It wasn't a band of angry students who destroyed about two dozen copies of "Bless Me, Ultima," a novel selected for a Norwood High School English class - it was a group of parents. Norwood School Superintendent Bob Conder confiscated the books and released them to parents to be burned or otherwise purged.
Conder said that he removed the books based on complaints by parents, complaints that were made "mainly" about the language. The book, which is used in high school level curricula all over the country, contains profanity; it also deals with cultural and religious issues."Filthy language," said Conder of the profanity. "I'm not going to repeat the language. Our job is to protect kids from things that aren't good for kids."
The teacher who selected the novel wrote a letter of apology to her students' parents. Conder said he didn't know whether the books were burned, or how they were destroyed after he released them to parents.
The book was ordered for the class from an academic catalog, and the title appears frequently on AP and International Baccalaureate lists which recommend titles for classrooms. Millie Davis, the Division Director of Communication and Affiliate Services for the National Council of Teachers of English, said that school districts normally have both a policy for book selection and a policy for book objection. The burning, tearing or destruction of books is not as common.
"I'm flabbergasted that something like this would be happening in this day and age," said Davis.
Yeah, me too. Actually, this
story also makes me want to utter filthy language. Is this book-burning
thing happening more and more, or is it just getting more attention
when it happens? I can't figure it out.
