At Highland Park High School, parents must now give permission for their child to read the classics. Teachers recently sent home permission slips for The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain, The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne and A Farewell to Arms by Ernest Hemingway for 11th-grade Advanced Placement English students, who elect to take the college-level course…. “Please bear in mind that some literary selections possess mature content that some individuals may find objectionable,” the form says. The permission slips are part of the response to an intense debate among parents over whether certain books are too mature for teens.
I get it; it’s tough to create an army of blindly obedient Christian soldiers if Texas parents allow public schools to teach their children to think for themselves. Besides, why do kids need literature? Aren’t books just a lot of pages with words all over them? And why do they need books when they have the Bible?
As a writer, I feel as if I should be able to find words that adequately express my dismay and anger at the shortsightedness and narrow-mindedness inherent in this sort of censorship. Are we to limit what children read to books that have positive, uplifting themes- rainbows, sunshine, puppies, kittens, Jesus? When do we expose our children to literature that allows them to expand their minds as they examine the world they’re preparing to go out into? Since when are ideas the enemy?
Yes, some of the books contain “mature” themes…but guess what? LIFE contains mature themes. What better way to expose children to topics they’ll encounter in an adult world than through literature in a classroom setting where those mature themes can be discussed? If parents refuse to allow their progeny to be exposed to ideas they find “objectionable,” how do they plan to prepare them for the world they’ll encounter once they leave home? Do you plan on shielding them from the unpleasant aspects of life because you’re too embarrassed? Or you really do want to exercise absolute control of what your children learn in order that we create a generation of brainwashed zealots like Jessica Duggar?
Over the past few months, parents and community members have been embroiled in debate about books on the Highland Park High School’s approved book list that include sex scenes, explicit language and references to rape, abortion and abuse. The debate gained intensity — and nationwide attention — when Orr temporarily suspended seven books in September. He reversed the decision after backlash from alumni, parents and authors, including Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist Toni Morrison.
Life is challenging. Life is difficult. Life can be unpleasant. Children need to learn those realities and how to deal with the dark stuff life occasionally deal. That’s not meant to be focusing on the whole instead of the donut, but life isn’t something that doesn’t happen simply because parent want to protect their precious snowflakes from the tough stuff.
If parents object to teaching their children the lessons to be found in the classics, how do they intend for their children to learn them? I’d wager that in most cases, parent don’t have a plan; they just don’t want their children to be exposed to “mature themes.” That desire to shield their progeny from everything except sunshine and puppies borders on parental neglect. You don’t prepare a child for the adult world by refusing to prepare a child for the adult world.
I certainly wouldn’t argue with the contention that some of the books in question and their themes might need to be handled with some delicacy. What I fail to understand is what could be thought so threatening about The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, The Scarlet Letter, and A Farewell To Arms? Students have been studying these literary classics for generations without incurring lasting harm. Those books haven’t changed…but parents certainly seem to have become more ignorant, fearful, and reactionary with the passage of time.
Then again, if your primary goal is the creation of an army of blindly obedient Christian soldiers, knowledge and critical thinking really are the enemy.
