Teacher Suspended For Reading 'Ender's Game' To Middle School Students? - Page 2

KentE · 03-26-2012, 08:00 PM

The details seem to be murky, but... I can't think of a better recent book to be required reading at a middle school level than Ender's Game.
Let's see: the entire Ender saga is a morality tale. The book illustrates the advantages of analyzing a situation and applying innovative solutions that work. It encourages looking for the true value in a person without judging by outward appearances. It points out that the youngest, smallest, physically weakest, etc., can be part (or most) of the solution to a problem.
Why would anyone object to that as a teaching tool for young adults? Oh, yeah..... Well, at least it will join a large list of incredibly good books that have been banned because some narrow-minded person objected, and a range of officials with no backbone caved in.
If I had a child that age, I'd make sure they had access to a wide range of banned books!
KentE

plib · 03-26-2012, 08:58 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BenG

In South Carolina a teacher has been placed on administrative leave....

Any bets on how long it takes this to hit the Colbert Report?

patrickt · 03-27-2012, 07:31 AM

A. One parent. There is a nut in every town and it really doesn't matter where you live. In this case the nut went with porn but we've all heard of demands that "Huckleberry Finn" be pulled from schools because it's not politically correct according to someone.

B. When the one nut complains, the lawyers panic. They never say, "Ignore the nitiwt." No, it's automatic panic time.

C. I would be willing to bet the "suspension" is with pay. As horribly overworked as teachers are, if he's off a month with pay they might all start reading "Enders Game" to their classes.

Rob Lister · 03-27-2012, 08:31 AM

Ender's Game is a piece of art. Easily one of the best books I've ever read. One of the few books I've read several times. Pornographic? That is absurd. I can't really think of a better book to put in the hands of child to teach them the joy of reading; the morality lessons are not trivial either.

This has to be a joke.

bill_mchale · 03-27-2012, 10:04 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ProfCrash

The Shadow series is better then the other sequels.

Personally I thought Speaker for the Dead was at least as strong as Ender's Game... I generally recommend that most people reader Ender's Game and Speaker and stop there... Though I have to admit, I haven't read the more recent books in the series.

--
Bill

Rob Lister · 03-27-2012, 10:15 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bill_mchale

Personally I thought Speaker for the Dead was at least as strong as Ender's Game... I generally recommend that most people reader Ender's Game and Speaker and stop there... Though I have to admit, I haven't read the more recent books in the series.

--
Bill

None in the series stand up to either of those two but ... those two set very, very high bars for comparison. IOW, all of the books in the series are very worthy reads. While some are better than others, I never got the feeling Card was whoring out success for a quick publisher-mandated profit.

Well, maybe a little.

ProfCrash · 03-27-2012, 10:32 AM

Speaker was good, the rest were not so good. The Shadow series has been pretty solid although the last few books have seen a noticable decline.

abookreader · 03-27-2012, 11:02 AM

Well apparently the teacher was suspended for not following the school policy of getting the reading material approved before reading it to the class. Anybody who wants to deal with literature in the school systems needs to tread very carefully.

I agree that there are censor-nuts all over the place but this one does shock me. Pornographic? I guess the boys and girls do share one dorm but for goodness sake.

At the library where I volunteer the staff talks frequently about how most of the people who "protest" books have never read the books they want taken off the shelves. I'm betting that is the case here also. It wouldn't shock me to find out that the "protester" heard the book had been used in class, googled and ran across some fan fiction ..... and took it from there.

plib · 03-27-2012, 02:09 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by abookreader

Well apparently the teacher was suspended for not following the school policy of getting the reading material approved before reading it to the class. Anybody who wants to deal with literature in the school systems needs to tread very carefully.

That is a sad indictment of an "education" system.

KentE · 03-28-2012, 06:59 PM

The banning of Ender's Game reminded me of a school system in Missouri that banned Vonnegut's Slaughterhouse 5 last year after a parent's complaint. With the help of a donor, the Kurt Vonnegut Memorial Library offered to send a free copy to any student of the school requesting one. Now, that's a class response!
I went to the website of the KVML to confirm the details, and noticed that they now have a program to assist in resisting attempts to ban other books from school libraries. Sounds good to me, and I sent a donation via paypal. If anyone's inclined to do the same, check it out at http://www.vonnegutlibrary.org/ and the process is pretty simple.

KentE

Ekaros · 03-29-2012, 07:35 PM

So will we see anyone getting suspended for reading certain parts of Bible? There is quite a lot questionable stuff in Old Testament...

For some reasons I liked other books in both series better than Ender's Game...

carpetmojo · 03-30-2012, 03:58 AM

Daft.

HarryT · 03-30-2012, 05:23 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by askyn

If you enjoy Enders Game, after you finish get his book called Enders Shadow.

Same basic story, but from Beans view point. Bean is way more intelligent then ender and has a very unique perspective on the story.

Very well worth the read.

My inner pedant forces me to point out that something can't be "very unique". Something either is unique (the only one of its kind) or it is not. There are no "degrees of uniqueness"

.

abookreader · 03-30-2012, 08:18 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ekaros

So will we see anyone getting suspended for reading certain parts of Bible? There is quite a lot questionable stuff in Old Testament...

For some reasons I liked other books in both series better than Ender's Game...

I can assure you that in a US Public (government run) school, a teacher would be suspended for reading the Bible to his/her class. I've heard of a few literature classes where teachers have attempted to bring common religious texts in for study on a literary basis rather than theology, but very few educators would even attempt to negotiate that minefield.

There are perhaps some more conservative communities where it is done outside of the approval of our laws, but as a whole it would be grounds for dismissal at most public schools.

I do see from your profile that you are not from the US so you may not be aware of just how things are here.

Ekaros · 03-30-2012, 08:28 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by abookreader

I can assure you that in a US Public (government run) school, a teacher would be suspended for reading the Bible to his/her class. I've heard of a few literature classes where teachers have attempted to bring common religious texts in for study on a literary basis rather than theology, but very few educators would even attempt to negotiate that minefield.

There are perhaps some more conservative communities where it is done outside of the approval of our laws, but as a whole it would be grounds for dismissal at most public schools.

I do see from your profile that you are not from the US so you may not be aware of just how things are here.

Yeah, from outside it looks like a quite of a mess. Like the latest news from New York. Must be hard for public school teachers...

03-27-2012, 07:31 AM	#18
patrickt Wizard Posts: 1,221 Karma: 8381518 Join Date: Oct 2009 Location: Oaxaca, Mexico Device: Paperwhite 4 X 2	A. One parent. There is a nut in every town and it really doesn't matter where you live. In this case the nut went with porn but we've all heard of demands that "Huckleberry Finn" be pulled from schools because it's not politically correct according to someone. B. When the one nut complains, the lawyers panic. They never say, "Ignore the nitiwt." No, it's automatic panic time. C. I would be willing to bet the "suspension" is with pay. As horribly overworked as teachers are, if he's off a month with pay they might all start reading "Enders Game" to their classes. Last edited by patrickt; 03-27-2012 at 07:34 AM.

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03-26-2012, 08:00 PM	#16
KentE ...still a Zealot Posts: 268 Karma: 319949 Join Date: Feb 2012 Location: Kansas City, Kansas, USA Device: Palm Pixi & PC	The details seem to be murky, but... I can't think of a better recent book to be required reading at a middle school level than Ender's Game. Let's see: the entire Ender saga is a morality tale. The book illustrates the advantages of analyzing a situation and applying innovative solutions that work. It encourages looking for the true value in a person without judging by outward appearances. It points out that the youngest, smallest, physically weakest, etc., can be part (or most) of the solution to a problem. Why would anyone object to that as a teaching tool for young adults? Oh, yeah..... Well, at least it will join a large list of incredibly good books that have been banned because some narrow-minded person objected, and a range of officials with no backbone caved in. If I had a child that age, I'd make sure they had access to a wide range of banned books! KentE

03-27-2012, 08:31 AM	#19
Rob Lister Fanatic Posts: 532 Karma: 3293888 Join Date: Oct 2011 Location: Virginia Device: Nook Simple Touch	Ender's Game is a piece of art. Easily one of the best books I've ever read. One of the few books I've read several times. Pornographic? That is absurd. I can't really think of a better book to put in the hands of child to teach them the joy of reading; the morality lessons are not trivial either. This has to be a joke.

03-27-2012, 10:32 AM	#22
ProfCrash Tea Enthusiast Posts: 8,554 Karma: 75384937 Join Date: Jul 2010 Location: Somewhere in the USA Device: Kindle1, Kindle DX Graphite, K3 3G, IPad 3, PW2	Speaker was good, the rest were not so good. The Shadow series has been pretty solid although the last few books have seen a noticable decline.

03-27-2012, 11:02 AM	#23
abookreader Wizard Posts: 1,516 Karma: 2567610 Join Date: Oct 2009 Device: Kindles - Keyboard, Fire, 2-US, iPhone, iPAD	Well apparently the teacher was suspended for not following the school policy of getting the reading material approved before reading it to the class. Anybody who wants to deal with literature in the school systems needs to tread very carefully. I agree that there are censor-nuts all over the place but this one does shock me. Pornographic? I guess the boys and girls do share one dorm but for goodness sake. At the library where I volunteer the staff talks frequently about how most of the people who "protest" books have never read the books they want taken off the shelves. I'm betting that is the case here also. It wouldn't shock me to find out that the "protester" heard the book had been used in class, googled and ran across some fan fiction ..... and took it from there.

03-28-2012, 06:59 PM	#25
KentE ...still a Zealot Posts: 268 Karma: 319949 Join Date: Feb 2012 Location: Kansas City, Kansas, USA Device: Palm Pixi & PC	The banning of Ender's Game reminded me of a school system in Missouri that banned Vonnegut's Slaughterhouse 5 last year after a parent's complaint. With the help of a donor, the Kurt Vonnegut Memorial Library offered to send a free copy to any student of the school requesting one. Now, that's a class response! I went to the website of the KVML to confirm the details, and noticed that they now have a program to assist in resisting attempts to ban other books from school libraries. Sounds good to me, and I sent a donation via paypal. If anyone's inclined to do the same, check it out at http://www.vonnegutlibrary.org/ and the process is pretty simple. KentE

03-29-2012, 07:35 PM	#26
Ekaros Illiterate newbie Posts: 661 Karma: 1702090 Join Date: Dec 2011 Location: Finland Device: Sony PRS-T1	So will we see anyone getting suspended for reading certain parts of Bible? There is quite a lot questionable stuff in Old Testament... For some reasons I liked other books in both series better than Ender's Game...

03-30-2012, 03:58 AM	#27
carpetmojo Wizard Posts: 3,117 Karma: 9269999 Join Date: Feb 2011 Location: UK Device: Sony- T3, PRS650, 350, T1/2/3, Paperwhite, Fire 8.9,Samsung Tab S 10.5	Daft.