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Sandra Spieker (Ringo)
First Lowell - - -
Your common sense post was spot on! Thank you.
David,
I agree with Lowell. I also think that when your child is old enough for kindergarten, and you send them off to school, it is the desired hope that what they will experience will be age appropriate, friendly, without bias, and an enriching learning experience. It is also to be expected that your child will see things they don't see at home. That being new faces, new ideas, and people with different ideas and different living styles. When I sent my son off to public kindergarten, he had never received any religious instruction at all. We were and still are a non-religious family. However, within one week of attending school he came home wondering what was wrong with our family and why we did not attend or were members of a church. It was not his teachers doing this, it was his fellow classmates. My job as a parent was to reinforce our family values and explain why these folks thought of us as some sort of deviation from normal, all the while not making his fellow classmates to be wrong in their ideas either. I had to teach him that we were different, but there was nothing wrong with that. He had to learn tolerance, personal strength, and religious bias at age 5. Somewhere in the back of my mind at the time, I knew this would happen, and both Danny and I were somewhat prepared, but were still shocked at how quickly it happened. What surprised me more was how well he coped, adapted, and thrived in spite of it. Our strength as a family and our parenting skills prevailed. He grew up with an open mind able to choose his own path. I have never stood in his way and never will. Instead, I celebrate his choices because I know him to be an honorable man.
Getting back to what is appropriate and at what age. Who really knows? It would be nice if all children of elementary school age were never exposed to controversy, violence, racism, war, murder, or rape. Nicer still if we could shield all those in middle school too. Not possible. Impossible. Somewhere some child is raped, beaten, or subjected to racial bias and controversy. Maya Angelou's book is this:
"I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings is a 1969 autobiography describing the young and early years of American writer and poet Maya Angelou. The first in a seven-volume series, it is a coming-of-age story that illustrates how strength of character and a love of literature can help overcome racism and trauma.
Angelou uses her autobiography to explore subjects such as identity, rape, racism, and literacy. She also writes in new ways about women's lives in a male-dominated society. Maya, the younger version of Angelou and the book's central character, has been called "a symbolic character for every black girl growing up in America". Angelou's description of being raped as an eight-year-old child overwhelms the book, although it is presented briefly in the text."
If you see pornography in this, that is all you will ever see. If you see hope and overcoming trauma and racism, you see the author's message.
If any person wants to read this book for the message that it delivers, then nothing should stand in their way. Will very young children want to read this book? I doubt that very seriously. I hated Shakespeare in High School. I had no appreciation of it at all. It was way over my head; however, I was exposed to it enough that many years later, I finally did appreciate it. Everyone matures at a different rate. Should a high school library have this book on their shelves? In my opinion yes. If you object, then tell me exactly at what age someone should read this book. Should reading it be required. Hell no.
I was raised by parents who let me read anything I wanted to. No book was banned at the house. They felt that reading anything was brain development and resulted in critical thinking. My dad, despite his personal religious beliefs, made it very clear the bible was good reading and encouraged to me read it if I wanted to. Nothing was held back. This was from the time I was in first grade. He only hid his Playboy magazines from me. Didn't work though, I eventually found them. The pictures in them shocked me, but what shocked me more was that they were his. It was the first time I realized he had his weaknesses too. Later I realized he was just a normal American male.
This latest round of book banning has more to do with homophobia, racism, and bias, in my opinion. These well-intentioned young mothers’ intent to wipe clean the shelves of school libraries and curriculum of any book that does not fit into their personal belief system, is fear of their own parenting abilities to talk to their own children about different people and tolerance. Again, my opinion. They don't want tolerance or they don’t want to discuss it with their kids. It appears that they want a zero-tolerance society with everyone who is the same. Only boys and girls, nothing in between. Black and white, zero tolerance. How long they think they can keep their kids in the dark about our changing society, is the burning question.
I will reiterate my earlier post and point out that cell phones, tablets, laptops, and social media will erase any attempt at social white washing. Your kids will find it, see it, and make their own assumptions about it. It is up to you to talk to them about it. Your kids should be your choice, however, everyone else’s kids should be the choice of their parents.
Now, if you have age specifics and literature specifics, please provide them.
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