GAY GEISER-SANDOVAL -- Educationally speaking

Regarding Wendy Leece’s request for the Newport-Mesa Unified School

District to remove “Of Love and Shadows,” by Isabel Allende, and “Snow

Falling on Cedars,” by David Guterson, from Newport Harbor High’s reading

list, the issue isn’t whether the school board has the authority to

approve or disapprove books used as classroom materials. The law gives

board members that authority, and they would be derelict in their duties

if they didn’t exercise some oversight.

The broader issue is whether board members should exclude the use of a

book, irrespective of the age of the student or the curriculum of the

class, if that book falls within a certain criteria.

In my years of attending board meetings, it is my conclusion that most

of the time a teacher’s request for use of classroom materials is

approved without comment unless the book contains words about evolution

or sex. Should the board adopt a zero-tolerance policy against books that

talk about evolution or sex?

Does reading a book that is part of a class assignment mean students

will automatically act it out? I certainly haven’t found that to be the

case with books that contain nonsexual subject matter.

In history classes, my students have read about wars, brutality and

nuclear bomb drops. They have felt no compunction to recreate any of

these situations. Reading about concentration camps did not make them

want to be the guard or the prisoner. Even my attempts to thrust

cookbooks in front of their faces have not produced a gourmet dinner.

If all it took to push kids into action was to read a book, teachers

and parents would be having kids read about the cure for disease or the

joys of cleaning their rooms.

Reproduction is one of the basic drives of all species, and in humans

it requires sex. High school is the time when that drive kicks in. But a

lot of teenagers who don’t read a thing have sex. A lot of the best

student readers, even those who read books with sexual content, have

never had sex. High school bookworms rarely have Don Juan reputations.

High school students know a classroom assignment that includes reading

a book with some sexual content does not require further field study.

But should there be a zero-tolerance policy against books with sex in

them in order to preserve our students’ innocence?

Unless a student has opted out of sex education talks, an 11th- or

12th-grader already has heard or read about sex at school. Even if the

student lived in a bubble and had no exposure to television, movies or

other printed material outside of school, he or she would know about sex

from health class.

And since a teacher will always allow a student to pick some

alternative to a book with sexual content in it, such reading is never

required.

Instead of a zero-tolerance policy based on subject matter, a school

board member should evaluate the book in consideration of the student

reader’s age, maturity and the class curriculum.If the book suggested by

the teacher is worthy based on that criteria, then a zero-tolerance

policy should not apply.

In most cases, the board has eventually approved the requested books,

but are we moving closer to the book zero-tolerance policy with each

fresh complaint? Is the board’s past actions causing teachers to rethink

what books they request for approval? Should a board member’s personal

beliefs about a subject be used as a basis for excluding it from a

classroom?

Speak up at the next school board meeting.

* GAY GEISER-SANDOVAL is a Costa Mesa resident. Her column is

published Tuesdays. She may be reached by e-mail at o7

[email protected]