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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
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.
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.
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 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
Hansel and Gretel shove a little old lady into on oven and broil her, and that's been broadly accepted as children's fare for two hundred years. A little justifiable homicide shouldn't be a big issue all of a sudden.
No relation to Happy Monkey
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.
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.
The bully was already dead when kicked. He hit his head accidentally on a knob.
Time to read the book again :)
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.
if this, then Shakespeare has got to go as well.
Not to mention several books from The Old Testament.
Idiots...
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.
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
Card is certainly unsavory, but I am curious why you think it shouldn't be promoted as a young adult book. Many of those books involve violence, often without consequences (e.g The Lottery short story). I personally think that scene makes a great discussion point; people should understand why Ender wasn't punished, and that could frame an interesting ethical discussion. I think the target audience for Ender's Game is old enough that they can understand that not everything that happens (in a book or reality) is just.
If your theory is different from practice, then your theory is wrong.
"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.
I remember reading "Lord of the Flies" as a school assignment, as well as "The Jungle", and "Jude the Obscure".
If those aren't banned yet, then I don't see why they would bother with such a tame offering as "Ender's Game".
Who would win this election: Andrew Weiner vs Andrew Weiner's weiner.
Ender is a school child who kicks another school child to death in the school bathroom. Nobody has any question that it's happened, but not much seems to happen to Ender because of 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.
Spoiler alert: it's a pattern that foreshadows what happens at the end of the book. He lashes out in self defense against threats to his survival (or perceived threats) and immediately regrets it. It's not his fault that he kills. It is the fault of those who manipulate him and his peers so that these life-or-death conflicts keep occurring, without outside intervention.
The Daddy casts sleep on the Baby. The Baby resists!
Ender is a school child who kicks another school child to death in the school bathroom. Nobody has any question that it's happened, but not much seems to happen to Ender because of it.
Nothing happens to Ender, legally--he's a child, and has been placed in that situation by the authorities, who are pretty much hoping for the response that they get. Later on (either at the end of Ender's Game, or in Ender's Shadow) it's revealed that Graff was indeed court-martialed for the deaths of both Bonzo and Stilson, though he is acquitted because of his statements that the war would have been lost if not for his actions in turning Ender into the weapon that humanity needed.
Graff aside, Ender did most certainly suffer for those deaths, and the billions more that he caused. Mentally, emotionally, and, later, being equated to another Adolf Hitler by the very people he saved.
What part of "shall not be infringed" is so hard to understand?
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."
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Unless this is the writer's cut that my library didn't stock - this wasn't enders game they were reading.
Wasn't that your plan all along ???
We're about to be immersed in The Hunger Games, because of the movie. I haven't read that, and my 12-year-old has. He optimizes what he reads for a reading score web site that the school district uses, as it's 25% of his grade. So, you can consider that The Hunger Games in this case was recommended by the government!
Bruce Perens.
Tricky moral situations are essential for children's reading. Feeding children sanitized narratives only primes them to accept the sanitizied narratives that are fed to us by government and media. Expose children to grey moral areas early, and they will be better equipped to handle grey moral areas in life.
Give me Classic Slashdot or give me death!
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)
There's more naked violent children in Lord of the Flies than there is in Enders Game.
Read that at school when I was 14.
It pays to be obvious, especially if you have a reputation for being subtle.
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."
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?
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.
Comment removed based on user account deletion
STILSON SHOT FIRST
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.
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).
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 *