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Oct
03
An Ode to Teachers of Banned Books
2008 at 2pm Posted by Rebecca Joines Schinsky
If you’ve been hanging at The Book Lady’s Blog for a little while, you know I grew up in Kansas City. Well, I actually grew up in the suburbs (Lenexa, KS, to be precise), and that’s a pretty conservative area. I was fortunate to go to fantastic public schools and to have high school teachers who didn’t worry about banned books—they believed passionately in the freedom to read, and they led us in discussions and thoughtful reflection about the difficult topics that came up in the books we read. I have always been an avid reader, but my passion for books was born in the classrooms of Mr. Hunsley, Mrs. Deines, and Ms. Lucas.
Romeo & Juliet was a staple of freshman English classes in my school since pretty much the beginning of time. Mr. Hunsley had us read it aloud, and he was cool enough to go along with it when my friend and I schemed to get Katie and Matt (who liked each other but were too shy to admit it…or, at least, we thought they liked each other) into the roles of R & J. We wrote cheesy teenage love sonnets on tea-stained paper and watched the Baz Luhrman remake of the film. It was cool. Mr. Hunsley was cool. And he loved to tell his students that we were cool. His favorite word was onomatopoeia–now you know how cool he is.
When we learned about R & J, it was interesting but not even remotely controversial. Then, during my junior year (or, it could have been my sophomore year…the memory gets fuzzy after a decade), the father of a freshman girl got a little crazy about it. He was upset about a few things. First, he didn’t think his precious little girl should be reading a piece of filth in which the two main characters—who are smack in the middle of adolescence—engage in premarital sex, and he didn’t think anyone else’s children should be reading it, either. (It should be mentioned here that this father was also the pastor of a large church, and I’m pretty sure he was trying to make a statement that went beyond his family’s values).
This man was also not happy that the teacher would be showing the classic version of the film, in which there’s a blink-and-you-miss-it moment of nudity. (It should also be mentioned that the teacher informed students about this moment and sent home notes to parents giving them the chance to opt their child out of viewing the film and into taking a make-up assignment, so no one was required to watch something they found offensive.) So, he complained to the teacher (whom I never had, but whose students loved and raved about him), who repeated the offer of an alternative assignment but refused to change his curriculum.
And then it went to the school board.
All hell broke loose as the students in my school rallied behind either the beloved teacher or the pastor they admired. Everyone had an opinion about it, and the level of righteous anger—on both sides—was through the roof. Then, during a heated school board meeting, someone finally thought to ask this father/pastor if he had ever read Romeo and Juliet. Thinking, I’m sure, that he was setting an example for his flock, he replied smugly that no, he had not.
The questioner then informed him that if he had read it, he would know, then, that Romeo and Juliet are in fact married when they have sex. Yes, they are teenagers, and yes, they snuck around behind their families’ backs and eloped, but no, they did not have premarital sex. So, what was his problem with it, again?
Because the complaint was essentially baseless, and because the teacher had offered an alternative assignment, and because good public schools don’t believe in banning books or preventing students from reading classic works they need a working knowledge of for college and the future, it was dismissed.
But the damage was already done. This ordeal took several months to play out, and our school lost a phenomenal teacher, who resigned and took a job at a private school, where he could teach what he wanted.
As I’ve read about banned books this week, I’ve become angry and shocked by the ignorance that seems to characterize most attempts to ban or challenge books. America is about freedom; it’s about celebrating our differences and enjoying the ability to believe what we want, to read what we want, and to express ourselves however we want. It makes me livid that some individuals have the audacity to try to impose their values onto the rest of us and deprive us of our freedom to read important, potentially life-changing pieces of literature simply because they are afraid of having their ideas challenged.
It makes me even crazier that such individuals would make attempts to ban or challenge books they haven’t even read—that they’ve just heard about, or read snippets of online, or whose book jacket designs they find offensive.
But I am heartened by knowing that our teachers, underpaid and underappreciated as they are, are still willing to stand up and fight for the freadom to read and teach important pieces of literature, regardless of potential offensive content. In fact, they may teach them because of this content, and that’s important. And it should be celebrated.
I feel so lucky, and I know I was incredibly fortunate, to have had the teachers I had and to have learned an appreciation for literature and the first amendment. I feel fortunate in my life now to work with educators like these on a daily basis and to support them in their work with our young people.
So today, on the eve of the end of Banned Books Week, I want to thank all of my teachers, all of our teachers, for their hard work, their careful thought, and their willingness to take risks and teach banned books. I am a better, smarter, more well-rounded citizen of the world because of them.
Who are the teachers that changed your life? Do you have a personal banned book story?
That is a great (albeit unfortunate) story…and I think the crappy thing is, it happens all the time. I am glad that it was dismissed and not pushed on and harped on.
Last fall, I lost a dear professor of mine, who died suddenly. Peter was brilliant, hilarious, awkward, thorough, and pretty much everything you’d want in a professor. I think about him often and I know that he changed my life.
It’s awesome that you had a teacher like Mr. Hunsley… but unfortunate that both he and his students had to go through a mess like that. When I was reading your entry, I was actually thinking about how I read “Romeo & Juliet” myself in the ninth grade and my teacher — who also chose to show the classic version with the very brief nude scene! — stood up with a piece of paper to cover the “offensive” action. She said if she fast-forwarded (yes, it was a VHS tape!), we would all still be able to see — and it was blink-and-you’ll-miss-it.
I’d forgotten about that until just now! It’s a fun memory for me — Mrs. Chalmers was a great teacher. She was one of the first people to really encourage my writing when I became a young adult, not just a kid scribbling out random stories on napkins during recess. I still run into her from time and time and try to thank her for inspiring me. Great educators really make all the difference!
O wow…what a great post. I agree that it’s fear and ignorance that make people behave this way. I can’t believe he’d never read R&& either and was making a big stink. I remember reading R&J before high school on my own. And of course I’d seen the movie with my mom when I was younger. So I took R&J for what it is, a great play and piece of literature and a “look what happens when you go behind your parents’ back” type of thing. And I do remember that Baz Lurhman R&J version came out when I was a freshman in high school and I was with h.s. seniors who were surprised by the ending. HA!
I was blessed with awesome teachers growing up. I am still good friends with one of them. My junior/senior year literature teacher was awesome. He took us out to coffeeshops sometimes to talk about literature…he was in his late 20s and his wife was great too. He decided that instead of picking books for ALL of us to read…he gave us the list of books Cliff Notes has books on and said pick ten that sound interesting. Then we had to read the books we picked, write papers on the books, and give speeches/presentations about our books. So not only did we get to chose books we actually might like, but we also go to hear about other peoples books. It was SUCH a good experience.
Hey, I love this! How come I haven’t heard about you before now?
You’re going on my blogroll as soon as I get around to it.
I had great teachers too, especially Mrs. Harris (so glad I had her twice- 9th & 12th, she moved up two grades). We read To Kill a Mockingbird, Hucklberry Finn, Flowers for Algernon, & Romeo and Juliet in high school as well. I love it when an idiot like that gets embarrassed. Great story! We were pretty laid back in PC when I was in school (my little brother’s class in reading The Giver right now).
Great essay, Rebecca! The incident about R&J is horrifying … this stuff still goes on (argh!)
Are the 3 teachers you mention at the beginning of your post still at the school? You might consider sending them a copy of your very public thank-you note.
Seriously? Romeo and Juliet? A 500+ old play written in iambic pentameter? Good grief! What does he let his kid read? It can’t be the Bible, too much sex and violence in that one too.
And yeah, they were married (with a priest and everything). Duh.
[...] a long history of attempting to ban books that challenged their personal values and beliefs, and I even saw my high school lose a wonderful teacher because a parent disagreed with one of his selections. But now that I have spent more than two years [...]