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Write and Wrong
It's hard to unearth exactly why someone was so hell bent on keeping "The Freedom Writers Diary" out of this classroom. Maybe it was the use of a particular racial slur, the one that keeps getting people riled about "Huckleberry Finn" and that provides the perfect teachable moment for discussing racial divisions in America—at least if you're not paralyzed by cowardice. You have to wonder whether the school-board members even read the book. Maybe they never made it to the entry by the student who said, "Who would have thought of the 'at risk' kids making it this far? But we did, even though the educational system desperately tried to hold us down." It's a they said/she said situation, difficult to parse because so much took place behind closed doors. The board lawyer said Heermann was told not to use the book and she did so anyhow. She says after months of silence from higher-ups, she assumed they just didn't care.
If the school board of Perry Township wanted to counter "The Freedom Writers Diary," it certainly did. The book teaches that open discussion about challenging subjects is always best, that engagement always trumps silence. The members of that board were outraged by alleged insubordination when they should have been outraged by the glacial pace of decision-making by their top administrators. Insubordination is what built this country, and a glacial pace in education means you lose kids.
Have I mentioned that it's hard to get really good people to become teachers?
Connie Heermann will be teaching three courses in the fall at a local community college. She'll be making less than $5,000, but she's grateful for the opportunity. She was forbidden to contact her students after her job was yanked out from under her, was forced to go overnight from a powerful presence in their lives to a complete cipher. What made it worse was that she knows they are kids who assume they'll get the shaft. That's what "at risk" means, too. She hears that some stopped going to class. It looks as though her students are not going to wind up the way Erin Gruwell's did. That makes her so sad, but she doesn't regret what she did. "You know what?" she says. "My students have the book. They kept the book!" And then her voice breaks.
© 2008
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Member Comments
Posted By: melbee1971 @ 08/22/2008 11:08:29 PM
Comment: WARNING: Please, PLEASE.... Trust your children's teachers. Even if you don't always agree with them.
Teachers, whether they are whatever box you want to put them in, are essential good people. We have got to learn to let them DO THEIR JOBS! If there are "cursed words" in contemporary literature, they have been trained to deal with it. They are working very hard and facing community, administration, union, and student pressures all at once: All for a relatively living wage.
Posted By: dfitzsimmons @ 08/04/2008 8:41:28 AM
Comment: Once again I am beside myself as to the complete throw away society we have become. We throw away the old, the sick, the young, the impaired, and apparently we feel we have enough good teachers to just start throwing them away as well. Its time to wake up people in order to reach all the youth and give them an education they have to be in school for one and motivated for two. After all they are who will be here when we are all gone running things right! This book is fantastic and they can relate to it. I have a high school student who saw the movie and read the book and who has been reading and writing in a joural. It has improved writing skills and shows that hard work and dedication pays off. I have read the book and seen the movie as well. If people are afraid of a little cursing and true emotions of how someone is feeling then they are probally not dealing well with life in general. I thank Erin Gruwell and Connie Heermann and all the other teachers who have taken the time to make a difference to the youth of America who I feel have been screaming out to us for help for years! The Township Board has made a devistating mistake that has not only impacted its teachers but its youth and its future !
Posted By: Frustrated in Indiana @ 08/03/2008 10:39:10 PM
Comment: As far as I can tell, the Perry Township School Board is a "run-away board," or as others have called it, a "teflon board." They seem completely unaware of (or uninterested in) the storm of continuing world-wide public outrage over this issue of book censorhip and "cruel and unusual" sentencing of an obviously dedicated, caring teacher. This unforunately is the result of the structure of the board as much as the participants in it. Until there is more "checks and balances" or "oversight" to school boards, this outrageous behavior will continue.
Outraged in Indiana
Emil Francis