Almost every worthwhile piece of writing is controversial and sensitive to someone. Under current regulations, schools are supposed to have policies in place to address parental concerns. If they don’t, then the parents in those districts should insist that they do.

This would merely create more bureaucracy and actually decrease communication among parents and teachers.

For those who support the amendment, which of the following would help you determine if the work should be included in the curriculum?

Statement A (more general)

The students will read passages of a work included in our textbook. This work is also quoted and alluded to in many other stories, poems, and essays that we will read. The work includes a great deal of violence: including murder, rape, incest, mutilation, and genocide. The work also includes a great deal of sex, including people having multiple sexual partners, incest, and bestiality. Some of the people in the work mock God and others’ religious beliefs; others attack the rich and criticize them for being greedy. Another part is critical of relying on military weapons and might for security.

Although we will not read the most shocking passages, students could decide to read those on their own and bring them up during class discussions or writing assignments.

Or Statement B (more specific)

In this work, a man has sex with his daughters after becoming drunk. Another man rapes his half-sister. Another man has sex with his father’s wives in public to humiliate his father.

In case you didn’t know, this work is actually in many textbooks and taught in many schools. It is most commonly known as the Bible.