School System Bans the Dictionary

In more book banning news, this time from southern California ...

Menifee Union School District officials decided to pull Merriam Webster's 10th edition from all school shelves earlier this week.

School officials will review the dictionary to decide if it should be permanently banned because of the "sexually graphic" entry, said district spokeswoman Betti Cadmus. The dictionaries were initially purchased a few years ago for fourth- and fifth-grade classrooms districtwide, according to a memo to the superintendent.

"It's just not age appropriate," said Cadmus, adding that this is the first time a book has been removed from classrooms throughout the district.

You can read more at The Press-Enterprise and the KCal9 web site.

I don't know about you, but I grew up in the day when looking up swear words in the dictionary was half the fun of getting to use the blasted thing. How else was I going to learn what all those words meant?

The Latest in Book Censorship

Here is the latest in censorship from a school district in New York.

Pages from the middle of the book have been torn out by the school district after having been deemed "inappropriate" by school officials due to sexual content and strong language. Removed is a scene where the rebellious Lisa (played by Angela Jolie in the movie) encourages Susanna (played by Winona Ryder) to circumvent hospital rules against sexual intercourse by engaging in oral sex instead.

"The material was of a sexual nature that we deemed inappropriate for teachers to present to their students," said English Department Chariperson Leslie Altschul, "since the book has other redeeming features, we took the liberty of bowdlerizing."

Read more at Book Interrupted. I am shaking my head in stunned silence.

Banning Books Because of Poetry

In today's Guardian is an article about Britain's exam board and their request that schools destroy an anthology with a poem containing a reference to knives. Here is an excerpt.

Britain's biggest exam board has been accused of censorship after it removed a poem containing references to knife crime from the GCSE syllabus.

Officials at the AQA board said their request that schools destroy the anthology containing the Carol Ann Duffy poem Education for Leisure had been triggered by concerns in two schools about references to knives. A spokeswoman confirmed the decision had been made in the context of the current spate of knife-related murders.

But poets yesterday condemned the move, saying such "censorship" fundamentally missed the point of the poem, which they said could help children debate the causes of street violence.

You can read the rest of the story and the poem in question in the article Top Exam Board Asks Schools to Destroy Book Containing Knife Poem. I particularly liked Michael Rosen's response.

Michael Rosen, the children's laureate, said: "By this same logic we would be banning Romeo and Juliet. That's about a group of sexually attractive males strutting round the streets, getting off with girls and stabbing each other.

Go now and read it.

Kansas Looks to Ban Obscenity in Novels, Plays and Books Taught in Schools

Given my science background, I am an avid follower of all debates evolutionary. The state of Kansas has long been on my radar as one of the great offenders. It appears now that science teachers aren't the only ones in trouble. English teachers, you're next!

A bill was recommended for approval that would limit a legal protection for elementary and secondary teachers from laws governing obscene materials. Here is an excerpt from the article Bill Could Put Limits on Book Choices.

Supporters of the bill said there is potential harm to minors in being exposed to obscenity or pornography in novels, plays, books and films.

But State Board of Education Chairman Bill Wagnon, D-Topeka, whose district includes Lawrence, opposed the bill, saying local school districts — not the Legislature — should handle any conflict about literature.

“We need to protect the classroom from those kind of intrusions,” Wagnon said.

If this bill passes, I imagine that books like The Scarlet Letter, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, Catcher in the Rye and many other standard and important works will no longer be part of the curriculum. Won't that be a sad day?