After a group of Idaho parents succeeded in getting a novel pulled from a school’s 10th grade curriculum, they called the cops on students who organized to give away copies of the banned book. Earlier this month, parents convinced Idaho’s Meridian school district to ban Sherman Alexie’s National Book Award-winning Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian over the objections of 350 students who signed a petition to keep it. According to the local paper, the Statesman, adults argued at a meeting that the book contains offensive words “we do not speak in our home,” while others objected to a “reference to masturbation,” and called the book “anti-Christian.”
I don’t know what it is about good, God-fearing Conservative White Christians and willful ignorance of the real world, but Idaho gives Texas a run for their money when it comes to fear- and ignorance-based hyper-religiosity.
Because it’s nestled up against Oregon and Washington in the Pacific Northwest, Idaho tends to be (not unjustifiably) overlooked. Known primarily for being a home to wilderness and White supremacists (the Christian Identity called Idaho home) over the years, Idaho isn’t renowned for being a hotbed of reason and open-mindedness. Nor is it known for being open to diversity and tolerance. Being gay in Idaho is not a recipe for acceptance and understanding, and being African-American or Hispanic in Idaho means being a minority in the truest sense of the word. When it comes to edumication, if it isn’t in the Bible, at lot folks don’t believe it’s something their children should be learning.
The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian is a National Book Award winner for a reason. In addition to being a brilliantly written examination of the issues and difficulties of growing up on a Native American reservation, many of its themes are universal to being a teenage boy. I’ve read the book, and I’m here to tell you it’s excellent and well worth a read. Sure, for those who’d prefer their children to grow up in Pleasantville without exposure to the outside world and its attendant unpleasant realities, it’s a bit rough around the edges…but so is growing up.
The fact that parents would call the police on children distributing copies of The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian is an example of children being well out in front of adults. The children involved in the protest understand something the adults in Meridian clearly don’t: books and ideas aren’t the enemy. Ignorance and reaction are.
“The book is widely taught in high schools across the country because of its appeal to reluctant readers. The novel addresses vital issues such as the struggles of young adulthood, the search for personal identity, bullying and poverty. It is ultimately an uplifting story of triumph by a boy with few advantages,” runs the letter, also signed by Alexie’s publisher, Little, Brown Books for Young Readers.
There’s nothing in The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian that could be considered inappropriate. As for the masturbation reference, my suggestion for parents is simple: get over yourselves. Masturbation is a normal aspect of human sexuality. When parents choose to admit to it or not, teenage boys masturbate. You can either address to ensure your child knows he’s not doing anything wrong…or you can perpetuate the shame and misinformation teenagers are too often fed instead of sex education. You may believe masturbation to be one of the filthy words “we do not speak in our home,” but all you’re doing is passing your ignorance and shame onto your progeny. Boys come to believe that masturbation- indeed ANY expression of sexuality- is dirty and nasty because they’re taught to believe it is. I’m not saying parents need to hold circle jerks in their back yard, but is it really necessary to teach children that sex is dirty and nasty? Are you afraid your children will grow up to enjoy something that really is pretty awesome?
“The book is widely taught in high schools across the country because of its appeal to reluctant readers. The novel addresses vital issues such as the struggles of young adulthood, the search for personal identity, bullying and poverty. It is ultimately an uplifting story of triumph by a boy with few advantages,” runs the letter, also signed by Alexie’s publisher, Little, Brown Books for Young Readers.
Removing the novel “because some object to, or disapprove of, its content violates basic constitutional principles”, they say, and under the First Amendment, “school officials have much wider discretion to include material that has pedagogical value than to exclude it”.
“Students have the right to read affecting, engaging and valuable works and teachers have the right include them in their curriculum,” said NCAC executive director Joan Bertin. “Public education should not be subject to the personal views and preferences of individuals, nor should access to a high-quality education be obstructed by government officials.”
While I’d agree that parents should be aware of what their children are being taught in public schools, they shouldn’t be allowed veto power over the curriculum. If they want to raise their children in a bubble, they always have the option of sending them to a private Christian school or home-schooling them.
What those who’d ban The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian are really doing is working to limit the ability of their children to think critically and exercise their imagination and curiosity. It’s difficult to raise reflexively obedient children when you teach them to wonder, explore, and ask questions. When children begin to think for themselves, they might just decided to reject their values of their parents and set out in search of their own. Some parents live in fear of that possibility…because what if Junior grows up to be (GASP!!!) a godless Liberal??
Alexie said that “book banners want to control debate and limit the imagination. I encourage debate and celebrate imagination”.
Debate. Imagination. Critical thinking. Exploration. These are things that education should encourage children to do, things children should be learning in public schools as a matter of course. The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian is a story imbued with only the power a reader (or their parents) confer upon it. It’s a story about someone who grew up without the advantages many White students take or granted, and how he rose above those difficulties to create a life and identity of his own. These are things that children should be aware of. They should be taught about the experiences of others. They should know that not everyone grows up in a hermetically-sealed, uber-Jesus-y bubble. They should understand that their experiences and their feelings are a normal part of growing up, and that there’s nothing wrong with them.
Unless your idea of parenting is to shame your child into unquestioning, lockstep obedience so they’ll grow up and pass those same fears and prejudices on to their children.
