DISSERVICE TO STUDENTS
(In response to Danielle Grobmeier’s Feb. 22 article, “Bill would ban obscenity, indecency in classrooms.”)
As a future public school teacher, the portion of Senate Bill 1467 that was described in yesterday's paper worries me greatly. If there is no room for profanity or the discussion of lewd topics in the classroom, is there room for “To Kill a Mockingbird?” How about “The Catcher in the Rye” or “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn?” Each of these great books, along with many others, contain language and situations that would most certainly not be condoned by the Federal Communications Commisison. Yet, they are considered to be valuable components to a high school literature curriculum that would be severely weakened if teachers could not use the words with which they are written. Even if a censored version of these books were allowed to be taught, their power and meaning would be diluted; to take away Holden's vocabulary would be to take away his authenticity, his depth, his voice.
To simply omit any part of a student's education that could be considered offensive does a disservice to the student and to the world that they will help create. I have faith in the ability of myself and my colleagues to teach sensitive material in a way that is appropriate without being whitewashed. Don't ban the power of literature in the name of decency.
Emily Tingle
Undergraduate
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