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| Hearsay: |
Okay get this: BoingBoing points to a story about a US school district that has ripped pages from the middle of a book to “protect” students from the content. That’s answer! To every problem! Mutilation! I think I’m going to answer every question with that today and see how it works out. George, how are ya? Mutilation. Do you have change for a five? Mutilation. What do you think about this whole proroguing of parailment business? Mutilation. It’s just endlessly useful.
Students at New Rochelle School High School are going to find it difficult to complete their next assignment: comparing the film adaptation of “Girl, Interrupted” to the best-selling book
. In the book, Kaysen recounts her confinement at a Massachussets mental hospital in the 1960’s.
Pages from the middle of the book have been torn out by the school district after having been deemed “inappropriate” by school officials due to sexual content and strong language. Removed is a scene where the rebellious Lisa (played by Angela Jolie in the movie) encourages Susanna (played by Winona Ryder) to circumvent hospital rules against sexual intercourse by engaging in oral sex instead.
“The material was of a sexual nature that we deemed inappropriate for teachers to present to their students,” said English Department Chariperson Leslie Altschul, “since the book has other redeeming features, we took the liberty of bowdlerizing.”
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December 8th, 2008 at 4:34 pm
Yes, destroying books is disgusting. But does anyone else feel that Girl, Interrupted isn’t really the kind of book to teach in high school? Not because of the blowjobs (although I would have died if I had to listen to my high school english teacher talk about blowjobs) but just because it’s kind of a fluffy book to spend several weeks painstakingly analyzing. Regardless, Altschul’s a fool.
December 9th, 2008 at 1:13 am
Ahh, that’s so American. Here’s some Canadian nostalgia, picture the RCMP kicking down your door and turning the house upside down. From the BCLA Intellectual Freedom Committee…
“Tropic of Cancer by Henry Miller. In October 1961, a Vancouver Public Library (VPL) employee phoned Customs to find out if this title was on the banned list, after being previously banned in 1958. RCMP officers then raided VPL and two bookstores. They used a “writ of assistance” issued by the Exchequer Court of Canada that allowed them to enter public buildings, commercial establishments and private homes to search for the novel. One volume was seized at Duthie Books, Vancouver, and the three copies at VPL were recalled and seized when they were returned by library patrons. [Mind War: Book Censorship in English Canada, p. 20; Oct. 14, 1961, The Vancouver Sun 14 October 1986, p. B5; RCMP Swoops on Banned Sex Novel, The Vancouver Sun 14 October 1961, p. 1,2]“
December 9th, 2008 at 6:55 am
Um, look at the years. Just sayin.
December 10th, 2008 at 5:53 pm
Good news, folks!
Apparently, the board members read blogs – and did not like what they were reading about themselves. Good work, everyone.
Facing Firestorm of Criticism, New Rochelle Schools Relent on “Girl, Interrupted” Censorship
[see link above]
Robert Cox