I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings is former U.S. poet laureate Maya Angelou’s autobiography. The book includes details of her rape and subsequent pregnancy. Included in the curriculum of a sophmore advanced English class, some parents want the book banned.
Fond du Lac High School Principal Mary Fran Merwin said parents, teachers, principals and at least two ministers spoke at the meeting, where no decision was made. She said the school has used the book for a decade.
“It is Angelou’s own account of growing up,” Merwin said. “It has a number of attributes, and it’s a historically relevant story about a black woman growing up in the United States.”
Rape occurs in our society. Unwanted pregnancies occur in our society. Yes, these are uncomfortable topics. But banning books that discuss them does not make them go away. Perhaps a discussion in an academic setting will help young women to understand why these things occur and how to best avoid them.
Banning books only stops the conversation from taking place.
VIVIAN J. PAIGE | All Politics is Local 
It’s “Democratic”, Insider. Very simple, but I notice that a certain sort often get it wrong.
MB, when Democrats start calling themselves Democratics, then I’ll stop calling them Democrats.
“Kevin — I see no reason the parents should not petition the school or the teacher who made the decision to have the children read this book. If they do not beleive the book is appropriate for teenagers, then they, as parents and taxpayers, have the right to try to get the book out of the curriculum.”
See #3 of what could be done.
“I don’t have any problem with the book, except that I don’t think these kids will be asked in a job interview what they thought of the rape and pregnancy issues in this book”
Many kids will not be asked what they think of the Pythagorean theorem, the concept of turgor pressure, or why the Union Army defeated the Confederates in a job interview either. So let’s stop discussing those topics too. But those topics along make up some of the items discussed in our educational system. Are they as uncomfortable topics as rape and pregnancy for some people? No. But education is more than just preparing kids for job interviews, it is also a preparation for life outside of school.
Insider-
I know you’re a smart person.
Democrat = a noun
Democratic = adjective
So the sentence, “That excludes the Democrat platform” is incorrect because you have to use the adjective form of the word. Unless you were trying to say “That excludes the Democrat’s platform.” That would be ok although I don’t think that any one person speaks for us.
So again.
Democrat = noun
Democratic = adjective
Any questions?
And you wonder why we just call ya “liberals”
Kevin — the School Board does not select the books, the teachers do.
The teachers have a list from what they can teach that is approved by the county and it is up to each individual school to set up their curriculum with those books. For instance, I can teach Macbeth at the 10th grade level but cannot teach Brave New World because it is considered too advanced for that grade level at our school. The Superintendent, I believe, can also get involved…but I’m not sure.
Right now I’m teaching “Of Mice and Men” to my 10th graders. If a parent complained, I would offer them another novel…probably “The Pearl”. But they would have to have a good reason for it. If they didn’t, I would defend the choice and take it to the principal myself.
How ’bout we allow the parents to choose which schools their children attend, perhaps with vouchers? Then parents could look at the curricula of several schools and decide which schools would be best for their children.