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Dear Alison,
I served as the Cultural Art Chair for the Maryland Congress of Parents &
Teachers (state level), being involved with various levels of the PTA. I am
sure, as with all groups, that the PTA does have its share of enthusiasts. I
found this to be true, mostly on the local level, in individual schools
within a county or district. On the county level it becomes less of a
problem and even more, on the state and national level. There is a
cirriculum sub committee, on the county level, but it is focused on
providing accurate text books in math, science and literature. Text books
must be evaluated for accuracy, and unfortunately many text books do provide
inaccurate or outdated information. This committee is not established to ban
or censor any publication, its purpose is solely to inform local and state
school boards of discrepancies in educational materials.
I will say what is done on the local level, is often not in accordance with
county, state or national levels and that according to bylaws and
procedures, each school is considered an individual entity. - Deborah
Russell
http://groups.msn.com/ParallelsStudio
http://worldhaikureview.org
*************
From: Alison Croggon <[log in to unmask]>
Reply-To: Poetryetc provides a venue for a dialogue relating to poetry and
poetics Is Lemony Snicket on that list with his Series of Unfortunate Events
(about the Baudelaire siblings?) I didn't see it, but might have
missed it. Lemony Snicket is possibly the first post modern
children's writer; he is certainly hilarious, and deeply subservsive.
And his Unauthorised Biography is a total delight, full of wicked
literary allusions and tricks, which I can recommend to anyone here
for bedtime reading, or for their kids.
It is certainly a depressing list. I recently watched Donnie Darko
(a black fairy tale about America, and well worth a look, if you
haven't) in which a PTA member calls for the banning of Graham
Greene, and I assume the mechanisms of banning work as in that film.
There seems to be a strong element in US society which is still
deeply puritan, and which insists on the purity of childhood. We
have a censorship system and occasional rows appear about unsuitable
books on school lists, but we don't seem to go in for wholesale
banning on this scale.
best
A
--
Alison Croggon
Editor, Masthead
http://au.geocities.com/masthead_2/
Home page
http://www.users.bigpond.com/acroggon/
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