CENSORSHIP

What is the last step is a parent doesn't want a student to read a book?

I have a hard time with this question. The thing is, that although the educator side of me says that it is important to teach these books and have students wrestle with these questions because as the NCTE standard 12 says, and I paraphrase, is that literature is a record of the human experience. That's what makes our subject worth knowing and learning. Otherwise, it'd just be writing down letters and learning sounds. And there is more to English than that. We need to know these things, and see perspective and all this. And yet, as a parent, I strongly feel that as parents, for the most part we are trying to do what we find is best for our child. Sometimes this may be misguided, and that's certainly true about some parents more than others, but there will be things we do, that every parents does, that may be out of best interest but ultimately harms the child. This can be the lack of encouraging education or reading or blocking out certain book and all that. It could be teaching a child to hate another race group or something terrible along those lines. But we do it because we feel strongly about certain things and don't want those things to be fed to our child by society if we don't believe them. I understand that, even though I do not believe in censoring books or any of the above mentioned examples. I suppose then, that the only thing we can do is try to understand the parent. Instead of being defensive and saying "too bad!" it should more be a partnership. The parent is intrusting their child to us to help them raise them. And there will be times that a child isn't getting what you deem is appropriate but where do you draw the line? It's a hard one. I'd say sit down with the parents with an open mind and listen to what the real concern is, and if they haven't read the book, have them read it so they can really see the dangers and positives of the book more clearly before making a per haps rash decision. But in the end, it's their decision and as educators, I suppose we have to respect that. Such is the stress of teaching, but it's what makes our jobs more interesting than others... we never know what we're going to get.

Gee V. Delpit

Can a student learn discourses that are outside their normal discourse? Does that affect status and what does that mean? Can someone acquire another discourse enough to challenge other discourses and how does that effect us? These are some arguments that Gee and Delpit address in their articles. They're similar in view, and Delpit is responding to Gee, and I have to say that I agree with Delpit more. Can a student effectively learn a new discourse well though, when they aren't native to this discourse and use it for empowerment and status? Can they make the transformation? I'm sure they can. They problem is they need to be exposed to the secondary discourse. We don't get this being so descriptive in language that we ignore and allow for mistakes in all mediums of langauge, whether that be spoken or written. We need to decide as teachers that it means, where our beliefs lie, and where we draw the line. Will we not correct spoken language, but correct written language? Neither? Both? At what extent is this necessary?