Action | Amendments Regarding Use of Controversial or Sensitive Instructional Materials |
Stage | NOIRA |
Comment Period | Ended on 1/15/2014 |
While I appreciate and welcome parents' desire to be involved in the classroom, there already exists a vetting process for approved material. If people want this particular piece of legislation to pass, they should learn about that approval process and look to affect it.
Secondly, as many have noted, the language in the legislation is extremely vague and leaves too many gray areas that will encumber and be detrimental to the classroom as parents could demand that every student read a book that satisfies the individual parent's every whim.
Lastly, I'd also like to note that there are more than a few people on here saying, 'read the classics--it was good enough for me'. My guess is that they haven't even read the 'classics' they hold up as models if this is their argument. I've taught Shakespeare that has plenty of murder, incest, suicide, etc.. I haven't seen one teacher make such a comment because many who are not in the classroom have little idea what the lack of America's reading culture has done to students' desire to read. It is vital--of course, but there are many more reluctant readers that ever before--readers for whom classics are too difficult--do we just not have them read? I'm not in the business of morally educating students--but I am in the business of getting them to read effectively, and they can't do that if they won't read the material, right?