Seriously, it took a judge to determine that?
Laura Mallory, who argued the popular fiction series is an attempt to indoctrinate children in witchcraft, said she still wants the best-selling books removed and may take her case to federal court...
The ruling by Superior Judge Ronnie Batchelor upheld a decision by the Georgia Board of Education, which had supported local school officials.
County school board members have said the books are good tools to encourage children to read and to spark creativity and imagination.
Well, duh. Ms. Mallory, you give all Christians a bad name when you act like such a zealot.
4 comments:
just passing through...stopped...enjoyed your post....the exact reason I won't send my children to public school....
Just like public schools, you can't take the politics out of public libraries because they were born of politics.
The most you can hope for is that politics doesn't get in the way of the mission. In public libraries that's not so tough because there are few constituencies. Not so in public education.
Personally, I really like the Harry Potter books. They are a good read, much like the late Lloyd Alexander's Prydian series (Black Cauldron...etc.) If we limit those, what comes next? Maybe we should eliminate "Macbeth" from the curriculum, after all, it does have a spell and witches. What about all the stories of King Arthur? Merlin was a wizard. As for the previous post response, it is nice to think that you are doing your children a favor by only offering the strictest of material, but when it comes time to interact with the rest of the world, they have no reference points and get into some difficulties as a result. I have seen it happen with kids who were homeschooled through middle school. They often reach high school able to read, but not to comprehend. They also have problems resisting and understanding the culture of the high schools. And unless they have parents who are well-versed in all aspects of science and math, they are usually behind. If reading Harry Potter is going to "corrupt" them, then perhaps they should be wrapped in cotton because the rest of the world is very rough in comparison.
Ellen, it's interesting, but your suggestion is one of the reasons why I want to homeschool my children. I'd like to be able to offer them a wide range of reading materials that reflect their maturity level, not the opinions of the school administrators and whoever happens to be suing them.
I think I'll follow my parent's philosophy: If the kid can get through 800 pages of Stephen King (or Harry Potter, or Walter E. Williams), they're most likely mature enough to handle the content.
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