading, and a good two years before I really knew what those parts were even about.
I seem to have survived the trauma with no ill effects.