My First Content Challenge by a Parent!

Two things:

1) I opened up another blog. It is a dumping ground for some of my writing and can be accessed at http://krhysvoices.blogspot.com/. It is really more of a loose web journal of under-polished thoughts that would normally have faded away, unrecorded.

2) I received my first content challenge. I had heard this kind of thing happens; it is discussed in teacher education seminars. I've also read some cases that have made national news (Kansas comes to mind). I must admit that I was excited when I received this e-mail and eager to put together and send a reply. Although the communication string is rather lengthy, I am pasting it in its entirety below. If you haven't dropped by in a while, you can zoom past it to see some less involved posts.

E-MAIL #1:
Dear Mr. Rice,
I'm not the kind of person to complain, but...Why would you choose for a ninth grade English assignment Nickelback's "Rockstar", a song that contains language that needs to be censored? I'm guessing you chose it because it was popular, you felt the students would be familiar with it, and that might make the lesson more effective. But I believe the attitude and language in "Rockstar" are not acceptable, even when censored, and need not be used to educate high school students. There are millions of other acceptable song to choose from.

I have told M__________ that she will not need to complete this assignment using the song "Rockstar". I would ask that you 1) provide M_____ with a more suitable alternative assignment, 2) allow her additional time to complete the alternative assignment, and 3) do not penalize her for not submitting this assignment ("Rockstar") by the original deadline.

I would also ask that in the future you be more considerate when selecting material for your classes. Judging from this assignment, and a few others that seem to be on the negative side, e.g., "Flowers", "The Scarlett Ibis", I believe you may have become desensitized to drugs, language, violence, death, etc., maybe as a result of your experiences in the military. There is a virtually unlimited number of stories, songs, poems, books, videos, photographs, etc. that are positive and educational, and many of which are even popular among today's high school students.

Thanks very much for your efforts, and for your patience and extra attention you've given to M_____.

Best regards,
J_____
REPLY TO E-MAIL #1:Dear J______,
Thank you for your letter regarding my selection of musical and literary selections. I appreciate your concern and especially appreciate your cogent and articulate arguments. I will address each in turn and let you know where we are headed in the future concerning literature.

I will gladly allow M______ to complete an alternate assignment and will not penalize her for handing it in after the deadline. In addition, I will consider my musical choices more carefully.

I did vacillate on my choice of "Rockstar" but ended up using it because I hear students sing it so often and the censored version is ubiquitous on several of the local popular radio stations. I wanted to students to understand what they were hearing and how this popular piece connected to a subject they often find so dry and unappealing. The song's verbal irony, being a rock star is not all its cracked up to be, helped make my final decision since the song does not advocate the lifestyle, but rather points out its emptiness and self-destructive nature.

The freshman English team chose the short story "Flowers" by Alice Walker, because it is an excellent example of compact storytelling and is easy and quick to read. Its dark subject matter was never a concern, and indeed, it seems to help students understand that they are part of the recurring theme of innocence being transformed to an informed adulthood.

I selected "The Scarlet Ibis" from the approved 9th grade English text book because it was of reasonable length and contained many of the elements I want them to be able to identify. Furthermore, Hurst's powerful language emphasizes the universal human condition of growing up with the paradox of love and hate inextricably intertwined and makes for excellent and meaningful discussions.

The next story we will read is also from the 9th grade text and is called "Brothers are the Same." It is a story of a rite of passage of a Masai boy who is required to kill a lion to prove his manhood and to win the affection of a girl in his village. Based on the tenor of your concerns, I do not feel this particular selection will be a problem. In any case, I'd like to send a copy of the 9th grade literature book home with M_____ so you can take a look at its contents and let me know what you would object to M_____ reading.

We will probably study "Romeo and Juliet" next semester and I intend to have them read Bradbury's "Fahrenheit 451" as well. My emergency lesson plan is a study of Poe's "Cask of Amontillado." These stories have dark, violent, and some sexual elements so please let me know if you would like me put together alternate studies for M_____.

In addition, Our culminating publication is a collection of student stories about their lives. I ask students to write about an event or time that fundamentally changed who they are. We will publish it before the end of the school year. This may also be of concern to you since many of the stories students submit are honest, open, and often harrowing. Please take a look at last year's publication at (webaddress) You can select either the Microsoft Word version or the Rich Text File version if you do not have Office loaded on your machine. Read my introduction to the anthology to get an idea of what I wanted out of the publication.

I will try to call you this week or next to discuss your concerns in more detail.

Thank you again for your involvement in M______'s education, I wish all parents were as committed,

Mr. Rice
E-MAIL #2:
Thanks very much, Mr. Rice, for your response. I appreciate all the information. I know that M______ is a unique student, and I'm very grateful that you are doing so much, and even going out of your way, to help her. Unfortunately, literature is probably my weakest subject. I was never a good reader, and, sadly, I've read only a few books in my life. So I'm not very familiar with stories of the four titles you mentioned ("Brothers are the Same", "Romeo and Juliet", "Fahrenheit 451", "Cask of Amontillado").

I don't necessarily object to violence, or to sexual content, or to language, as long as it's not used gratuitously or in a way that is likely to promote misconduct (or discourage proper conduct), especially among our youth. Although I haven't read those four works, I don't think they compare to Nickelback's "Rockstar". Your titles are literature; "Rockstar" isn't.

I disagree with your assessment of "Rockstar". I think it clearly does advocate the lifestyle (it is full of "I want..."), and I see/hear nothing that points out "emptiness" or "self-destructive nature". If my interpretation is a misinterpretation, then it could easily be misinterpreted by 14-year-olds, which is my main concern.

I'll trust that you'll choose appropriate material, and I'll try my best not to interfere. I have no doubt that you can educate M______ in the English language much better than I can. (I'm also learning a great deal from studying with her!)

Although I want very much to be a part of M_____'s education, I really have no choice. I must define virtually every word for her, and that makes the study time very long and tedious for both of us. But I can see improvements every day, and that's most important. You definitely get credit for that, and, again, I am very grateful.

J_______
REPLY TO E-MAIL #2:J_____,
You are welcome. I wish I could give you academic credit for all your work. Your eagerness to engage in discussion of the subject matter is exactly what I hope for in the students and I really appreciate that, despite the hard work, you are modeling that for M____. They need to know how to defend a position using evidence and logic and to understand that civil discourse between intelligent people, including disagreement at times, is both healthy and productive.

I want to give dedicated students like M_____more of my individual time and energy. As part of my program to help those in need, I am instituting a voluntary Tuesday afternoon study and tutoring session . This is in addition to my regular availability to provide less formal assistance. The first session will be on Tuesday, 20 November at 1:30 PM. Students who attend will get credit as long as they focus and engage in the activities and, since it is a voluntary, after-school function, I can send unengaged or disruptive students out of the classroom.

There's no time like the present to start reading! You can read "Brothers are the Same" and, "The Cask of Amontillado" in less than an hour for each. They are in the literature text I sent home. "Romeo and Juliet" is also in the text, but drama needs to be performed so check out the Franco Zeffirelli version (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Romeo_and_Juliet_%281968_film%29). It is the authorized film adaptation some of our teachers use to accompany the reading.

Have a great day,
Mr. Rice