Public School Book Banning

Today in the Chicago Tribune there was an article about what constitutes appropriate literature in the public school system. Parents of Kinzie Elementary School students were protesting the inclusion of the book The Chocolate Wars as mandatory reading for the seventh grade. Their argument is that the book is filled with profanity, sexual themes and bad morals, and therefore is bad reading for their kids.

The defense of the school board is that the book talks about relevant themes that the kids are going to face, and therefore they have no problem with it. I think what bothered me more though was that on the message board almost everybody was saying, “They’re going to learn about that stuff sooner or later, if they don’t know about it already,” and “They already watch garbage on TV so why not read this book?”

Listen.

First of all, just because somebody is bound to learn about gang violence and sex “sooner or later” doesn’t mean that they should be reading about it in the seventh grade.

Secondly, it’s setting our kids up for failure if we think that it’s okay for them to experience these things as part of everyday growing up. Solving your problems with violence is not healthy. And despite popular believe, neither is sex outside of marriage.

Thirdly, the question of what our kids are watching on TV does not have relevance to what is okay for them to be reading in the classroom.

But ultimately what it boils down to is what is okay for a seventh grader to read? What is good classroom reading, and what is unacceptable?

To get to the bottom of this issue, I looked up the school’s vision and mission statements. They read that their goal is to teach kids to be responsible and contributing members of society.

Now let’s take a look at what the book is about. A school is infested with gang violence while the teachers stand by and watch; kids discuss adult themes; kids resort to violence to solve their problems; the only moral character in the book is portrayed as a weakling; ultimately the main character cops out and decides it’s not worth standing up for what he believes in.

With this in mind, does this book line up with the school’s mission and vision statements?

No it does not.

Should it be read in the school?

No it should not.

A New Generation In A Hostile World

Editor’s Note: I want to sincerely apologize for the inconsistent and sporadic frequency of my postings on this blog. Beginning this week I will be posting again on a three-day-a-week schedule. Thank you for continuing to read these Acts 20:24 Ministries blogs. I hope this newest blog is a blessing to you, just as our other blogs. Today I would like to introduce a fellow minister of ours, Bianca Rivas.

A New Generation In A Hostile World – by Bianca Rivas

When I was a child I can remember getting up on Saturday morning anticipating my favorite cartoons on TV. I also remember TV only being available at home. In this day and age you can find television everywhere you go – while driving in yours car, at the gas station, in the classroom, and even on your cell phone or portable music player. Technology has progressed so much in the past couple of years. We now live in the age of technology, where we are everywhere bombarded by the media. It is hard to get away from it – anywhere you go there is advertising.

This world has changed, and with such a major presence that the media has today, it is bound to influence the younger generation as well as the older generation. The world is a hostile place for a child, thanks to the media. Over the years the media has been pouring out garbage that distorts good values. And the media does have an effect on child development. Studies of shown that a crucial developmental stage occurs in adolescence. So if a child is watching a violent show were the “good guy” kills off all the “bad guys” as a means resolving something, then ultimately a child may learn to use violence as a means of conflict resolution. The issue is that there are so many portals where children can be exposed to danger – some even in our own living rooms.

The Internet has become a quick way to look up information and to share information. Kids have access to the Internet in their homes, through friends and in school. Just recently a popular Internet site “Myspace” deleted over 200,000 profiles of sex offenders. There is a reason why Dateline’s ‘To Catch a Predator’ has become a major hit show. The danger for our children today is that they are more exposed to explicit material and child predators while surfing the Internet.

Violence, casual sex, drugs and gore are in practically all cinema films and TV sitcoms. Scary movies are no longer scary. They have become horror movies which are filled with violence and gore. Comedy movies have become very obscene and crude. TV sitcoms show teenagers getting high on marijuana. Sitcoms are becoming more and more filled with junk and negative messages, showing things such as casual sex being okay and swearing being funny – and our kids watch these shows right in our living rooms. Hollywood actors who star in these films have become irresponsible role models for children. Some have even become jailbirds.

In America we have developed a system of rating movies and TV shows according to its content, which has been fairly accurate and productive. This allows us to know what is out there. But it still becomes an issue when the parent becomes careless and let their child view R rated films (some sometimes even just PG rated films) without previewing their content.

Commercials have also become a cesspool for negative advertisement. A child who has just watched an hour of TV has watch over twenty minutes of advertising. In that time period they would have seen advertisement for toys, junk food and name brand clothing. The brand of your clothing seems to be more important than intelligence.

Kids are being bombarded by the media and its negative messages. If it’s not at home, it’s in the car, on our I-pods and on our computers. So we know what is out there and we are not blind to it. But for some reason we continue to stimulate the growing media to put out garbage into the world for our children to see.

The media only advertises what they think people want. Apparently Americans want sex, violence and gore. And the next generation will be the result of this generation’s consumption of the media.