The State - News from Nov. 1, 1985

Requiring that parents of all students in a high school class give permission before a novel may be studied is unconstitutional, the American Civil Liberties Union maintained in a lawsuit filed in Kern County Superior Court. The action on behalf of Wasco High School English teacher Lee McCarthy contended that school officials revoked approval of the John Gardner novel “Grendel” last January, because of “profanity” and “subject matter.” It was discussed only after permission slips were received from the parents of each student. The suit charged that the officials tried to exercise “mind control” by requiring such consent. An attorney for the school district said the requirement was not censorship but “a matter of exercising control over curriculum.” Time and Newsweek magazines called “Grendel” the novel of the year in 1971. It tells the classic English legend of Beowulf through the eyes of the monster.