Concerned Kansas Parents Want Books Removed from Curriculum

[Bluebear]

1. All the Pretty Horses
2. Animal Dreams
3. The Awakening
4. The Bean Trees
5. Beloved
6. Black Boy
7. Fallen Angels
8. The Hot Zone
9. I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings
10. Lords of Discipline
11. One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest
12. Song of Solomon
13. Stotan
14. This Boy’s Life


(AgapePress) - Concerned parents in one Kansas school district are seeking to get 14 books removed from high school reading lists because they contain obscenities, vulgar language, or sexually explicit material.

The effort is being led by parents with the group Citizens for Literary Standards in Schools, which believes students in Blue Valley schools are being required to read some novels that are pornographic in nature. However, the Blue Valley Board of Education is refusing to remove the controversial books from the district's high school curriculum.

Greg Motley, a spokesman for the parents group, says the board has a troubling moral worldview -- "and they're extremely sure that our worldview is not correct," he adds.

http://headlines.agapepress.org/archive/11/282005a.asp

[Ian David]

1. Is Scooter Libby's book on that list? n/t

[NYCGirl]

4. Is it on the high school reading list? NT

[triguy46]

14. And Lynne Cheney's??

Ah, winter in Kansas, the leaves turn, you turn back the clock and science and warm your toes to the crackling fire of a book burning.

Do not forget, the repugs and fundies find ideas threatening and thinking to be a dangerous activity.

[durablend]

16. How about "My Pet Goat"?

Can't have anyone read it and finally figure out what a total fuckup GodBush happens to be.

[Behind the Aegis]

2. They say they...

..."are seeking to get 14 books removed from high school reading lists because they contain obscenities, vulgar language, or sexually explicit material." What do you wanna bet they are avid Bible readers? The same things they are protesting in those 14 books exist in spades in the Bible (except, maybe profanity...unless you count what was considered profane at the time the Bible was written).

[LynneSin]

6. There's a certain irony about banning "Song of Solomon"

You wanna read smut - read that book in the bible!

[Behind the Aegis]

10. True, true!

Then there is that whole..."here, take my virgin daughters. No, really, take them." The same ones that end up trying to repopulate the world with their own pop! EWWWW!

[proud2BlibKansan]

19. I believe they are

At least that's what my friend who teaches in this school district told me.

This Boy's Life is a fabulous book. It is about a murder and the holocaust plays into the storyline. Do you suppose these idiot parents are anti Semites who don't believe in the holocaust? I'll have to read that book again because I can't remember anything else offensive in it.

[jmowreader]

40. Sucker bet!

Agape Press is a major publisher of fundamentalist reading material.

[LynneSin]

3. Can we just give the fundies Kansas

We could setup a national registry for house swapping where a liberal in Kansas would get the home of a fundie wishing to move to fricking Kansas.

I read "The Hot Zone" it's about fricking virus outbreak. What's so dirty about that

:shrug:

[Behind the Aegis]

7. Maybe they only read the title?

:shrug:

:evilgrin:

[KansDem]

27. So, just remove the titles...Problem solved! (eom)

[Bridget Burke]

8. The School Board refused....

Not all Kansans are insane!

[proud2BlibKansan]

20. No we liberals in Kansas are NOT going anywhere

We will fight these idiots with all it takes to shut them UP!!

[Nay]

32. Yeah, what's up wit dat? "The Hot Zone" is a nonfiction book about

the ebola-type viruses. So, were monkeys fucking or something??

[sui generis]

5. it's not enough that they don't want to raise their own kids

but they want to raise everyone else's.

If I were on that school board I'd be on the record as telling them what they could do, in extremely pornographic terms.

I am growing a zero tolerance take no prisoners view of "social conservatives" and especially anyone who uses the word "concerned" in their title (code for "We Hate Gays").

Why can't these people just tell their obedient little demonspawn not to read that list of books? How hard would that be? Instead they want to govern information for EVERYONE.

[proud2BlibKansan]

23. I am almost positive that school board allows that

I am pretty sure they agreed last year to allow parents to opt their kids out of reading books they objected to.

You are right. They are wanting to control what EVERY kid reads.

[jeff30997]

9. "pornographic in nature"

Give me a fucking break here!:eyes:

[rniel]

11. Why don't they just eliminate Math from the cirriculum

After all I can find one example of algebra or long division in the bible anyway.

So why the fuck do we need it.

[sinkingfeeling]

12. I just love people who object to books that half the kids couldn't even

read! If they want to 'protect' high school kids from obscenities, they'd better keep them out of malls and I bet what their kids could tell them about sex would turn their ears red! Let's keep all kids completely ignorant of the real world by locking them in closets until they turn 21!

[Flavin]

13. Old news here in Kansas....

So far this group has washed out of their attempt to censor the Curricula in Blue Valley. The fact that these books are OPTIONAL, and other books are available for parents to choose if they find the curricula guided reading materials... troublesome is never mentioned in most of the stories about this issue.

The Kansas City Star has had quite a few articles on this continuing non-event.

One of the last go-rounds included an almost full (!) page interview with the mother who started this campaign (she hasn't had a student in the district for several years BTW). The opposing viewpoint (voiced by a Blue Valley student) was less than 20% of the page.
The Fundie Freepers freaked out!
They Claimed that to give soooooo much space to the opposing viewpoint showed the Star's liberal leanings (yeah...right).
It comes out in this huge article that the mother leading this crusade (for decency) was on the district panel which created the very book review and approval criteria that she is now a) protesting and b) trying to circumvent via her public crusade.
I give her credit, she did offer a selection of books she and her organization felt would be more appropriate literature.... The Bible, Dickens, and nothing published after the end of 1950s.

Flavin

[proud2BlibKansan]

25. I read that !

And you are right. It was a great column by a high school kid but half the space as the fundie mom.

[atommom]

30. You're absolutely right. They've been whining about these books

for a good long time now, and they're still not likely to get their way.

[slackmaster]

15. They have the right to home-school their children

I have little sympathy for parents who whine because public schools don't provide the degree of "protection" from real life that they would like.

[proud2BlibKansan]

26. Some already do!

They are still objecting to these books.

These people are a trip, lemme tell ya.

[proud2BlibKansan]

17. This group just won't give up

They are led by a homeschooling mom. Now why she is so concerned about what books OTHER kids are reading is a mystery. A couple other people in this group don't even have kids in school!

They have been making noise for a couple years now and have gone to the board several times. I believe the board came up with a great solution that allows the parent to opt their kid out of reading a book that is offensive to them. But now it looks like they won't be happy until they control what EVERY kid in this district reads.

They remind me of the conservative wing of the state school board. If I lived in this school distirct, I would have to move. :grr:

[DiverDave]

18. "The Hot Zone" is about

Ebola for christ's sake.

Banning a book about fucking EBOLA??

Just. plan. loony.

[HeeBGBz]

38. Good grief! Why the Hot Zone???

I can't even imagine why they picked this one.

[Initech]

21. I'm surprised "Theory Of Evolution" didnt make the list...

[greiner3]

31. Just think;

Of all the sex it took to get into that book!

[Initech]

33. To quote Bill Hicks:

"You ever notice how the people who believe in creationism look really unevolved? We want our thumbs!"

[Neecy]

22. and the irony is....

While they gasp and fret about any mention of sex, they support murderous wars, lies and corruption with their support of *.

These thumpers turn a blind eye to violence and condemn sex. No wonder their kids are so screwed up.

[annabanana]

24. well, GOOD for the Blue Valley B of E!

It can't be easy to be in Kansas and stand up for academic freedom these days!

[proud2BlibKansan]

28. How many of these 800 even have kids in this district?

"Motley says his group currently has 800 people on a petition saying the 14 books should be not read by any students in the Blue Valley School District."

[SemperEadem]

29. first, this parent's group should have to do book reports on the books

before they request they be banned.

I'll bet none of them have read any of the books on their list--they're just going by what James Dobson is telling them.

[chat_noir]

34. Blue Valley is an upscale school district

Demographics

Of all of the major school districts in the Kansas City metropolitan area, Blue Valley and Olathe are the only school districts that have experienced an enrollment increase every year since 1975.

The Blue Valley School District is home to nearly 37,000 residential housing units. Approximately 68 percent of the units are single-family dwellings, while multiple-family dwellings account for the remaining 32 percent of the housing stock. The average household size in Blue Valley is 2.65 residents.

According to 2002-2003 school district records, 52 percent of the students in Blue Valley schools were male and 48 percent were female. Additionally, 5 percent of all students in Blue Valley reported their ethnic background as White/Caucasian the 2002-2003 school year, 5.5 percent of all Blue Valley students were of Asian/Pacific Islander descent, while 3.0 percent of students were of African-American descent, and 1.8% were of Hispanic descent.

The majority of Blue Valley residents are under the age of 45, with a significant portion of the population in the 20 to 44-year-old age group. The median age of Blue Valley's residential population in 2000-2001 was 32.5 years old.

More than 50 percent of the households in the Blue Valley School District earn in excess of $75,000 annually. According to information derived from the Johnson County Appraiser's Office, the rage value of single family residences in the school district is approximately $289,634, while the median home value is $246,500 (as of May 2001). The majority of single-family homes in the Blue Valley School District have an appraised value of between $200,000 and $299,999.

http://www.bluevalleyk12.org/GI/dem_overview.cfm

[ismnotwasm]

35. "I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings?'

Oh sweet Jesus that is fucked up. That is an awesome book. One of the most poignant autobiographies I've ever read. "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest?" What is the MATTER with these people?

These same people clean up the dicier parts of the bible, using only those parts they find convenient to promote their sick agenda. The bible has lots of violence, heartache, incest, acts of love and kindness, selfless sacrifice, incredibly self serving and psychopathic behaviors, baby killing, slavery, romantic love, hate, senseless war, vengeance, destruction and some very strange rules for how to act as well as profound wisdom--almost any aspect of the human condition is covered. They try to make it into a book it is not. If you took the bible as is, instead of using it as a political and emotional shield-- if it was in schools-- by their own standards, it would be one of the first to be banned.

[Johonny]

Pornographic in nature

What does that line mean? That the tree aren't wearing pants in the books? You'd think parents would be thrilled their kids read anything.

[stanwyck]

36. As the daughter of two Illinois public

school teachers, I want to tell them want Mom and Dad always told me: just be glad they're reading.
My little Midwestern town didn't capitulate to the John Birchers who tried the same fundamentalist Taliban tactics on us.
The school board, intelligent parents, and teachers prevailed.
I'm eternally grateful to those people.

[MountainLaurel]

37. Excuse me while my head explodes

I really fucking hate these people.

[msongs]

39. get rid of BIBLES first: bestiality, incest, adultery (god + mary), lots

of violence against everybody. sheesh the whole book ought to be rated R.

Msongs
www.msongs.com/chinamart.htm