School system in Va. won't teach version of Anne Frank book

[PassionFruit]

Culpeper County public school officials have decided to stop assigning a version of Anne Frank's diary, one of the most enduring symbols of the atrocities of the Nazi regime, after a parent complained that the book includes sexually explicit material and homosexual themes.

washingtonpost.com
Seriously? :o

 

[Letalis]

Not hard to see this would result. These christians don't care about education; greater importance is placed on their delusions.

Granted, this was the case with the whole evolution thing, but I have a particular disdain for people messing with literature.

 

[kiwimac]

Ah, the US education system, Leading the world!

 

[Fauxhemian]

I have a particular disdain for people messing with literature.

My thoughts exactly. It's a fantastic book to read, as well, it's sad that the students probably won't now.

 

[seashale76]

I'll have to show this article to my eighth graders. We're currently reading the diary and the play. They're always more interested in reading the books I assign when they discover someone's trying to ban them.

 

[PassionFruit]

I'm not all that surprised. It's one of those books that have been challenged before, but I just can't believe that some people can't get over their discomfort of certain kind of subject matter.

 

[bigbadwilf]

Ah, the US education system, Leading the world!

Leading it into a new century.

The ninteenth.

 

[kiwimac]

Sure it's not the century of the Fruit-bat?

 

[katautumn]

Poor girl. Anne Frank was a young teenager and yet she has become the poster child for the holocaust. I don't think in a million years would she (or her family) have assumed her diary would become such a controversial work. In Germany the book is censored to the point where school children don't even know the circumstances surrounding Anne going into hiding. There is no mention of hiding from the Nazis. Lebanon and Italy have also banned the book. Italy due to what they consider "sexually explicit" passages and Lebanon because they claim the book promotes Zionism. It's actually a quite frequently banned book around the world.

Anyway, this situation in Culpeper County, VA is asinine. These are eighth graders, not first graders. I'd rather fourteen year olds read about sexuality in the context of a historical work rather than learn about it by watching MTV. If an eighth grader isn't supposed to read the word "vagina" or know about masturbation and homosexuality I shudder to think of where they will learn about such things. Locker room education on human sexuality isn't exactly ideal.

 

[Letalis]

It's common to ban what one prefers not to deal with. It's easier.

 

[katautumn]

It's common to ban what one prefers not to deal with. It's easier.

Which is truly unfortunate when it pertains to the written word. It's unfathomable that in a country that ranks beneath Cuba in literacy and claims 1/4 of the adult population has only a base level of literacy we would consider withholding the gift of reading from children. With all of the garbage our kids and young adults are bombarded with through the television, radio and the internet we should never, ever take reading away from them. The classics, while often controversial, are not pornographic. We read The Scarlet Letter in junior high. That's pretty heavy stuff for a bunch of young teens, but none of us turned into instant sexual deviants because of it.

So many novels made for teens these days are junk. They are laden with blatant sexuality, petty behavior and cliches. Many authors of juvenile fiction these days try and capitalize on subjects that interest young people superficially rather than take the time to write stories that will stimulate the reader's mind. I mean, look at Twilight. We don't care about kids becoming obsessed with poorly written vampire love stories, but we'll ban a book that has historical significance because Anne mentions vagina or some of the "coming of age" subject matter might make parents a little uncomfortable?

 

[Letalis]

Forget books that have sexual overtures (of course we must ban evils which educate our children); turn on the television! Bigger picture. It's lost on many.

But of course TV is convenient and easy and life without TV is inconceivable so we will tolerate sex on TV but not books.

 

[USincognito]

This school board has brought shame to the legacy of Jefferson, Madison and Hamilton.

 

[Rochir]

washingtonpost.com
Seriously? :o

Apparently!

Each country gets the school system it deserves!

 

[DaisyDay]

Most people have read the originally published diary - which was bowdlerized by her father. This is the version that will be taught.

But it's true, Americans are prudish. Think of the children! - but not on how they came to be.

 

[citizenthom]

Exactly what educational value is there in the passages about Anne Frank's sexual desires?

 

[kiwimac]

How about the knowledge that even the threat of death cannot still the needs of the body? How about the idea that sexuality & thinking about sexuality is common to all humans at all times? How about the idea that when we are vulnerable we crave physicality?

 

[brewmama]

The original version is the one I read as a girl. I don't see a problem with using that one, it was indeed a powerful book. I think the reaction here is a little overwrought.

 

[Phylogeny]

This is not the first time the book has been banned for dumb reasons. One school district tried to ban it from the school because the book was a 'downer'. I don't know if I should laugh or cry.

 

[TerranceL]

Cowards.