Am I crazy? | Imamother

amother

Sat, Dec 23 2023, 5:49 pm

I was told the book The Cay by Timothy Taylor is considered inappropriate by a school to teach in a frum setting. Last year I was at a different school. I remember reading this book when I was a student myself. After examining the book from all angles, I could not for the life of me find something objectionable. It can be a great curricular piece. It’s from the 60’s, for heavens sake!

After some probing, I found out that this is because of an “inappropriate word.” I didn’t remember any of those, so after hearing a bit more, I was truly shocked. Apparently, it’s because the book refers to a character’s hands that are weathered and callused with a perfectly apt word, h-o-r-n-y. But apparently some parents thought that because that word has a meaning that adults use in different settings, the book should be banned. I have seldom heard something as ridiculous as that coming from a school, but apparently this was a shared feeling. Am I crazy? What am I not understanding??

amother

Almond

Sat, Dec 23 2023, 6:06 pm

amother OP wrote:

Apparently, it’s because the book refers to a character’s hands that are weathered and callused with a perfectly apt word, h-o-r-n-y. But apparently some parents thought that because that word has a meaning that adults use in different settings, the book should be banned. I have seldom heard something as ridiculous as that coming from a school, but apparently this was a shared feeling. Am I crazy? What am I not understanding??

Yup, some parents. I used to blame this kind of thing on schools, but as time goes on I have realized that most of the time the poor school administrators just feel forced to cater to the 5% most extreme parents.

Plonis bas Plonis

Sat, Dec 23 2023, 6:10 pm

This is actually something that upsets me.
Why does everything that is not need to be s-xualized?
Why are we making problems out of nothing??
There are so many words out there that if used in a different context can refer to “inappropriate” things.

And I guess h-rny is a little more ‘explicit’ so maybe not with this example but in general…

amother

Sat, Dec 23 2023, 6:10 pm

amother Seafoam wrote:

It’s a sensitivity
I’d let it go
And find a different book

Quickly finding a new book in a carefully crafted and scaffolded curriculum is really hard to do. This “sensitivity” seems beyond!

amother

Sat, Dec 23 2023, 6:11 pm

amother Almond wrote:

Could be. I’ll try to take this perspective.

amother

Chambray

Sat, Dec 23 2023, 6:11 pm

Every book I've ever taught has been problematic.
I find the only way to teach any literature these days that is approved by schools and parents is to get a pdf copy of the book and censor it and copy for the class.
I have no idea how this works legally but this is what my schools have done...

amother

Almond

Sat, Dec 23 2023, 6:13 pm

amother OP wrote:

Could be. I’ll try to take this perspective.

It's still very frustrating. Kol hakavod to you for caring about the quality of the curriculum and doing your best to work within the constraints!

amother

DarkGreen

Sat, Dec 23 2023, 6:17 pm

amother Almond wrote:

I pretty much agree with this. In this case, though, I'm wondering if this censorship is more likely targeted the ones who know too much, and not the ones who are clueless. Maybe its that the administration just doesn't want to deal with kids saying Whaaaat You don't know what that means??!! And then having kids educated about things that parents may expect to be dealing with at home. And maybe they don't want to deal with the kids the teacher may have to send out of class because the kids are making a big deal about it when you get up to it in class. And they just feel its easier to skip the drama.

amother

Sunflower

Sat, Dec 23 2023, 6:18 pm

This makes me laugh. Many years ago I taught in a school that blacked out words and the students invested so much energy in trying to decipher the “dirty” words ( church, stupid etc nothing remotely bad) . Oh, and all characters in the story had to be of the same gender… As if in real life females and males are not part of the same family…

amother

Sat, Dec 23 2023, 6:26 pm

amother Sunflower wrote:

Wow…I’m guessing we’re not living in the same circles. I haven’t heard anything like that or even blacking out words like another poster described.

amother

Chambray

Sat, Dec 23 2023, 6:30 pm

amother OP wrote:

Wow…I’m guessing we’re not living in the same circles. I haven’t heard anything like that or even blacking out words like another poster described.

I'm assuming I am the other poster Smile

I've taught in a very right wing Lakewood yeshivish school and an OOT community school and have done this in both albeit to different extents. I teach High School so in general the books we cover have more questionable content and language, hence the need for blacking out.
That said, when I was in High School (the same one I now teach in) we read the same books and had the original copies...

amother

Poppy

Sun, Dec 24 2023, 8:15 am

Sorry, I'm not buying it. This ridiculous type of approach reminds me of the bakery that refused to decorate a graduation cake for the recipient who graduated "cvm laude" as it violated their policy against vulgarity. I mean seriously? Imamother won't even let me type the word, even though it's Latin and means "with" (so I spelled it the Roman way.) But as for censorship, since when is ignorance the driving force in education?

Ema of 5

Sun, Dec 24 2023, 8:17 am

amother Seafoam wrote:

It’s a sensitivity
I’d let it go
And find a different book

Sensitivity? Sensitivity to what??? Should we never use the word gay again, because it no longer only means happy? That’s not a sensitivity, that’s just not understanding how language works.

Ema of 5

Sun, Dec 24 2023, 8:20 am

amother Chambray wrote:

How many books are inappropriate already??? I mean I get not teaching Romeo and Juliet in certain schools, but seriously? We’re not talking about love story!
I’d love to see your list of books that were “problematic.”