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    Kamai - Looming and InevitableAndy Cush
    4/06/16 12:44pm

    I don’t have any problem with Beloved, but is there really anything wrong with allowing parents to have a say in what material their children consume? That does seem like their right and responsibility.

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      An Awful Shade of PuceKamai - Looming and Inevitable
      4/06/16 12:58pm

      Part of the point of the education system is to ensure access and exposure to outside perspectives. PTA groups already exist to give parents a say, as do their votes for members of the local school board. If you start letting them curate reading lists like this, though, you might as well not send them to school. The teachers are educated experts in their subjects (ideally, anyway). If they pick something for a reading list, you have to trust they did it for a reason.

      Also, these are high schoolers. It’s the internet age. Libraries still exist. They could find a parentally-disapproved book on their own with just a title. If I were a parent concerned about a book, I’d much rather have them be exposed to it in the controlled and analytical environment of an English class than let them misinterpret it on their own.

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      ecchic889Kamai - Looming and Inevitable
      4/06/16 1:11pm

      In public school, yes. Most school teachers don’t have time to design specific lessons or unit for children who opt out books, so they’ll just teach something else, effectively erasing that book from the curriculum of the entire class.

      If a parent doesn’t want a child reading a particular work, they should move them out of public school/AP literature. If you’re going to put the work of educating your child on the state and the teachers (which we gladly take on) you have to accept some compromises as well.

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    Rom RombertsAndy Cush
    4/06/16 11:56am

    And Jesus did sit with his followers and he said to them, “Speak not of boobs more than 15 times. You are moral and good with 14 boobs. You are a hell-bound prisoner of immorality when you become an immoral 15-boob-saying monster.” And they did eat the rest of the meal in silence until Dakota asked Jesus, “But what of our rearmost morality question, the butt?” And Jesus did look at Dakota and sigh heavily. Amen.

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      owen-magneticRom Romberts
      4/06/16 12:04pm

      15 is the number of boobs you shall count and the number of boobs you shall count be 15. you shall not count to 14, unless thou proceed directly to 15. 16 is RIGHT OUT!

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      Angelica SchuylerRom Romberts
      4/06/16 12:21pm

      And He did say to Dick Black, go forth and fuck thy wife regardless of her thoughts, for rape her you cannot. I say, she weareth a nightie.

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    EldritchAndy Cush
    4/06/16 12:07pm

    People who ban books are the lowest of the low. Books are one of the greatest tools we as a society have to teach and grow. Using literature to talk about uncomfortable truths and history some would rather try to make disappear is one of our greatest gifts as humans. Anyone who wants to coddle their child, stifle the growth of others, and ban a book are truly loathesome creatures. Look at this asshole. He has no clue why this book has merit, why it’s important. It doesn’t fit within his narrow world view so he calls it “filth” and wants it gone. Shit like this makes me so angry.

    Books are our greatest weapon against ignorance.

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      WarrenEyePieceEldritch
      4/06/16 12:18pm

      He’s Republican. They like’em ignorant.

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      TheBurnersMyDestinationEldritch
      4/06/16 12:20pm

      Yasss!!!! What makes this even more puzzling (to me) is that Beloved is such a universally acclaimed book. It’s not some new, “what kids these days are reading” book picked by a teacher who is trying to appear “hip”. It’s Pulitzer Prize caliber stuff written by a Nobel Prize winner. And sure, it has some difficult themes, but that is why you read it in school! With a teacher who is there to help you work through those themes.

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    jpeayAndy Cush
    4/06/16 12:11pm

    I want to say that as a parent I should very much have a say in the type of “literature” my child reads while a minor. If a list was sent home to me and a book was marked as sexually explicit, if I still felt the book had merit within context to explore significant themes I wouldn’t deny a teachers request to use it. But, the teacher is not my child’s parent and there may very well be books that my child should not be reading as a minor.

    What I don’t like is when you couple the idea of parental involvement and thoughtful curriculum with censorship. This is America. ‘Beloved’ can be found, bought and read freely by everyone. This isn’t censorship. But it is an opportunity for parents who want to intervene and help guide their child’s growth into adulthood as they see fit.

    I have no problem with the bill, the senator or the teacher. However, I feel the teacher has surely overreached here.

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      Lovecrimesjpeay
      4/06/16 12:20pm

      If you want to micromanage your child’s education, homeschooling is an option. This bill would have a chilling effect on teachers who would otherwise continue to properly teach vital works like Beloved.

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      festivusazilijpeay
      4/06/16 12:50pm

      The bill doesn’t just let them direct their child’s education. It gives the parent the right to demand alternative materials, taking valuable and limited resources away from every other student that has elected to take the AP (read: optional) class.

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    EasttoMidwestAndy Cush
    4/06/16 12:02pm

    FFS. The inside part IS the vagina. The outside part is the vulva. Basic stuff.

    There are tons of new studies coming out that suggest reading fiction can improve a person’s sense of empathy. I’d be very curious to know what novels this guy has read in the last year. Hell, the last ten years.

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      TheBurnersMyDestinationEasttoMidwest
      4/06/16 12:09pm

      Also, why does everything read in a class have to be non-controversial? Isn’t it a good thing to have students read opposing view points so they can analyze them?

      This reminds me of every 10th grader who complains that the characters in The Great Gatsby aren’t likeable, and therefore the book sucks. They aren’t supposed to be likeable! You really want to sympathize with Tom Buchannan?

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      EasttoMidwestTheBurnersMyDestination
      4/06/16 12:16pm

      That’s exactly it. Novels force a reader to stretch past their own experience and points of view.

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    America's WangAndy Cush
    4/06/16 11:56am

    Now do the Old Testament.

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      MistressSparrow2America's Wang
      4/06/16 12:03pm

      Well played. I was just wondering if any member of that legislature read Canterbury Tales in high school, but yours is better.

      *insert rant about liberal arts education here*

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      The_MockingbirdAmerica's Wang
      4/06/16 12:03pm

      I think the big question everyone is wondering is if the author was talking about 76 total breasts, or maybe some of those references were about Amazons.

      I can't gauge the extent of my politically-convenient outrage until I have this quantified, thanks.

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    Chris RobertsAndy Cush
    4/06/16 12:57pm

    Just because a novel is critically acclaimed and has won a bunch of awards doesn’t mean it’s appropriate for everyone. I’ve not read Beloved, so I can’t speak to this particular novel. While I wouldn’t prevent my kids from reading it, I certainly respect that not all parents want their kids exposed to graphic content in school. They should have the right to opt their kids out, but that shouldn’t impact the rest of the kids. Send the kids whose parents object to a study hall, and let them read the Scarlet Letter, Red Badge of Courage or whatever the fuck.

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      lorem ipsumChris Roberts
      4/06/16 1:11pm

      Bullshit. If you opt in to public education, you are putting your trust in public education. Want to be a helicopter parent? Homeschool.

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      Chris Robertslorem ipsum
      4/06/16 1:21pm

      Public education has never been an all or nothing proposition. And most families can’t afford the luxury of home schooling.

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    stacyinbeanAndy Cush
    4/06/16 12:15pm

    “You do not know better than the parents.”

    Then why are those parents sending their children to school? Surely if they are so much better informed and able to make all the perfect decisions for their children they would be teaching them at home and not allowing their minds to be tarnished by such a vile piece of literature.

    I read Beloved in a freaking Catholic high school English class and no one batted an eyelash, these idiots are too much.

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      Lawyerherestacyinbean
      4/06/16 12:29pm

      Harumph. I get people calling me for a legal opinion and then arguing with me about what the law should be or that I don’t know what I’m talking about because I won’t tell them what they want to hear. If the parents know better then they can home school their kids. Otherwise let them do their job.

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      sgt-Hellianstacyinbean
      4/06/16 12:46pm

      Hell yeah I expect my child’s high school teachers to know better than me. If I can one day help my kid with their calculus homework then that teacher will need to explain themselves as to why I can now do calculus.

      As for reading, well I read a lot of weird stuff as a teen. I have no leg to stand on.

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    HangnailsAndy Cush
    4/06/16 12:01pm

    Hey Andy! Not to be that guy but Terry McAuliffe is a Democrat.

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      Andy CushHangnails
      4/06/16 12:02pm

      oops, thanks

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      DolemiteHangnails
      4/06/16 2:03pm

      Governor McAuliffe also recently vetoed one of those idiotic “religious liberty” bills that have been passing in many southern states that allow bigoted company owners to discriminate against people based on their “religion”. I actually emailed him to thank him for keeping the moronic GOP-controlled VA legislature in check as best he could.

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    Younger KennedyAndy Cush
    4/06/16 12:30pm

    If we’re trying to keep our teenagers away from smut, well, we MIGHT be too late on that one.

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      smithkidYounger Kennedy
      4/06/16 12:36pm

      I laughed and laughed and laughed. Obviously, these people never spend a significant amount of time with teenagers or they believe their kids are in fact, doing those things that amount to “moral sewage.”

      I love teenagers. I just can’t deal with adults who think that we need to protect our kids from moral smut in novels because if they kid goes to school. They hear and see those things from their peers-especially the peer who keeps drawing dicks on everything in my classroom.

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      Younger Kennedysmithkid
      4/06/16 12:43pm

      I mean, the fact that they list the mentions of breasts and genitals, like, the kids have breasts and genitals.

      I’m a little older than the kids they’re protecting, and I got into some shit thanks to Google. I can only imagine what they’re into now.

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