Got a kid in 10th grade and there is a parent opt out form for Orwell’s 1984 novel.
That’s just crazy. Education in Texas is in trouble if state or districts are putting 1984 on an opt out list.
A few more on the list…
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What’s the reason?
It’s too Orwellian.
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I’m ok with my child reading any of these, I would just prefer to be involved and prepared offer guidance. I don’t mind an opt-out - or better yet, an alert system. “Your child will be reading Handmaids Tale this week, here are the themes and some discussion questions you might use to talk about it”.
We’re always provided with a book list at the beginning of each school year. Is that what this is? And then the parent gets to decide? That’s not a bad way to approach it as long as every book they’re going to read is there.
Given the way Flock cameras are in the news today, this is quite ironic.
“BIG BROTHER IS WATCHING YOU”, literally now.
I can see allowing an “opt out,” but a high schooler should be required to explain the decision. If it is purely a choice between two books, then that’s different.
Your suggestion about providing a heads-up about what’s being read and discussed is a good one. My kids had pretty reliable schedules that were accessible on-line, and that kind of info was always there, which think I think is better than putting the burden on teachers to decide when to send out “alerts.” But I just asked them what was going on.
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I finally got around to reading Catcher in the Rye about 15 years ago, and decided I didn’t miss much. I HATED it, but not for the profanity. It is dull as dishwater. NOTHING happens. It’s like Waiting for Godot, but even more boring. They should jettison that infantile work and replace it with One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest.
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Personal taste and experience, I suppose. I enjoyed it in high school, but I don’t think I would spend the time on it today.
I read Catcher in the 7th grade, it spoke to me at that age and opened my mind to the world of literature. I didn’t realize people could write like that. It doubt it would have had that effect on me any other time.
I read 1984 my senior year. During discussion I realized no one else in the class had read the book and came to the conclusion we are doomed by the masses just as the book predicted
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You read the book as an old man, but can’t figure out why it would resonate with someone in high school?
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Agree. I read CIR years ago. I thought it was crap.
In regards to the topic I home-schooled my kids so I had veto power over everything.
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“Catcher in the Rye sucks” is not a particularly uncommon opinion, even among the younger set. People generally fall into either the “will this dude shut up already” or the “he just like me frfr” camp. It’s totally possible to personally hate something and still get why others would like it.
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Wait, so what happens if you opt out of all the titles? Does your kid just get a free period?
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You read Catcher as a younger kid. It’s deep and profound. Read it at any point as an adult…“Hayden stfu you whiny b***h”
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Maturity trumps youth every time.
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That wasn’t really my point. It was about the lens you are looking through.
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I’d guess the kid would read an alternate selection. or just be unable to check out these books in the library. Just find it shocking these books have been entered on the default selection ban list by the district. Culture wars at the school district level.
Guess this is just another sign of our anti-library education like in HISD.
Over the past two and a half years, the district has authorized the closing of at least 188 school libraries.
This per an organization called SNL.
So, what did you make the little buggers read? I hope it wasn’t Gilgamesh or the Aeneid.
I just picked stuff from my personal library (everything from Beowulf to Shelley to Hemingway, Kafka, blah, blah.)
I tried to get my oldest to read “Wuthering Heights”. After two days he hated reading. A couple more and he hated England. By the end he hated words and was very close to hating letters. He roots against England in kickball because of that book.
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As the old saying goes. Youth is wasted on the young.
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