I’m surprised they didn’t instead rip out all the pages that didn’t have any sexual activity in them.

That’s the ultimate problem with recent education. Agenda driven lessons leave no time for the basics like actually being able to read and understand basic logic. Recently they decided that 25 years of allowing students to use calculators for math class DIDN’T improve understanding of underlying principles! In fact, students surprisingly are worse at simple arithmetic. I think this guy is up for the Noble Prize in No Shit!

Minor? Slightly expurgated? That’s not what happened to these books. They were permanently damaged, not “expurgated”.

Holy Christ.. It’s a book….. get a hold of yourself.

I recommend the Marquis de Sade’s fine literary contributions

LimeyGeek on December 10, 2008 at 7:25 PM

Funny you should mention de Sade–I had Justine confiscated from me by a substitute in 12th grade AP English when a classmate grabbed the book from me and started reading a passage aloud. My teacher had a broader mind, and returned the book when he came back from leave. I didn’t see what the big deal was–there are themes filthier by far in the Old Testament.

Um…I hate to be a prurient juvenile here,
but did anyone catch the name of the Superintendent?

Richard Organisciak???

“Organsack.” And dudes named Richard are often nicknamed what?

Sorry, but that’s too tempting a target.

Mike D. on December 10, 2008 at 8:39 PM

Wait a minute! This has got to be a hoax!

I told you Bill Clinton’s fingerprints were all over this!

Mike D. on December 10, 2008 at 8:39 PM

I caught that too. I’m so glad there are other people like me that refuse to grow up and old.

Richard Organisciak???

“Organsack.” And dudes named Richard are often nicknamed what?

Sorry, but that’s too tempting a target.

If we don’t have enough “staff” from Gitmo, The One will probably be working some massive release program of the general prison population to enrich our lives in a few months. They would love to help the education effort. Many already have.

I am much less worried about the economy than I am The One’s legal and social theories.

You heard it here first.

The board made the right call, but still misunderstands the issue:

How can letting schoolchildren read sexplicit novels be right?

warbaby on December 10, 2008 at 6:38 PM

LOL.

From the statement issued by the Superintendent of Schools:

As explained to me, one of our former English department faculty members, advocated some years ago for inclusion of this book in a 10th grade course as part of a unit designed to address issues including mental health and conformity, because she felt that it discussed matters of importance to her students. Ninety copies of the book were ordered in 2001, of which approximately 50 copies remain at the High School. In addition, to the initial user of the book, only one other teacher used the book.

The Superintendent of Schools, apparently attended school, in New Rochelle.

If you really wanted to teach a high-quality comprehensive course with good books, just pick and choose from the plethora of books that have been featured on the TV show “Lost.” Its a who’s who of classic books. And yes, Ayn Rand is in there.

http://lostpedia.com/wiki/Literary_works

Sylvia Plath would have been a better choice really. And assignments to watch a movie (even as a comparison) are really just lazy.

the schools in New Rochelle have plenty of other options in teaching literature to their students, including Dickens, Shakespeare, Voltaire, Dumas, among many others

Oh, come on. Those are just a bunch of dead white men. What could they know about life or the much progressed world we live in. And they will add little to the destruction of the evil empire of Bush.