Today, I want to talk about sexual content in classroom literature. Maybe it’s because I am pregnant and already trying to decide if I want to home school for a few years, do private school, or deal with public schools right off the bat, or maybe it’s because I simply can’t decide how I feel about this story, but I think it’s a good fit for a discussion post, even if it is more controversial than most of the topics I might choose to discuss.
Recently in New Hampshire, a father was arrested at a school board meeting after speaking out against a book that was assigned to his 9th grade daughter’s reading list. You can read the full article (the best of many that I could find) here or watch a youtube video (which is also embedded into the article, but that crashed my browsers when I tried to play it) of the meeting and arrest here.
Honestly, I can understand why he was arrested. He spoke out of turn, interrupted someone else, wouldn’t settle down, and then when he was politely asked to leave, he refused and told the officer that he would need to arrest him to make him leave. He was passionate about the cause but he let it turn disrespectful to the other parents. I wanted to be upset that none of the other parents stood up for him when the officer led him away, but honestly, their children’s education was more important. The charges will most likely end up dropped anyway, so it’s not a big deal.
The board meeting was needed due to the policy that parents needed to “opt out” of such novels being chosen, instead of approving the novels one by one as they came up in the required reading list. The book in question is Nineteen Minutes by Jodi Picoult. I haven’t read this book, however, the one in question, page 313, can be read as an overlay in the video I posted. The scene depicts forceful sex between two teenagers. To some, it could be seen as borderline rape, since the girl does tell the boy to “wait” which he ignores, going so far as to cover her mouth so she can’t protest farther. The scene isn’t explicit compared to much of what I have read in many YA novels, but the general tones of the scene make me question if it isn’t a rape. Comments across the outlets are scattered from things such as “The parents need to parent, so they should read each book ahead of time to know what their children are reading.” or “Outrageous! This shouldn’t be in the hands of our children!” or even “Really? Parents are alright with war but a little sex is too much for their precious angels?”.
I am mixed with my feelings on things. I can’t decide who I want/should side with. The school board, who believes that proper notifications being sent home are enough for content such as this. The parents, for believing that this kind of stuff doesn’t belong in schools. Or the outsiders, who believe that the parents need to be more proactive with their children’s education so that things such as these can be controlled better.
On the one hand, these are 9th graders. These children are 14 years old, and while yes, the school board should’ve been more open with their take home notices, these are children who should already be educated about sex, which makes something so small seem rather silly to even bring up. On the other hand, does it really need to be in classrooms? I can understand and even partly agree with the one mother’s comment that it’s fine if someone wants to allow their child to read books of this style, but that it should be a parent’s choice. Are schools in the wrong for assigning novels such as these to their reading list? Is it really the fact that the book features sexual content, or is it in the way the content is delivered? Are the parents objecting to sex, or to rape? Is this truly any different than a book that features war, abuse, murder, incest? Does that mean Shakespeare should be removed from the classroom as well?
Or does it boil down to us over-protecting our children too much? Should the kids be the ones to decide if they don’t want to read such a thing? If they were told “Alright class, we will be starting this new book today and it features rape, violence, and a lack of victim empowerment.” should they kids be given the option for an alternative assignment? Should they be able to speak up against what they can read, or should it all fall onto the parents? Or, is it the school board who is in the wrong? Is this book really such a horrible choice for a ninth grade reading list?
What do you think, should the school board be more proactive, the parents find more control, or should the children be given better options and empowerment in their education? I would love to hear your thoughts, because I am still torn on mine.
