z68\clip\2003\06\cedars.txt

I heard a complaint from a girl about this book as well. I tried to
keep a tally of dirty words and explicatives, and pretty much lost
count after a couple hundred.

-----Original Message----- From: geoncyn@aol.com
[mailto:geoncyn@aol.com] Sent: Sunday, June 01, 2003 8:45 AM To:
wa-ed-deform@yahoogroups.com Subject: [wa-ed-deform] Letter to the
Editor: Bad Books in School


If you haven't been to www.pabbis.org yet you'll want to after reading
the below letter to the editor about a required reading in the
Peninsula School District. 

http://www.tribnet.com/opinion/letters/story/3218228p-3243593c.html

Students shouldn't have to read explicit 'Cedars' BRIAN WARD;
Longbranch; 

At the May 22 Peninsula School Board meeting, parents challenged the
use of "Snow Falling on Cedars" when teaching 11th- and 12th-grade
students descriptive writing. 

A student's letter to her teacher expressing her revulsion at reading
the sexually explicit passages and a sense of a loss of innocence was
read aloud. The student's father demanded the removal of the book from
the required reading list.

Many of the students exposed to such literature are 16, too young to
attend R-rated movies without their parents or guardians. Is the film
industry more protective of our children than our own school board? I
would only request that the literature selected for my minor children
keep in line with the minimal standards of the film industry's
voluntary rating system.

A teacher tried to explain the necessity of using such books.
Particularly revealing was her portrayal of our children as
TV-addicted, headphone-wearing, sexually bombarded, hyper youth who
would not sit still to study "Silas Marner."

I found it ironic that this educator could speak in such flowery prose
about the injustice of the internment of Japanese Americans, while at
the same time turning a deaf ear to the injustice of imprisoning the
minds of minor students with graphic, sexually explicit reading
material.

For now, novels such as "Cedars" have a home on the reading list. The
superintendent announced he was open to continuing the discussion.

The next board meeting is set for 6:30 p.m. June 12 at the district
office.

BRIAN WARD Longbranch (Published 12:01AM, June 1st, 2003)