Parental crankiness
Author Ellen Hopkins is happy to visit your school. From her Web site:
A major goal is reaching out to young adults through my novels, letting them know they’re not alone in their problems and discussing ways to make better decisions than my protagonists often do. There is help for kids caught up in drugs, abuse or thoughts of suicide.
“Not in my backyard,” says some unnamed Norman parent:
Author Ellen Hopkins was scheduled to speak to eighth-graders at Whittier Middle School today about her career, writing process and books.
Hopkins is the author of several New York Times best-selling books for young adults. She was notified Thursday her visit was canceled because a parent at the school requested a review of her book Glass.
The free-verse novel is the second in a series about a teen dealing with drug addiction. The novel is loosely based on Hopkins’ experience with her own daughter, who was addicted to methamphetamine.
Because the school superintendent not only pulled the books for review, he CANCELED my author visit. Wouldn’t even allow me to move to the high school. Seriously? What did that parent and he expect me to do? Go in with a live demonstration? Use the f-word? Talk about sex? I mean, you’ve got to be kidding. I’ve done hundreds of school visits. Pretty positive I’ve never corrupted a student. In fact, my talks inspire them. Arm them. Inform them. Yes, I tell my daughter’s story. Her cautionary tale. On the middle school level, I am totally sure I have stopped kids from ever considering drug use. What are these people really afraid of? That their kids will want to read my books?
The Oklahoman’s Sadie Mattox tells parents something that should be obvious, but isn’t:
[B]y all means, guide your child’s reading. However, your reading habits do not extend to the children of other people. Other people’s children are their own readers with their own minds and those minds do not belong to you. Reading is a deeply personal experience. That’s what makes it so wonderful and frightening. Leave it that way.
Hopkins will still be speaking, but not at any Norman school facility. The Trashwrap isn’t saying where, but they did say this:
Norman Public Schools is making an investment in hand sanitizer.
The school board announced Monday night that in about a week, every Norman classroom should have its own bottle of hand sanitizer to battle the H1N1 virus.
The cost is $6.70 per bottle, plus refills, but Roger Brown, assistant superintendent, said it’s worth every penny.
Next on the shopping list, I presume: brain sanitizer.
Jessika »
22 September 2009 · 10:29 am
How sad that this news comes less than a week before Banned Books Week.
Ed Flinn »
22 September 2009 · 10:33 am
I predict much fun next week when they realize that there’s a significant alcohol content in the hand sanitizer and demands that it be kept locked up.
McGehee »
22 September 2009 · 10:42 am
It seems odd to me that a speaker who isn’t espousing conservative political views would be subject to censorship in a college town. In Athens, GA they would try to cancel Clarence Thomas on campus, but not an author’s talk off-campus.
CGHill »
22 September 2009 · 10:54 am
Norman school policy is that any books on the shelf are open to parental review: the superintendent decided that while a book was being reviewed, it would be inappropriate for the author to set foot on the premises. And it’s not like it’s costing them anything. Hopkins explains:
The talk will be at Hillsdale Baptist College in Moore, the next town north of Norman. Seven-thirty.
fillyjonk »
22 September 2009 · 10:58 am
I remember when I first moved here, a group of Tibetan (Buddhist) monks were coming to campus to do music, dance, and sand art. The original plan was that the local schoolkids would go to a daytime performance. Then a few parents objected, I presume, because they were afraid that their kids would be proselytized.
The fact that none of the monks even spoke English (let alone that Buddhism is not big on evangelism) didn’t cut ice with them. However, a great many parents DID bring their kids to the evening performance, even if the daytime one had to be canceled (IIRC).
Middle Raged Punk » Blog Archive » From the Vault: Be a rebel…read a book »
22 September 2009 · 11:20 am
[...] Banned Books Week is coming up by reading of an unfortunate event that happened in my own state. Dustbury writes Author Ellen Hopkins was scheduled to speak to eighth-graders at Whittier Middle School today about [...]
Sadie Mattox »
22 September 2009 · 1:22 pm
I’m confused about what, exactly, would be inappropriate about Ellen speaking if she had been invited. If you invite someone to speak and you don’t bother to know enough about them to know what they’re discussing then that’s on you but it’s just rude to turn someone away. Doesn’t she have the right to stand up and say, hey my book’s being reviewed and here’s how I feel about that?
I’m fine with the reviewing policy though I was told (maybe mistakenly) that the books did not remain on the shelf.
kent »
22 September 2009 · 3:26 pm
more if we don’t do anything about it (talk, acknowlegement, education) it doesn’t happen to our kids….. OUR KIDS DON’T HAVE SEX>>>OUR KIDS DON’T DO DRUGS……..oh please…. She is an Oklahoman whom had a daughter that had a drug problem….and she is trying to share her experinces with others it help them.
Andrea Harris »
22 September 2009 · 7:57 pm
When I was in 8th grade (in the Seventies) we had all sorts of people come to talk to us about the horrors of drug abuse, hitch-hiking, going to juvenile hall, going to rehab, going to reform school, driving drunk and getting burned to death in your car, getting chopped up to pieces by a serial killer… I can tell you that the kids who were going to go down those roads were already halfway down them by that time. None of these talks did me any special good because I had already decided to stay in my bedroom for the rest of my life. But I could have used some writing and publishing tips.
Andrea Harris »
22 September 2009 · 8:00 pm
Actually I think it’s rather interesting the way stories like these always come out during Banned Books Week too. I mean, it’s not as if they don’t happen all year — officious parents and fearful school administrators don’t have special seasons where they are unusually frisky, though I imagine activity tapers off a tad during summer vacation.
Dennis Hansen »
30 September 2009 · 3:18 pm
There have been plenty of situations to where scheduled speaking engagements had been either put into question or canceled because of these irrational theories of indoctrination. People sometimes fear things that they don’t understand entirely themselves, or in this case anything that they may think have an negative connotation. Are parents and/ school facility justified in their actions to cancel prior speaking opportunities? Technically yes, but its also my belief that when it comes to teaching children about levels of protective provisions there should be some leniency. Identifying serious levels of risk in a school system does not always translate into peoples readiness to take action. This proliferation of fear I think stems from the unwillingness to cope with how ever-growing the dangers of drug abuse really are. Ignorance of this fact can and will eventually carry its own ramifications, if not taken seriously. Education isn’t necessarily found in the pages of books alone but also through other peoples experiences.