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Teacher Suspended For Reading Ender's Game To Students
An anonymous reader writes "Forbes reports that a middle school teacher in South Carolina has been placed on administrative leave for reading sci-fi classic Ender's Game to his students. According to blogger Tod Kelly, '[A parent] reported him to the school district complained that the book was pornographic; that same parent also asked the local police to file criminal charges against the teacher. As of today, the police have not yet decided whether or not to file charges (which is probably a good sign that they won't). The school district, however, appears to agree with the parent, is considering firing the teacher and will be eliminating the book from the school.'"
Well there was that scene where Ender shows up at Petra's dorm wearing a sleeveless jean jacket with a utility belt and says that he heard the cable was broken ... or wait, am I confusing Ender's Game with Logjammin'? I mean, clearly, they're basically the same thing.
My work here is dung.
We need to find something to do for these people who just sit at home waiting for things to get outraged at (a.k.a. the “volleyball is exclusionary and tag promotes violence” types).
Some probably poses at least basic intelligence and education. Surely there is some way they can be made a useful part of our society. I think if they had something productive to focus on, we wouldn’t hear about stupid shit like this as often.
On a more serious note, I get that some people get off on being outraged/protesting/fighting something. We all know people like this. In a lot of cases they aren’t even really into the cause, they just like being behind something. When they have kids, it’s like a whole new world of stuff to complain about is opened up.
I’m sure this isn’t the first time the school has heard from her (ok, I’m gonna be sexist.. but this _has_ to be the Mother (Mother with a capital "M".. you know the type..)). You don’t go from 0 to this. I just wish these people would think about everyone else they hurt when they indulge their need to whine and at least try to put that energy into something more helpful to the world.
I'm glad to see "book burning" is alive and well in America. I guess that's what the conservatives mean by restoring America. Now we just need to find some really cheap labor.
"No matter where you go, there you are." -- Buckaroo Banzai
to my 55 year old mother in law. I hope she doesn't go in to cardiac arrest.
I'm drawing a blank here but about the only thing I can think of that would qualify as close to pornography is the part where Ender beats the shit out of that bully and the book talks about how his medical sheet reads "bruised testicle." Which, if two adolescent boys bruising up each other's private parts arouses you in anyway, you are probably the one that needs help.
... wait, that's already far more reading and research than this individual is capable of.
The other possibility is that the book is too descriptive in some parts (maybe when Ender burrows into the giant's eye in the simulation?). And they're in ye olde Southern Cackalacky where the definition of pornography is just anything that gets too descriptive for their comfort. So, you know, like anything that's written well.
Or perhaps one of the parents caught wind that Orson Scott Card is Mormon and different and therefore evil. And then they looked up the White Horse Prophecy and put
My work here is dung.
if this, then Shakespeare has got to go as well.
The school district reports that the letters E, I, N, P, and S have been removed from the school curriculum after a parent complained her son was being exposed to gateway pornography.
TOO FAR.
WHAT IS WRONG WITH THE WORLD TODAY?
Please someone give this teacher a prize for reading Ender's Game to children, it was my favorite book and it brought (to my life) a way of thinking critically about my actions that I've never had cross my mind until reading it.
Because of this particular scene in the book, I've always felt that it should not have been promoted as a children's book. I have also felt that Orson Scott Card is, IMO, unsavory for cooperating in promoting it as a children's book.
Bruce Perens.
People who try to ban things "because someone might be offended" are themselves the problem. And it is a wide-spread and serious one.
I only hope we can get over this state of permanent panic before it kills us.
If video games influenced behavior the Pac Man generation would be eating pills and running away from their problems.
The USA is pathetic. I am glad I emigrated.
It shows society naked. That IS pornographic.
It talks about relationships between siblings, teaches children to think critically, demonstrates adults can and do lie, shows how society is and can be manipulated by media and wont some please think of the children harmed by the reading of this terrible book !!!!
There was some violence in that book, yes. But was there anything sexually graphic? I can't think of anything. I don't even think there was an profanity. Can anyone think of anything that even comes close to being pornographic?
We read Candide. That's gotta be way more "pornographic" than Ender's Game. What is this country coming to?
Between Santorum, Limbaugh and the rest of those jokers bible thumping their way into our bedrooms but refusing to even tax one cent of a rich person's income (because that's government intrusion), this country is really and truly fucked.
We're going to be like Argentina, and the shooting in Florida is proving that there are now only gated communities and trailer parks -- and if you're the wrong color in a gated community, you are a target.
If telephones are outlawed, then only outlaws will have telephones.
I recall violence and genocide but I can't recall anything pornographic. Unless reading shower scenes about soapy kids getting into bloody fist fights does it for you.
I wish this woman bothered to read the book before ruining the teacher's life.
greed@All_Evils:~#
I think this is one of those things for which there is a simple solution, find name of parent, all Ender's fans call parent and explain what a complete and colossal idiot they are. Problem solved. News report of parent explaining how their phone didn't stop ringing for several months convinces all future such parents to just keep their opinions to themselves.
"Pornography" is supposed to be judged by the standards of the "community", I think its time or the community to judge the standards of those who wish to judge the community.
-jon
No wonder the educational system is going to shit since any parent can bully teachers. Seriously, if you're so annoyed about the teacher asking your kid to read any specific book then ask the teacher for an acceptable replacement (for your kid only of course). Or take your kid somewhere else. Or accept an F for that specific assignment.
I wish principals grew a spine and supported their teachers on this kind of stuff.
I can't imagine what the problem could have been. I've only read one of the books in the series (Shadow Puppets) and that was tame to say the least. Anyone know for sure what could have been construed as pornographic? If it is a bit more 'grown-up' in general I might consider giving it a try!
http://www.acetonestudio.com
Bet this kid is popular.
He's 14 and running home to mommy because a book had naughty words in it..
I can see a parent running across the book and going full on "I'M A MOTHER, AND AS A MOTHER I FEEL.." mode while the kid stands there horribly embarrassed .. but for the kid to be the one who started it all... kid must be living in a bubble.
At any rate, firing the teacher would be more than sufficient if the school decides it was a major no-no.. criminal charges is beyond ridiculous.
Firing the teacher would be absurd, criminal charges would be truly insane. The former only seems in any way legitimate because of the total insanity of the latter - not for one second does a teacher deserve to lose their job for reading a perfectly innocuous (and pretty damn good, IMO) scifi novel to a class of 14 year olds.
Check out some of the comments on the source article. There are claims he was not really reading Ender's Game, and that the school is covering it up.
I know more than you drink.
especially for being pornographic. That guarantees lots of kids will read it. Since it's slightly better written than most other trash kids read, maybe the ban will have a [slight] positive outcome.
"Cock Up Your Beaver" does not mean what you think. This sig is intended to clog filters and annoy do-gooders
I recall reading the original short story in middle school. It was in one of those "Weekly Reader" type magazines that apparently aren't around any more. Then again, I grew up in suburban Chicago, which is definitely different from the South.
As a sixth grader, I found the story interesting. When I read the novel as an adult, I was rather less impressed. I think that Card is much better with short stories than with novels.
Go on, citizen, stamp the vote card. R or D, your choice.
Not too long ago, we had a similar issue here when a local religious fanatic (who home schools his children, BTW) demanded the local high school ban, among others, Kurt Vonnegut's classic Slaugherhouse V, claiming it too was pornographic in nature.
The school ended up bowing to the holier-than-thou asshole and banned the book; however, doing so had the unexpected side effect of Slaughterhouse V becoming the most read book in the city of Republic. The Vonnegut Library even donated several hundred copies of the book to the local library, all of which were swiftly checked out.
Experience tells me Ender's Game is about to become the most read book in Shofield, SC.
An enigma, wrapped in a riddle, shrouded in bacon and cheese
. . .the shower fight scene - that's the only point in the book that could be construed as even remotely pornographic. The word itself means 'designed to arouse lust.' At any rate, I think the parents in this case should justify their complaint with the offending excerpt from the book and explain why they think it's worthy of jail time. I just can't imagine that the school board and / or police department wouldn't do their due diligence.
"Das war ein Vorspiel nur, dort wo man Bucher verbrennt, verbrennt man auch am Ende Menschen."
"That was but a prelude; where they burn books, they will ultimately burn people also." - Heinrich Heine "Almansor" 1821
--
BMO
Read an artice about this here http://geeks.thedailywh.at/2012/03/15/geek-news-classroom-controversy-of-the-day/, and it said there was three books that were read and the Enders Game was the only one that was known that the teacher read. So it's possible that something inappropriate was read to the children if that story wasn't off.
We all know that there is some partial nudity in Biology Class, so might as well go across the board and ban half of what the schools teach!
-- By all means let's be open-minded, but not so open-minded that our brains drop out.
Sometimes you see or read something that you just know will be the weirdest thing that you see all day. The mention of Enders Game and Pornography in the same sentence did this for me today. I'm having flashbacks to my c1970 ninth grade science teacher dismissing Life Magazine as pornography. I suspect this is a tactic used by religious kooks to suppress anything they don't understand. Since they understand almost nothing the rest of the world becomes a pornocopia.
The parent should be required to read Lady Chatterly to class of 16 year olds.
They are old enough to legally have sex, they should certainly be able to read about it.
(( on another argument thread why are we so okay with violence (without the red stuff please) but not with sex which is required for out existance))
ASSUMPTION ALERT! As if we believe she can read. Actually raises the bigger question - middle school and the teacher was reading to the students? Can't they read yet themselves?
This is almost a week old. Oh slashdot, how far you have fallen....
I agree - Teacher should get reprimanded for reading that book to the students - middle school students are perfectly capable of reading on their own..
On a serious note: The local High School Honors English class required the students read this book over summer break before school started. I gave my son the book and told him to read it even though it looks like he will be going to different school.
Real SUV's don't have cupholders
It's 5:42 A.M., do you know where your stack pointer is?
I feel sorry for the kid. I remember what it was like having an ultraconservative parent who launched a Christian campaign against the school librarian. I didn't want to be in the center of that. I just wanted to get something interesting to read. Thankfully, I didn't shy away from my interests or libraries. I just learned to keep my books away from my idiot parent if I didn't want to be humiliated.
Here's one guy who thinks Ender's Game is porn, just not the "sex" kind.
The original story reported it a bit differently:
"According to the incident report, a teacher had been reading pornographic material from the Internet to the students in class. One of the stories was about prostitutes having their faces covered with ejaculation."
---
Unless this is the writer's cut that my library didn't stock - this wasn't enders game they were reading.
this involves a demand for (at least virtual) teacher burning.
MEK
Credo quia impossibilis -- Tertullian
Different strokes for different folks. Don't be ashamed because you don't like something that other people do. As a middle schooler I loved Ender's game, as an adult it's 'meh', mostly because I've been exposed to all the tropes a hundred times over by now, there's little in Ender's game that hasn't been covered by other, arguably better literature. That said, it's a great introduction to Scifi for kids around that age, or even adults with less... shall we say, confidence in their reading abilities?
I would file a complaint against my accuser with the police department, on the grounds that anyone who finds textual depictions of naked children sexually arousing (the definition of 'pornography') is obviously a pedophile.
An enigma, wrapped in a riddle, shrouded in bacon and cheese
So, let me see if I have this right...
The current bestseller from Scholastic, The Hunger Games, is about an annual practice where 24 children between the ages of 12 and 18 are forced to fight to the death in publicly-televised hand-to-hand combat with weapons no more advanced than spears or bows and arrows, that is shown to the families and communities where these children come from. And this is fine, apparently. But reading Ender's Game where the worst hand-to-hand violence involves a broken nose, is unacceptable?
Was the teacher reading it to the students because it was above their reading level, or is it just above the reading level of the principal and superintendent?
For your security, this post has been encrypted with ROT-13, twice.
Sorry, but by 14 you should be reading all by yourself. You'll be legal to drive in 2 years. Unless this is just a sample passage to illustrate a style why in the world are they "reading to children" who are this old?
I'd be hard pressed to justify EG as even mildly offensive for someone of that age. Now, if they'd read The Lost Gate - okay, maybe - there are some awkward passages for truly cloistered young teens (I decided it's a little much for my nine year old, and she can wait a couple of years).
I say we stop having story time for 14 year olds and teach them to read. I'd be pissed about this if it happened in a school my kid was in because it sounds like a waste of valuable teaching time.
Is it just my observation, or are there way too many stupid people in the world?
In most of the US, a high percentage of the population think that nudity==pornographic.
Nothing wrong with not being able to get into a book; Stephen King is great if you can handle slogging through 3 chapters of pure scene description before the story actually starts, but obviously his writing isn't for everyone.
The important thing is that you're reading, and (hopefully) learning from it.
An enigma, wrapped in a riddle, shrouded in bacon and cheese
Ok I'm not usually the guy who starts spewing out conspiracy theories and the like but...does anyone else feel like "the man" (pardon the expression) is grooming the next generation to be mindless, imbecilic, non-critical drones?
It's like they keep trying to mentally disarm the kids to ensure future complacency and then they have the audacity to frame it as protection.
I know, I know, don't attribute to malice what can easily be explained by stupidity but this one would require a hell of a lot of stupidity.
what people have repressed in their minds to initiate this
- anger ...
- joy
- lust
- sensuality
every creature has it - plants included - or they would not exist.
This basic fact is highly suppressed and controlled by every entity in power (allowed by other's succumbing) on this planet.
And what are they going through? Oh - she has shown a nipple or gosh, there is some pubic hair to see and ghee, somebody used a nasty word - one of seven, is it???
Then there is perversion coming out of all of this repression.
Puritans - holy fucking puritans!
Get a life!
The school district, however, appears to agree with the parent, is considering firing the teacher and will be eliminating the book from the school.
If they will be "eliminating the book from the school", then it was probably on the approved reading list, then the teacher is not at fault (so to speak), but the school (district). My wife was a teacher for many, many years and, on those occasions she wanted to teach off the approved list, would send letters to and obtain signatures from parents. Children of parents that objected would get a book from the approved list and separate assignments. (She was awarded as one of the best teachers in the school district and state, BTW.)
Also worth mentioning, from TFA, is that the teacher also read the following books to her students with, apparently, no complaints:
The other books were ‘Devil’s Paintbox’ by Victoria McKearnan and ‘Curtain: Poirot’s Last Case’, written by Agatha Christie.
It must have been something you assimilated. . . .
Someone who hasn't read the book naturally assumed that it was about someone playing a game with their "end".
I found this list of books in the comment section of this page: http://www.aikenstandard.com/story/031512-school-board-releases-statement-to-enders-game-book The three books are Ender's Game (Card), Devils Paintbox (), and Curtain, Poirots Last Case (Agatha Christie)
I could see this as being a wrongful dismissal suit in the making. Is there anything in Enders Game that is remotely pornographic??
is there some other OBJECTIVE reason that this book should not be read to this group of students??
if A AND B = False then this district just paid for this teacher to retire.
Any person using FTFY or editing my postings agrees to a US$50.00 charge
See what the Colbert Report has to say about this tonight...
Oh, I'm sorry sir, I thought you were referring to me, Mr. Wensleydale.
Kid: "These two kids beat each other up in the shower."
Parent: "Did you just say two kids beat each other off in the shower?!?!?"
American educational system: "SHUT. DOWN. EVERYTHING."
Among many others.
The book is violent, the morals being presented are twisted, and the author very much damaged goods.
I don't think reading this in a scholastic setting is probably ever appropriate, unless possibly for adults deconstructing what is done right (many things) and wrong (many things) with the text.
I'm not at all surprised that someone objected to it, although it's somewhat amusing that they select essentlly a completely incorrect descriptor for its various problems.
-josh
How can this be? The teacher should fight this seeing how it's not on any banned books lists.
I am Bennett Haselton! I am Bennett Haselton!
Your circumstances are perfect for getting involved politically.
Start locally. Have you written a PAPER letter to your Congress critters yet? To your governor? To your state legislature?
If not, why not?
Have you volunteered for a political candidate?
or even adults with less... shall we say, confidence in their reading abilities?
Heh, touché! I wouldn't call myself a heavy reader, but having slogged through the History of the Peloponnesian War, Life and Work in Medieval Europe (4th to 14th centuries), the first two Ringworld books (third is in the wings), Ever Since Darwin (Gould), Rendezvous with Rama, and the one that I know is going to be tough going, Command Decisions (a book describing decisions made in WWII on both sides put out by the U.S. Army), along with the usual suspects such as Hawking and Greene, I can at least say I'm well read on numerous subjects.
Maybe if I come across it at a yard sale or another library sale I'll pick it up but for what they wanted at this place, I couldn't justify the price, especially considering it didn't do much for me.
As an aside, my current reading, Panzer Commander: The Memoirs of Colonle Hans von Luck, is one I recommend to people not so much for the military aspect (it's mostly sidelined until the D-day invasion), but rather for the breath of the man's experiences. He knew (literally) everyone from Russia to Britain and down through Italy. He made friends and acquaintances as easily as you or I drink water.
He doesn't mince words about what he thought about the higher ups and doesn't hide or downplay what took place. It's his insight into what was really going on, his thought process, and how he carried out his orders despite the nonsense coming from on high that makes the book such a great read. Highly recommended for anyone who wants an inside look at one of the true honest soldiers from the German side (Rommel being the shining example that the U.S. military uses to this day in some training exercises.)
We will bankrupt ourselves in the vain search for absolute security. -- Dwight D. Eisenhower
Someone explain this to me:
> "and will be eliminating the book from the school."
According to TFA, the kids were fourteen, so that makes it freshman year in high school. (The book is rated 12 and over.)
The quote indicates that the book was available at the school, most probably in the school library.
So let me get this straight:
The teacher reads an age-appropriate book, available at the school, to students in the class, and gets fired? Seriously?
I predict that if this story goes viral, the school will suddenly reconsider.
Oliver's law of assumed responsibility: If you're seen fixing it, you will be blamed for breaking it.
Real Story
Is it possible that the teacher wasn't reading these books at all, but was, for some reason, reading something downloaded from the internet?
Somebody is lying, I'm not sure who.
I'd say that 95% of the reason schools across the nation are suffering is due to parents. I'm sure the "no child left behind" was not the doing of a teachers union or school. Yet my childs education has to suffer because some kid in her class can't keep up so they teach them what they need to know to pass a standardized test. If you look up the definition of standardized test, it should be defined as a bastardization of education, no pun intended.
I am Bennett Haselton! I am Bennett Haselton!
Congratulations slave, you have proven the Conservatives right, they believed that making the working class home owners would turn them into good reliable little workers unwilling to risk the house they can't afford with silly things such as looking for a new job, or even thinking about striking.
Why bother with capturing slaves when the feeble just whip themselves?
Mind you, you wouldn't be so bad, if the bleeding hearts wouldn't feel sorry you if you get slaughtered in the revolution. But somehow, your kind then suddenly turns into "innocent" citizens and not supporters of the regime.
MMO Quests are like orgasms:
You may solo them, I prefer them in a group.
Please cite your source, as I am unable to find this anywhere except in user-generated comments.
I remember reading The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand in Grade 11. The whole class read it, and we spent days discussing and dissecting it. It had a fairly graphic rape scene, as I recall, and nobody seemed to have any problems with that. And it was a Catholic school!
Stasis is death. Embrace change.
Even if it was pornographic, I don't see why criminal charges would be filed. Pointless "for the children" nonsense once again...
Sexuality bad, violence good!
most of this species of wingnut would be in jail.
Please do not read this sig. Thank you.
I read several of the books until I came to the conclusion that Orson Scott Card's books, while often entertaining, contain a really ugly fascist streak. I got disgusted after about the third Ender book and put Card's books down, probably forever. However, other people like his books.
This isn't about free choice, however. This is about a teacher and a captive audience.
I wouldn't want my kid exposed to Orson Scott Card's crap, unless the kid chooses it himself (and we could discuss the themes). I would never want Orson Scott Card forced on ANY captive audience.
Comment removed based on user account deletion
I thought we didn't want sharia law in this country. I is confused.
Did this community also ban Catcher In The Rye and all Mark Twain books containing the "N" word?
Then blame the faculty that fears the parents who are in total denial. I know that my 14 year old nephews knew what a midget fingerbanging herself was by the age of 12, if not sooner. Banning Enders friggin' Game is a lot about being in denial of reality, not to mention far too little far too late. Do they know what those kids chat and text about?? I ran (ops engineering) the text messaging service for AT&T for years and a quick 'tail -f' of the logs on any given SMS server would reveal that they aren't talking about the latest hair style, unless it was regarding pubes. After running T-Mobile's MMS system for 3 years, I can assure you they're not texting art photos, either. Parents need to wise up. Unleash the full internet on your kids with any connected device and they'll soon know a lot more than Enders Game. If you don't get them a device with those capabilities, they'll still see it all at their little friend's house. Give it up...pandoras box is wide open and it's too late to ban books. The things I've seen. MY EYES!! MY BEAUTIFUL EYES!!!
I remember reading this on my own in 6th grade. I heard it was a sci fi classic, and read it. I remember it being fairly mind blowing at the time. I'm not 100% sure if it was really that eye opening, or if I was just that young and green behind the ears. I don't remember anything naughty in it. I turned out ok, as did millions of nerds after and before me.
I hate stupid people.
Who is this that even the wind and the waves obey Him? Surely this computer must submit also!
In all reality I'd like to know if this student that was "bothered" by such material also noted in TFA as being male (which is odd that a boy would be bothered by sex, especially at 14) has had prior run ins with this teacher, being either grades or getting singled out by the teacher for something (read embarrassed). If it was actually dug into I'd be willing to wager there is more to it than just a lewd book being read.
I am Bennett Haselton! I am Bennett Haselton!
Also, all the references to Fahrenheit 451 can suck my big left one. That was a boring movie.
Never judge a book by its movie.
Any insufficiently advanced magic is indistinguishable from technology.
In Colorado, the state legislature did away with tenure for elementary-middle-high school teachers. You don't get to argue for more pay, since it's just based on your level of education (B.S or M.S), and # of hours you've taken above your last degree, but you can never have true job security.
Why would anyone do a job where any idiot parent can raise a stink over something stupid, and you get fired for it? Seriously, in Office Space, the main character had 8 bosses, and that was considered ridiculous. For the average teacher, they have 150 bosses, and the bosses change every year. You wonder why all the teachers that stay never do anything for fear of doing something that someone will find offensive.
This article mentions it.
Note to ACs: I usually delete AC replies without reading them. If you want to talk to me, log in.
There's no sex at all in the original short story. Some of the later stuff, as they grow up, has some sex, but it's not a big issue.
Actually, Ender's Game is a naive view of the political effectiveness of blogging.
There clearly is a double standard when it comes to literature and questionable content for minors in a book. In All Quiet on the Western Front, there were references to Russian prisoners of war being so malnourished and sickly that they no longer masturbated to pass the time.
I cannot remember the title but there was a Gary Paulsen book that I read in 8th grade for school where the two protagonists where a young teenage boy and girl who escape their lives by connecting with nature on an island. There was a paragraph in this book describing how they would take their clothes off and go swimming in the lake and how it felt completely natural and beautiful in a non-sexual way.
Why is this acceptable reading for a high school student where Enders Game is not?
I'm about 75% of the way through my first read of this book. So far I've seen nothing that under any insanely loose definition could be considered pornographic. Now I'm wondering if something happens in the last quarter. I'm going to not RTFA or the comments, and finish the book.
I remember babysittting his kids at an Atlanta Georgia WorldCon once.
So be very very scared.
Not.
-- Tigger warning: This post may contain tiggers! --
This reminds me of the lyrics from "Witch Hunt": "They say there are strangers who threaten us In our immigrants and infidels They say there is strangeness too dangerous In our theaters and bookstore shelves That those who know what's best for us Must rise and save us from ourselves" To me these lyrics are a warning against this sort of paranoid "book burning", "think of the children"/right-wing Fascist mentality. However, I've ran into Rush fans, both IRL and online who took these lyrics to mean that "someone" needs to rise up and protect "us" from "Dangerous Human Elements"...
We play the game with the bravery of being out of range
Makes much more sense.
Also, why would anyone be reading Ender's Game to a bunch of 14 year olds? Can't they read it themselves?
Everyone just jumped on this bogus article because it fits the "oh, dear, censorship is prevalent" motif. Baloney.
So how do you downrank 300 posts of self-righteous "damn those bible bangers!" outrage as -1 misguided and irrelevant?
-Styopa
Talk about wiggin out.
But the articles linked are very long on speculation and very short on info.
Parent makes complaint about something bizarre happening in the classroom. Teacher is suspended pending investigation.
Let me assure you, this happens outside of the south. Let me also assure you it happens in politically diverse communities.
Being the son of a high school teacher, I've heard this story a lot of times.
There are a lot of possibilities here. The complaint apparently was that the teacher read something about semen coating the faces of prostitutes. That certainly isn't in Ender's Game.
So, maybe it's in the other two books mentioned. But, that's doubtful given the books (Agatha Christie and a book aimed at young teens.)
So, we could have a kid (for whatever reason, but being nutty, or disliking the teacher are a couple possibilities or on a dare from friends) telling parents something that didn't happen.
Or, we could have a parent that's kinda mental, or having a bad week, or a drunken rage etc, etc . That happens with alarming regularity when you have to deal with large numbers of parents. Most are fine, some are messed up.
Much, much farther down the list is that it's due to a conservative and or southern conspiracy or any other societal factor.
As to the suspension. School administrations are historically the most pusillanimous bunch of cover your butt bureaucrats there are. Especially if the parent is a known problem, or someone of influence in the community.
But, if you want to elevate the less likely to the fore, then Occam's Razor isn't going to stop you.
Apparently, this has less to do with Ender's Game than it does with something the teacher was reading which involved prostitutes getting facials.
There is no "-1 offended" or "-1 you don't agree with me" mod options for a reason.
You wonder why so few people support your position and why you remain on the fringe.
Seriously if that's your view on the world, I'll oppose you on principle that I'm pretty sure any rule you would put in to place will be WAY worse than what we have.
Of course realistically you are just a person who likes to whine and post toughguy rhetoric on the Internet from the safety of home so I don't need to worry about opposing anything.
...the Chief of Naval Operations would probably take exception to this since Ender's Game has been on their official reading lists for service members pretty much as long as the lists have been published. (Starship Troopers is on there, too.)
Back in the 90s, I was a middle school math teacher. I always felt my job as a teacher was to educate a rounded person, so I included non-math discussions and assignments from time-to-time. One of my classes was Algebra II, taught to 8th and 9th graders. These were advanced students, and I enjoyed teaching about things outside the math world, some of which related to math, some of which didn't.
For this class, I generally offered some extra credit points to students who completed an out-of-class reading assignment. I listed books like Flatland, The God Particle, and yes, Ender's Game. I warned my students that it had some violence and harsh language, and left it up to them to decide. Never got any complaints from any parents, fortunately. After reading this, that book would probably go off my list.
I do agree it showed bad judgement to read this book to a classroom, full of students with varying levels of maturity, and students with vastly different tastes for violence and strong language. I would have never done that. Firing the teacher? Calling the book pornographic? That simply ludicrous
In addition to the link the other poster mentioned, the earliest cite is: http://www.aikenstandard.com/story/031412-Aiken-County-Schools--3859574 which also mentions a story with a prostitute and a sexual act. .
and I don't remember anything being particularly inappropriate. Any one know what they are referring to? I mean the Bible has GOT to have much much worse scenes in it.
Never say never. Ah!! I did it again!
They don't want their kid educated, they want a babysitter.
Since clearly your intelligence is low enough that:
1) You believe an activity that happens in one part of the US by one individual is something that can be generalized to the entire country of 311 million.
2) That the US is the only place that has problems, that other nations are lands of milk and honey where people don't do stupid things, government don't do stupid things and there aren't problems.
We are likely better without you. Perhaps your time abroad will give you some perspective and greater education and then maybe you'll be of more use.
She should be fired for not having a class of teenagers read the book themselves. What a waste of class time...
Firing the Principal for threatening to fire the teacher is the only reasonable measure here.
Give me Classic Slashdot or give me death!
This is rediculous.
When I was in junior high school, one of the teachers I had in 8th grade at the time showed us the movie "A Clockwork Orange" on video, in its entirety, and then we had a discussion about it. In the film there's a scene where a well-endowed woman is fully nude and a number of males are preparing to gang rape her, but are interrupted by the main characters of the film, who then get into an all-out brawl.
As far as I know, none of we students complained, nor the parents. I felt that the movie was a bit shocking (duh) to show to JHS students, but that alone doesn't make it wrong to do so. If anything perhaps seeing it with adult supervision in such a setting might be fitting, because at least that way there's an adult to ask questions from or disscuss imagry that a student finds disturbing.
The other thought I had is that perhaps a book has more impact than a movie "because the pictures are better" -- i.e. the imagination can make imagry that can have more impact than any visual imagry can. Regardless of this, I see no reason why reading "Enders Game" to students should cause such a stir like this.
I take it 1st mendments rights were mentioned but quickly dismissed by the prosecutor as being simply a bump in the roadblock to justice in S. Carolina?
Python: 'And then suddenly you have a language which says "we're all stuck with whatever the whiniest coder wants".'
But this time the original article was flawed too, and it ahs subsequently been updated (although I'm sure 95% of /. readers will never know that). Supposedly the teacher read stuff off the internet to the class that was "pornographic" and Card himself has said he heard what was read and it WAS inappropriate for kids (and he maintained that his book is perfectly OK for 14 years olds).
They have books in South Carolina!!
...richie - It is a good day to code.
What crimes? For the most part they followed the law.
Yes they did. They spent the prior twenty years lobbying to have the banking regulations that prevented them from taking outlandish risks with what was essentially other people's money, and then raked in massive personal gains when they produced short term gains in what was essentially a financial game of Russian roulette. The people in charge of things knew very well what was going on. I am not a banker and I can see how risky their behavior is, and these people are not idiots.
Their behavior has cost the country billions of dollars, and probably put tens of thousands out of work for personal gain with full knowledge of what would eventually happen. They should be dragged from their mansions and shot in the back of the head with a cheap Luger as a object lesson in social justice. How many times must the country be fleeced by Enron style corporate shenanigans before we realize that treasonous activity is deliberately working against national interest in the boardroom or the battlefield?
*Hunter S. Thompson Rant Mode Deactivated*
HA! I just wasted some of your bandwidth with a frivolous sig!
Why is every solution in this country to fire someone or jail someone when a mistake MAY have been made? And I emphasize MAY!!!! This country and its ridiculous leftist ideals is turning this nation into a STATEIST and UTOPIAN state where we ALL LOSE OUR FREEDOMS.
So a parent whining about "pornography" - an inherently conservative position - is the fault of the left? And there is one thing that helps to stop stupid crap like this in it's tracks: teacher's unions.
I wonder how conservatives maintain the disconnect between complaining over nontroversies like Ender's Gate threatening a teacher AND then with a straight face claim that our schools will magically improve when we kill off the last teacher's union.
Even if it was pornographic, which it really isn't, the constitution protects all speech.
This is another form of persecution brought to you by those who are sustained through "anti-persecution" politics.
The bible is definitely more pornographic and more violent than Ender's game.
Seriously, how bad would secession be? If we gave the southern states an out and shipped all the right wing extremists to the south and they could ship their liberals north.
America would be a better country without the south.
That's our life, the big wheel of shit. - The Fat Man, Blue Tango Salvage
There's so much porn and gay sex going on in there for a thousand protests.
What I want is for someone to rewrite the bible stories without any of the religious text. Let's see how long before we get a good old fashion book burning.
There was a movie? Fahrenheit 451 is one of those books that doesn't look like it would ever work as a movie.
Of course, Equilibrium was basically the same premise and worked out well as a movie.
...what's the extent and context of this 'porn'? I assume it's alot like the mass effect lesbian alien porn fiasco.
Wanna buy a shirt?
https://www.redbubble.com/people/stealthfinger/shop?asc=u
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enders_game
wouldn't surprise me if this whole thing is about creating a buzz around it.
My 9th grade social studies teacher showed us the movie "Shane" in class. No, I don't know why. Anyone complain? No. Well, I was taken aback that I saw some guy get shot in the face in school, but whatever.
My local school showed my kid Trojans around the same grade. Did I complain? No. Thought it was dumb (what does English have to do with movies? Heh.), but not a stoning offense.
Some people are just ready to bitch and squeak to get their way, no matter what.
Anything is possible given time and money.
There have been a lots of updates since this summary was written.
The reading on pornographic material was separate material and not in the books mentioned. It may or may not of happened.
The complaint from the parent mentions swearing and use of guns and violence.
Fuck. You.
Shoes for Industry. Shoes for the Dead.
If only you could do that /and/ temp-ban the Slashdot editor "responsible" for this story, on account of not bothering to fact-check.
Hail Eris, full of mischief...
E pluribus sanguinem
Ender's Game was written by a serious Mormon who worked hard to make it content-appropriate for Mormon children. I think he succeeded, and what's more, the book is just great. That somebody in the US could out-prude the Mormons ... that's just depressing.
It's the bible bangers who've brought about the climate in which this kind of situation is allowed to happen, so the comments disparaging them are still relevant.
(When isn't it relevant to verbally assault religious people?)
Is 1563649 a prime number?
The problem with exposing our children to Ender's Game is that it's a gateway book to a whole mess of utter crap written by Card.
...the real problem is teaching the kids to read in the first place. Readin', Ritin' & Rithmatick is the Devil's work.
I can't say that this situation is all that unusual. Parents, particularly parents who are stay-at-home, have way too much time on their hands and involve themselves up to their armpits in the lives of their children. I have worked at schools where parents arrive at the schoolgrounds at lunchtime, and hang around on campus until the end of the day. For several weeks, parents lined up against the windows of one of the classrooms and stared at their children in class for the hour and fifteen minutes from the end of lunch to the end of the day. This continued until the teacher posted artwork blocking the parents view into the classroom from those windows. The parents promptly complained to the principal, and the teacher was ordered to take them down. That teacher (and almost every other teacher at the school) refuses to teach in that exposed classroom.
I've been the subject of ridiculous complaints also. I was too hard on a kid when I separated him for calling one of the girls a "cheating dog" (for using a calculator during a maths activity where I had explicitly allowed the class to use calculators). I take the roll at the wrong time of the day. I set too much homework (and, conversely, I don't set enough homework; a complaint made by the same parent). I don't hand notes out (I prefer to lay out the notes at the front of the class, and the kids are meant to pick them up as they leave). I don't insist that someone's little baby (senior elementary student) wear a raincoat if it looks rainy outside, and I don't help that student to put that raincoat on. I drink Ginger Beer which comes in a bottle that looks like it's a bottle of real beer (that it isn't is beside the point also, because Ginger Beer has the word "beer" in it, and therefore, I'm setting a poor example to students). I advocate the use of facebook (which is actually Edmodo, which, I'll admit, does look a lot like facebook, but isn't). I am biased against or for particular students because I select them for debate teams, public speaking competitions or sport (sometimes I am still biased against particular students when I'm not involved at all in the selection or non-selection of them for various opportunities). On and on and on. Most of these complaints are, as other commenters have noted, housewives with too much time on their hands. I can't tell you how much I appreciate that I have had a good principal who, for the most part, only wastes a little bit of her and my time every so often to investigate and respond to these claims.
That being said, I think that teachers and educational institutions have to acknowledge some responsibility in allowing this to happen. We encourage a dialogue between parents and teachers on an equal level, and we don't say all that much when unqualified pundits make educational claims that are simply wrong. Anyone, no matter how unqualified, will happily make claims about education and expect that those claims have equal footing with qualifie
I'm going to not RTFA or the comments, and finish the book.
Too late, now you know the final chapter! :P
I rarely respond to comments. Also, don't ask for clarifications: a brain and Google are faster, believe me!
Indeed. F451 was a particularly sad book; even those who wanted to preserve the various writings they encountered burned them for their safety (after having memorized them).
I am John Hurt.
Without further information, that claim may actually come from the parent. It's the most probable case, since no other kid/parent has complained yet.
I rarely respond to comments. Also, don't ask for clarifications: a brain and Google are faster, believe me!
The answer is we need more negative reinforcement.
We need people to sue because they removed literature from our children's hands, depriving them of a quality education. We need every non-nutjob parent in that class to sue the schoolboard because they fired a valuable teacher that was really connecting with their children. We need the school boards to learn that throwing the teacher under the bus has worse consequences by a factor of 20 than defending them against that one useless waster of free oxygen. Until we stop rolling over as parents of children who are getting screwed over by these bad school boards, we will continue to have nutjobs selecting the pablum they feed our kids.
John
"Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea." Revelation 21:1
Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not entirely sure about the universe - Einstein
Orson Scott Card is quite conservative, and his works show it.
This could have been simply a liberal pissed off that a leftist book actually depicting gay interracial anal gang-bangs wasn't read to the class instead.
No mod points here but came across that too. Thanks for posting!
I went to this school (quite a few years ago), and while infuriating, I don't find it surprising. Also, it wasn't just Ender's Game; the teacher also complained about the teacher reading "The Devil's Paintbox" by Victoria McKernan and "Curtain: Poirot's Last Case" by Agatha Christie: local newspaper.
The child had been disciplined by the teacher several times earlier in the year, so this is revenge by the parent.
I read this when it first came out, I was 17. It is NOT pornographic. Heck, it's not even slightly risque.
You want something that borders on pornographic and still isn't, try looking at some some of those romance novels.
The average television commercial is far closer to pornographic than "Ender's Game".
I think some people down there need to be introduced to a clue by four, or I would if I thought they had any functioning brain cells left to be jump started by it.
Ender's game is easily one of the greatest books of all time. It's the story of a child genius. If more kids aspired to be smart like the children in the book, the world would be a better place. Not reading a book won't protect children from the read world.
They're screaming blue murder.
Funny thing is, if you actually read the Bible, God does not actually promise not to destroy the Earth.
Maybe God doesn't, but the LORD comes pretty close:
The LORD smelled the pleasing aroma and said in his heart: "Never again will I curse the ground because of humans, even though every inclination of the human heart is evil from childhood. And never again will I destroy all living creatures, as I have done." -- Gen 8:22
OTOH, as the very next verse implies "[a]s long as the earth endures ...," He doesn't promise to save it from destruction either.
Better to be despised for too anxious apprehensions, than ruined by too confident a security. --Edmund Burke
That would be Gen 8:21, of course
Better to be despised for too anxious apprehensions, than ruined by too confident a security. --Edmund Burke
Oh wait....South Carolina? I think they stopped comprehending civics in 1860.
DNA is a Turing machine. You, however, being dynamic and emergent, are not.
God is like a shamrock. He's small, green and split three ways
Tarald - The Lord of Smeg
You're not drunk if you can lie on the floor without holding on
is this comment about how the book discussed brutal warfare, or saying Sherman was justified in laying waste to SC?
I listen to both RIAA and non-RIAA stuff if I like the music, tangential business/politics nonwithstanding.
So, education? Where did you study? South Carolina? I see... No, that would be all, we'll contact you later this month, thanks for coming.
There's been an update, Ed needs to update the summary:
http://www.ksl.com/?nid=148&sid=19661650&title=teacher-suspended-for-reading-pornographic-material-in-enders-game
The important part to note is as follows, and is a statement from Orson Scott Card:
"But Card told the Doug Wright Show, the way he understands it, the teacher had also been reading inappropriate material off the Internet to the class. Card believes the parent must have looked at the reading list, saw "Ender's Game," and got upset.
So it sounds like Mommy is indeed a dumb Bitch who is making a knee-jerk reaction, but she might have actually had a real complaint.
From TFA:
Update 2: According to an update at io9:
According to a news report by local station WRDW, the police incident report in the case claims that the teacher read “pornographic material from the Internet to the students in class. One of the stories was about prostitutes having their faces covered with ejaculation.” But according to the WRDW report, the school is still maintaining that the offending material was just three books that the teacher read to class, which were primarily offensive due to swear words. (Thanks to AJRimmer for pointing us to this.)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m9_kTOgjT3E
The bad guys in Ender's game are called Buggers aren't they? In the UK, a bugger is someone who indulges in anal sex. Anal sex being called buggery in some circles (as it were). Just wondering if the mum in question picked up on that? More likely she's just barking mad though and frankly more of a danger to her kid's mental wellbeing that this book.
I want a list of atrocities done in your name - Recoil
More importantly. God promises he won't destroy it "with water, but will do so with fire" (which is what revelations then details... but contrary to the good congresscritter, it only speaks about what God will do. It never says "you will not destroy yourselves."
Unicode killed the ASCII-art *
>it seems most gays are gay because they grew up in strict religious and there oppressive anti sex BS I take it you've missed the entire "born that way" meme. Gays are gay because, well, they're gay. Most go about their lives quietly under the radar. The tragedies we hear about are the ones who are in the public eye due to evangelicalism (especially televangelism) and then run off the rails either because they've been outed or they can't keep up the cognitive dissonance. Others come into the public eye because their lives have become a train wreck because of religion, not because they're gay.
I've heard idiots in Lithuanian government tried to ban Carl Sagan's "Demon-Haunted World" thinking it was satanist literature as it is listed as recommended reading in:
:) If you actually take time to read what's on that page, it's 100% pure atheism/scepticism, no Satan worship involved. This was several years ago. Well, thankfully someone explained them who Carl Sagan is and what is that book all about. I have a strong suspicion 99% of people who want to ban books haven't read the books they want to ban and have no clue what they are talking about. Ignorance rules again.
http://www.satan.lt/Video_audio_knygos/Antireliginiai_video_audio_knygos#Knygos
which is a "satanist" page
--Coder
Good thing he didn't read that one out, or he'd be charged with dissemination of child pr0n...
Doesn't 1985 have umm actual sex? I just started reading the "Tale of Two Cities", the scene where Madame Manette reunites with her father is disturbing incestuous and erotic. Is the shower fight seen between two boys? Maybe the lady has another problem on her mind. Because it's still socially acceptable to bet up on pornography but not homosexuality.
I read that book way back when in middle school, where it was actually part of the curriculum for some. And I later met orson Scott card, who is a Mormon and probably on a short list for "least sensual writer ever". I can verify that there is no sex in enders game, cause I would have found it. Its outrageous that someone could lose their job over what was probably the defining book of my adolescence, and for false charges as well. I wish the south would "rise again" just so the rest of the country could slap some sense into them.
Maybe I'd read too much science fiction already. Didn't much like this book.
"Never again will I curse the ground because of humans">
The apocalypse isn't "because of humans", it was a part of the plan from the beginning.
...let me guess, the mother was Muslim and was offended that ants had human-like intelligence as this is an affront to Allah, Invisible Man of the Middle East?
There are 2 groups of people you can make fun of on the Internet without fear of attack. The illiterate, and the Amish.
i would just like to say that i read Ender's Game when i was in... oh, sixth grade or so. i absolutely adored it, and have been a die-hard OSC fan ever since. my innocent little mind found no problem with the book. he took a damn shower. alert the presses. however, i do find it rather amusing that there was no complaint of violence or discrimination. if i were a parent, that would probably be my primary complaint. (if i were hopelessly devoted to my little snookums and wanted no harm to befall him) i can't see how it's the teacher's fault, though. Ender's Game is a great book, and i'd say that anyone over the mental age of eight would enjoy it. it's stories like these that make me realize that common sense really isn't all that common. FACEPALM X2 COMBO
thank you for your time. ~spacetimeExecuter
The apocalypse isn't "because of humans", it was a part of the plan from the beginning.
[Citation Required] and please not from Revelations, which as we now know is not a prophetic vision, but a contemporary political cartoon. ;)
One problem with your interpretation is that the next sentence --And never again will I destroy all living creatures, as I have done --is phrased independently of humans. More importantly putting this quote in context, what was "because of humans," of course, was the flood. It would be overly legalistic to imagine that the author intended by this to qualify Yahweh's promise not (actively) to destroy the earth in future. We should also note that in the next chapter, by contrast, Elohim merely promises not to flood the earth again.
Now that I have seen the true OP (modded to zero), I will have to concede that in the context of a wide-eyed inerrantist congressman too close to power and too far from professional help, it is a little churlish of me to complain about an overly legalistic (and ahistorical) reading of the text. And moreover, he is hardly likely to defer to an historically grounded understanding of Revelations, is he?
Better to be despised for too anxious apprehensions, than ruined by too confident a security. --Edmund Burke
Wonderful. So this is how the small town I live in makes the national news.
Anyway, the upshot as of today is that nobody is going to press charges against anybody. And it wasn't just Ender's Game that was a concern. There were two other books as well: The Devil's Paintbox by Victoria McKernan and Curtain by Agatha Christie
Here's the latest: Schofield Teacher Won't Face Criminal Charges
Your fantasies contain the seeds of important concepts.
I just read that book a week ago. What part is pornographic? There are a couple parts where the boys were naked because they were in the shower and one part where they kids were forced to leave the barracks naked because they took too long to get dressed but there were not any sexual references or acts in the whole book.
That's a lovely tautology you're wearing. Where did you get it?
So let's see: ...
1. you go into histrionics about something you think I did
2. it turns out I didn't do it
3. you claim that's irrelevant, because 'all that other stuff I did' made you prone to throw that hissy anyway
4.
5. Profit?!
-Styopa
http://www.forbes.com/sites/erikkain/2012/03/21/south-carolina-teacher-suspended-for-reading-students-enders-game-will-not-face-criminal-charges/
In short, a parent's overreaction caused the school's overreaction. The teacher will get a "slap on the wrist" for including materials without following proper procedure. There will be no criminal charges.
Oh, and the reading of internet stories about prostitutes was a complete fabrication.
I'm assuming the parent never heard of the book and found this page http://plover.net/~bonds/ender.html
I guess the parent didn't read the end of that article. Stupidity in all its forms is an ugly festering chimera. When you stamp out the ignorance of one, two more pop up in its place.
They're using their grammar skills there.
http://plover.net/~bonds/ender.html
They're using their grammar skills there.
This is even more evidence that South Carolina is just plain weird and wacky. That's why North Carolina didn't want South Carolina or its people even back in Colonial times.
If you don't understand and you are not from South Carolina, just go there for a while and you will understand.
God's a Cylon?
This is the sig that says NI (again)
Automatic failover! Aw3350m3!
Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
Get'em hooked, and watch them go.
A student teacher read a story aloud to a class that I attended (fifth grade, I think): From that moment until my mid-40's I was a voracious reader (too busy with work and fixing up houses since then...). I imagine a significant fraction of the other students in the class followed the same pattern.
Showing the kids that there's a whole world in there is a great way to get them into reading.
That student teacher did us all a giant favor. Fines? No, perhaps a bonus instead.