The school board arrived at the meeting with a refusal WRITTEN BEFORE even hearing parents' concerns about middle school reading material containing gratuitous profanity and vulgarity...
Over a dozen parents in District 126 thought that perhaps the school board, elected to represent them, might honor their request for decency in summer reading materials for their middle school children. They were wrong.
According to concerned mother, Karen Lukes, the school board claimed that the message of overcoming despair contained in "Fat Boy Rules the World" outweighed all the vulgarity and profanity.
Examine excerpts from "Fat Kid Rules the World" and ask yourself:
Are there not books that convey that same message without the filthy language and themes?
In good literature, aren't the words used to convey a message of nearly equal importance to the message itself?
What does this sort of reading material example to children about acceptable ways of communicating?
Read the previous coverage and wonder, with literally thousands wonderful books out there, why it's too much to ask that educators choose books that do NOT contain gratuitous profanity and adult themes.
Consider finally, who are these school boards elected to represent?
More often than not they seem to merely rubber stamp the choices of educators...
-Abigail Ruth
Related Coverage:
Preventing Bad Books and Other Liberal Propogandizing at Your Child's School
Help for Parents Challenging Bad Books in Their Public Schools
