Fine I accept your challenge.. I will go get the book and reread it..I doubt the moderators would like me to post the book, But I am fair and if I read something that would not fit in the forum guidelines I will take a step back..


War_is_my_Shepherd..
well put!

 

sdloe--

If you are so ticked off about it, why don't you just tell your children not to read it?

How is it that you have any business telling other people what their children can and cannot read at school?

Whistler

 

I have no experience with Blume's works, so I can't respond from personal knowledge
......
My wife and I have always had very open discussions with our three kids (now 17, 19 and 21). I can remember my son asking me out of the blue how gays had sex while I was pumping gas and he was watching. I did what I always did; I told him the truth. His reply was "sick". We've always answered their inquiries with just as much info as they wanted. That's the key. When they're young, they want simple answers, not lectures. As they got older, the number of questions increased as did their level of probing. We also answered every question asked, no matter how difficult it was at the time.
My oldest is graduating college in May and getting married in August. She's a well-adjusted Psychology major going on to Grad School in the fall for her Masters, then Doctorate, so I'm thinking that her Mom and I haven't screwed her up too badly with our honest approach at educating her.

 

jpsartre12
I agree with you and I too have always been honest and answered all questions that came my way.... If they are old enough to ask they are old enough to hear the answer.
Honesty is the best option.

 

I understand that most of us must explain our reasoning for our positions. But often that is also used to sideline the topic into various other distractions. I want someone to answer my first questions before being 'distracted'. Thus:

My not wanting eleven and twelve-year-olds to read sexually explicit material is not the issue. Whether you think it is OK or not is not the issue. The issue is public education making sexually graphic material (porno of whatever you want to call it) available to adolescents, then defending it as "Intellectual Freedom".

Whistler, If I was just ‘ticked off’ about an objectionable book I would not have returned it but instead thrown it away. I am protesting the DEFENSE of such literature as ‘Intellectual Freedom”, in a library that my tax dollars built.

It is not I who have the right to ‘dicatate’ what is on the shelves of the public (school) library, but every citizen, you included. If you don’t like it when concerned parents protest certain types of literature for adolescents, tough. You are entitled to your opinion.

To another post: No, I don’t think the school system put the put there deliberately, especially knowing that most parents in the schools would be offended when they found out. But there are persons with ‘good intentions’ who seem to think that what they view as quality literature is correct and acceptable. Thus we run into the present problem. The majority of parents DO NOT give their children unfettered access to whatever they want to read.

 

I think it all boils down to it being a PUBLIC school library. As long as there is a possibility someone would be interested in reading it (and it sounds like at least a few parents here, like me, WOULD want their kids reading something like this), they are obliged to do so.

It doesn't make it right. But by the time I hit middle school, I knew enough about sex (which was a lot LESS than everyone else) to have handled this book. I don't think there is any child out there that doesn't know what a ***** and vagina are in middle school - granted, there may be a few that don't. But that doesn't mean that "enlightened" parents and their kids should be stopped from accessing this book.

This book seems to be for "curious" kids. I'm thinking it's there in the library because the teachers and counselors want it there for backup when a kid has a question they don't feel comfortable with (especially in these child-molestation-paranoid days).

I'm sure if you get enough of a percentage of parents to sign a petition to remove the book, it will be. Given "community standards", when a large enough portion of the community speak out, that's how "blue laws" and their interpretations are changed. I'm just glad you don't live in my school district, trying to take away my kids rights to intellectual freedom.

Ooops... there, I said it - intellectual freedom. Slippery slope, and all that. If you get this one book out of the library, are you not going to have the urge to look at other books in there, and start deciding what should and should not be there? That's the beginning of the slippery slope. Once you start taking away other people's freedoms, it gets easier and easier for others to do the same.

 

I think that you're missing the point of the original post. If the book contains material that is inappropriate for a Middle School student, then what was it doing in their library in the first place? Even the author states that it isn't appropriate for young kids.
Whether you would let your kid read this book is not at issue. Books in a Middle School Library can easily be checked out and read without any parent having the opportunity to make "the call" on whether or not the book is appropriate for THEIR child. That's all part of parenting, IMO, and one that my wife and I took VERY seriously.
"Enlightened"? Interesting choice of words.
So, you advocate letting the school circumvent YOUR responsibility as a parent by letting them stock How-to books for 10 year olds?
Would they be also taking away your kids rights to intellectual freedom if they refused to keep Hustler, High Society and other X-Rated magazines in the Middle School Library? After all, that would represent censorhip, too, wouldn't it?
I have ZERO problem with protecting minors from pornography. What I do have a problem with is whose definition of pornography do we use? That's where the battlelines should be drawn, IMO.

 

Hustler, etc are only legal for 18 year olds, so they would never show up in the middle school anyway, plus I'm sure we both agree it's pronography, so get real and try to keep this within normal bounds. Stop it with the "10 year old" comparison too, middle school is usually 6th grade and up, which is at least 12 years and up - NOT 10.

What I'm saying is, the book sounds like (according to the author) a "first time" type of thing, complete with the risks, feelings, et al that come along with that. Also included are descriptions of the act itself, and possibly the purpose of a condom. As you say, the author states "young children" shouldn't see it - teens are not "young children".

As I previously stated, it's pretty obvious what porno is, any explicit material purposly meant for self-gratification. Do you REALLY think the book in question is for masturbating? (and in case the language filter takes that "M" word out, think self-gratification, it already took out the "P" word on me but left the "V" word)...

If the school has "Health" or "Sex Ed" classes, this material is probably there to backup the teachers in case someone wants to know more. Or counselors that need to let a kid know more without talking about it directly.

There are two sides to every fence. This one, granted, is right on the edge. But if you take a book out of the library that is meant for EDUCATION, not self-gratification, you are beginning that decent down the slippery slope.

Again, without reading the book, I can't say for sure, but it sounds to me like age-appropriate. It's not a "how-to", it's a warning about the first time and all the emotions and problems it can create.

'nuf said.

 

It is apparent that individual views vary widely across the board here. IMO, this is an individual's issue. If a parent has a problem with available material in the school library, it is that parents responsibility to ensure that their kids do not see/read it. However, it is not your responsibility to ensure that MY child does not see/read it. End of story. I am a parent of an 11 1/2 yr old and a 6 yr old. It is MY responsibility to raise these kids with the morals and values that I believe are right. I do NOT want other parents that have more conservative (or radical) views trying to change the world to reflect what they think is appropriate. What about what the next guy thinks is appropriate? If you dont want YOUR child to read this book, then tell your child, notify the school librarian, etc. There are ways for you to accomplish this without imposing your views on the rest of our children. Decide how you want to raise your kids, and let others decide how to raise theirs. Don't forget that while many people agree with you, many don't. What makes your views so right that we all should have to live by them?