The outcry over local junior high students reading the book “The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian” by Sherman Alexie raises age-old questions about the nature of education, as well as serving as a reminder of the tensions that come with living in a democratic society.
As outlined in our story on page 1, local junior high teachers’ decision to have students read the book has aroused concern among some parents, who believe the book is wrong for eighth-graders.
Alexie, the author of “Diary,” is a Native American stand-up comedian, screenwriter, film producer, and songwriter whose previous work centered around adult novels, short stories, poems, and screenplays. Alexie grew up on the reservation in Spokane, Wash., depicted in the book.
“Diary,” released in 2007, is the first-person account of a 14-year-old Indian boy’s decision to attend a “white” school off the reservation, the incidents and pressures that preceded and followed that decision, and his observations on life as he’s experienced it. It’s blunt, it’s revealing. It’s crass in places.
It’s also a good book, in some ways.
“Diary” has been a prize-winner and a pariah, winning a 2007 National Book Award for Young People’s Literature, a 2008 Boston Globe-Horn Book Award, a 2009 Odyssey Award as the year’s “best audiobook for children or young adults” and a 2010 California Young Reader Medal, along with high praise from various library publications.
It’s also been listed in the American Library Association’s Top 10 banned books three straight years through 2012 (at last check, 2013 wasn’t yet available on the organization’s website).
Clearly, beauty is in the eye of the beholder.
So why should parents have a problem with a book that’s gotten rave reviews from people ostensibly expert in what literature is good for youngsters?
When this controversy bubbled to the surface last week, some of us at The New Era decided to read “Diary,” or at least much of it. It’s an interesting story, about a kid who has to yank himself up by his own bootstraps, so to speak, without help from anyone else in his community. It’s about how life works in different societies, about racism and other prejudice, substance abuse and addiction, family, sex, sports, etc. It’s easy to see the appeal it might have to junior high kids and their teachers.
It’s also clear why some parents object to it.
It includes expletive-laden language, sexually explicit content and anti-social behavior, to put it mildly. As one local community resident, who’s read the book, observed, “Diary” is like a movie that’s a great story, until filmmakers add profanity and sex to make it sell better – and ruin it for viewers who’d rather not fill their minds with that.
There are certainly some good lessons and discussion points for kids in “Diary.” It’s too bad they are besmirched by frequent dalliances into areas that run counter to much of what our schools are trying to teach local youngsters.
What makes it difficult is, as some teachers point out, the objectionable content sets the tone for the novel. Without it, the story loses something because it’s a story about a kid in a raw situation. In today’s world, that rough stuff isn’t very pretty.
As we said earlier, this controversy prompts the question of what the purpose of schooling is. In a democratic society where everyone, at least technically, has a say in what goes on, there are probably as many answers to that question as there are people.
Is the purpose of school to prepare young people academically for the “real world” – to teach them the three R’s and associated subjects that will help them get jobs and become contributing members of society? Or does it go beyond that? We lack the space here to flesh out all those issues, but we also recognize that education may look different in one community as opposed to another, depending on the parenting children receive at home, as well as other factors.
This controversy also highlights one of the challenges of a public school system, operated by the government – and the attraction of alternative schooling for some.
Parents, particularly those who are engaged and pay close attention to what their kids are learning, want their values reflected in what’s taught in the classroom. They don’t appreciate educational powers-that-be deciding that their youngsters need to learn about safe sex in health class, or become “sensitized” to alternative lifestyles, or read books or watch movies that push the envelope.
It was coincidental, but certainly interesting timing, that last week, when this local controversy bubbled to the surface, happened to be “School Choice Week” in the United States. It provided a platform for charter school advocates and others to promote their cause. This is one major reason why quality students, who could contribute much to “normal” public school classrooms, are placed in charter, private or home school situations. When issues like this arise, it’s not too hard to see the motivation.
Public schools are a long way from being perfect, and there will always be disagreement over what is appropriate in the classroom and what is not, because we all have different ideas about that.
As reported on page 5, the School Board has appointed a committee to review “Diary” and that is, in this context, the only real practical solution. Although we’re interested in what students think about this book, we think the decision on this book should be made by people who have life experience – preferably as parents themselves, because the raising of a child is not something you really can learn in a college classroom.
The goal of Sweet Home schools should be to help children growing up in Sweet Home learn to be responsible, compassionate, respectful, diligent and competent in basic academic fields – reading, writing, math, science, history and various technological skills for those who are inclined that way.
Whether “Diary” can be a necessary, or acceptable, ingredient in the local educational effort to reach that goal is not a simple question, but we believe classroom curricula should be consistent with school behavioral standards.
A book loaded with the type of language and actions that would likely guarantee a local junior high-er sent to a private session with the principal or the counselor doesn’t have to be the only way to generate thinking and discussion on topics to help youngsters develop a moral compass. Educators need to find a way to do this without a lot of unnecessary titillation and four-letter words.
But since this is a democratic community, the answers to these questions will be up to the newly established Reconsideration of Instructional Materials Committee to figure out.
We should keep in mind, though, that parents and teachers who object to this book are doing so because they are trying to do what’s best for the kids they’ve been given the responsibility to raise and teach. Those who think the novel is a good way to get youngsters to think seriously about important topics are also trying to do the right thing.
One major theme in “Diary” is respect – what it means and how it is earned. Parents on both sides of the issue, educators and administrators can remember that as we work through this. Let’s do it respectfully and reasonably, the way we want our children to behave.