Wednesday, October 14, 2009

Our students and "dirty books"



While a lot of the blogging and posting at Entertainment Weekly's website focuses on the latest exploits of John and Kate or summarizing the goings-on in Melrose 90210, sometimes it does stumble on something worthwhile.

Tina Jordan's post, you can find it here, discusses teenagers and pre-teenagers reading books that may approach or even throw themselves over the comfort line, as far as some adults might see it.

Where do you stand on that? Another one of EW's obsessions, the Twilight books, seems to fit in the discussion, too. But so do loads of other books that have fallen into the canon.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

In our ever changing world, we must continue to instill values in our students. As a classroom teacher, I try to choose books for the classroom that I feel any student would feel comfortable talking about the issues at hand. Even when issues are controversial, a "great" teacher knows how to introduce and successffully lead a calm, mature, intelligent discussion in his or her classroom.

The issue of "dirty books"? Have you watched television lately? The moral issues that are forced upon society through television are much more repugnant than a book. I always tell my students, "If you are turned off by the language, or an issue, skim over it, get the main idea, and then continue to read for the entended purpose." We encounter literature, books, and people every day that we often do not agree with. It's up to us to choose how we handle the situation.

What students read on their own time?????? Well, that's not really for me to say. It should be an individual or parental decision. What is taught in my classroom????? Absolutely my decision!