Obscentiy and "Real World" Preparedness
The article I'm commenting on was written by Dr. Selwyn R. Cudjoe and can be found at : http://www.trinicenter.com/Cudjoe/2006/2409.htm.
It's a very good article concerning an issue with literature to be taught in schools containing cuss words in it. I'm not sure where Dr. Cudjoe is located, but I would place the relevance somewhere in the Caribbean due to his mention of the Ministry of Education (which they have there) and the CXC or "Caribbean Examinations Council." Cudjoe comments on a recent objection to the use of Ian McDonald's The Humming-Bird Tree in their schools. It's nice to know that this type of thing isn't occurring just here in the states.
Cudjoe had an excellent argument which I thought echoed some of the words in my first post or focus:
I love the fact that he used the word "experience" in his discussion, just as I stressed in my first post.
The main point about the article that I wanted to comment on was the theme which I felt pointed out that a few cuss words are the least of our problems when addressing the issues of our young people.
I think of significant importance is the impact of the media on our children. We're always hearing about such protesting about books like Of Mice and Men being vehemently protested against in the schools... but when was the last boycott of the media that you remember? What really has more impact upon young people? Because I know that I read Of Mice and Men in high school, and I remembered that Lenny was a dope who liked rabbits, George had to shoot him, and it was a sad but beautiful book. I actually didn't remember the obscenity in it at all (along with much else of the book). But you can better believe that I can recite every single lyric of all the misogynistic homophobic violent and degrading music that I was listening to at the time.
In an age when 12-year-olds are getting pregnant in school, 18-year-old males are getting put on the sex offenders list for receiving a blow-job in an empty choir recital room, and whole crowds of students are being put in handcuffs for drug trafficking (all three of which happened in my small suburban town) it seems a bit silly to be putting such emphasis on taking a book with a bit of the F-word in it out of schools because it's "corrupting our youth." It's ridiculous.
If nothing else I believe (and I believe that this article says) that the presence of these type of things in school helps to *gasp* educate people about them! I remember when sex-ed began and was being protested against... people saying that presenting such material in schools would encourage children to engage in sex more frequently, etc. Was there the predicted spike in teen pregnancy and sexual activity? No. In fact, some sources report that sexual activity is lower now than it was when sex-ed was not in the classroom (but such findings must be taken with a grain of salt).
What better place is there but a school - the institution which prepares our young people for the "real world" - to address issues like obscenity, nudity, prejudice, racism, sexism, and the evils that this real world will certainly bestow upon our children? I know I would want my child prepared.
It's a very good article concerning an issue with literature to be taught in schools containing cuss words in it. I'm not sure where Dr. Cudjoe is located, but I would place the relevance somewhere in the Caribbean due to his mention of the Ministry of Education (which they have there) and the CXC or "Caribbean Examinations Council." Cudjoe comments on a recent objection to the use of Ian McDonald's The Humming-Bird Tree in their schools. It's nice to know that this type of thing isn't occurring just here in the states.
Cudjoe had an excellent argument which I thought echoed some of the words in my first post or focus:
Apart from the desire to expunge "literary material that is unsavory" to our children, the Ministry of Education must offer a better explanation of what literary material is selected and why. ...William Empson, a famous English poet and critic, has argued that "The main purpose of reading imaginative literature is to grasp a wide variety of experience, imagining people with codes and customs very unlike our own."
I love the fact that he used the word "experience" in his discussion, just as I stressed in my first post.
The main point about the article that I wanted to comment on was the theme which I felt pointed out that a few cuss words are the least of our problems when addressing the issues of our young people.
I think of significant importance is the impact of the media on our children. We're always hearing about such protesting about books like Of Mice and Men being vehemently protested against in the schools... but when was the last boycott of the media that you remember? What really has more impact upon young people? Because I know that I read Of Mice and Men in high school, and I remembered that Lenny was a dope who liked rabbits, George had to shoot him, and it was a sad but beautiful book. I actually didn't remember the obscenity in it at all (along with much else of the book). But you can better believe that I can recite every single lyric of all the misogynistic homophobic violent and degrading music that I was listening to at the time.
In an age when 12-year-olds are getting pregnant in school, 18-year-old males are getting put on the sex offenders list for receiving a blow-job in an empty choir recital room, and whole crowds of students are being put in handcuffs for drug trafficking (all three of which happened in my small suburban town) it seems a bit silly to be putting such emphasis on taking a book with a bit of the F-word in it out of schools because it's "corrupting our youth." It's ridiculous.
If nothing else I believe (and I believe that this article says) that the presence of these type of things in school helps to *gasp* educate people about them! I remember when sex-ed began and was being protested against... people saying that presenting such material in schools would encourage children to engage in sex more frequently, etc. Was there the predicted spike in teen pregnancy and sexual activity? No. In fact, some sources report that sexual activity is lower now than it was when sex-ed was not in the classroom (but such findings must be taken with a grain of salt).
What better place is there but a school - the institution which prepares our young people for the "real world" - to address issues like obscenity, nudity, prejudice, racism, sexism, and the evils that this real world will certainly bestow upon our children? I know I would want my child prepared.
posted by D. Calkins at
12:24 PM
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