County Issue Controversial Books

The Simi Valley school board recently voted to keep the novel “The Cay” on a district optional reading list, despite objections by some parents and the NAACP that

the book contains racist remarks. How should districts decide whether the educational value of a piece of art or literature outweighs content that some find offensive?

Theodore Green: Vice president, Ventura County chapter of the National Assn. for the Advancement of Colored People I believe that they should weigh it by the fact that the book has been banned in other parts of the country. That should be the number one criteria, that the book has been banned. When a complaint has been filed and a black student has been traumatized by the teaching of this book, that is knowledge of damage being done. I think that if it’s going to emotionally scar a student at the sake of assuming to educate people of a terribly atrocious situation, it’s too high a price to pay. I think that they should weigh the (damage to the) student. Overall it has a heavier weight than another assumed learning experience. I don’t think that anybody can learn off of stepping on someone else’s culture. I think what it does is the basis of institutional genocide. I don’t think we should be focusing on demeaning any culture. What sticks in the minds of these children is not the whole intent, what sticks in the mind is the language used. And if it’s going to destroy our society by pitting one group against another, then that’s devastating. That’s what they should look at.

Clint Harper: Board member, Moorpark Unified School District; voted to keep “The Cay” on an optional reading list The first thing that we have to do is listen to the faculty, and in most cases I think you’ll find that their judgment is going to be appropriate on educational merit. The other thing you have to be very careful to do is take any offensive passages out of the text in context. I read the book and found that the allegedly offensive passages, when taken in context, had a positive message of tolerance rather than racism. I thought it was a very fine book. If you look at “The Cay,” for example, you have to show the nature of the racist attitude of the character, and one way to display that is through the type of language that’s used, which of itself is objectionable. But the reason it’s used is to show the opinions of the character and how those opinions are shaped throughout the story. The Holocaust is something that I think should be taught in the schools, and how can one face the atrocities of the Holocaust without talking about what occurred? . . . You have to talk about that in the context of teaching (students about) what occurred.

Doug Crosse: Board member, Simi Valley Unified School District; voted to keep “The Cay” on an optional reading list I think that the key is to keep an open mind and listen intently to the arguments on both sides of an issue. Then the process becomes internal and you have to take into consideration your own feelings. It is a difficult process at best. There’s an argument on one side that if one child is negatively affected then that would be enough to ban the book or take something out of the curriculum. I don’t think that’s the case. I think that the overall good that a piece of curriculum material can provide is the most important thing. But, certainly, we have to be sensitive to all the individuals involved. I think that it boils down to keeping an open mind and truly listening to both sides of the argument and gathering as much information about a particular piece of material as possible. There’s a balance between historically accurate portrayals and those that can be considered racial stereotypes. There may be a better book, there may be the perfect book to teach the same lesson. I would welcome that. But I don’t know that there’s ever anything that’s going to be totally pure and not offend anyone.

Diane Collins: Board member, Simi Valley Unified School District; voted to remove “The Cay” from an optional reading list I think in a case where you come up against needing to evaluate a piece of literature like “The Cay,” it’s important that you evaluate it in terms of what the effect will be on all populations in your school system. In the case of “The Cay,” it was an issue of how did it affect the African-American student, one student out of the whole class, and it had a very negative effect on him. It’s my opinion that a book that has such racial stereotypes that are so devastating that they actually harm someone in reading them, doesn’t belong in the classroom. I had to make a decision on this book, and when I look at this book I believe that it actually harmed a student who was reading it. I felt that because of that, and because other African-American students would be reading it, I didn’t feel like I wanted to put the school board’s sanction on that book. That’s not to say that I would ever ban the book. It can be read by anybody who chooses to read it in the library. I just didn’t want the sanction of the school district saying, “This is a good book and we want our students to read it as an educational experience.”

Robert Purvis: Superintendent, Simi Valley Unified School District I think that a school district needs to have a policy that defines the procedure it should follow whenever parents, students, a member of the community or even an employee expresses concerns about a particular instructional material or program. That policy would have a number of elements in it but certainly one of them would be the opportunity for a person to file a written complaint and to get a response from people who are knowledgeable in the area. We had a committee review “The Cay” and make a recommendation to me and the school district. Typically, we do not use or buy instructional materials out of the blind that have not had some kind of evaluation before they get to the school district, and we always use committees for textbooks, comprised of people who are experts in that area. I see it as my job to help establish a process that will yield satisfactory results. In the case of a textbook or a library book, there is some subjectivity involved depending upon the perception of the person reading the book. As a result you’re going to get varying opinions as to whether a book is appropriate for use in the schools.