Censoring Schoolbooks

As a sixth-grade teacher who has taught some of the “detestable” stories and poems in the “Impressions” literature series, I find the recent reactionary ban sweeping across our state and country to be quite hypocritical (“Are Kids Ready for Literature?” Part A, Dec. 13).

Considering that 50 million illiterate adults inhabit our country, the publishers of the “Impressions” series should not be vilified but praised for trying to get reluctant readers interested and/or hooked on reading. The purpose of any anthology is to expose its reader to different types of literature. Students in my classes sample different authors and genres from Shel Silverstein to Shakespeare. And although their responses range from “Can we read some more?” to “Can we read something else?” I feel that I have succeeded as long as the habit of reading becomes a part of a daily routine.

And frankly speaking, a 5-minute poem on “excreta eating pigs” or carnivorous witches doing damage to the children of these “concerned” parents pales in comparison to some of the real dangers of our educational system and society, such as these “involved” guardians owning televisions, cable and VCRs who will expose their children to more than 13,000 murders and other acts of violence by the time they are 12, or sending them off to school with lunch money to buy cafeteria food saturated in fats and carcinogens, or allowing them to live in an environment where breathing the air limits their lung capacity 25%.

It is my most sincere wish that the next time these indignant parents get together to rally around something it will be about an issue more compelling than a few innocuous poems and stories.

ALFEE ENCISO

Los Angeles