I really do feel bad for those of you with children in public schools.
Via , check out:
Parents in Deerfield, Ill., are upset that a local high school is using books in advanced English classes this spring that they say are laced with graphic sexual content, pervasive expletives and mockery of religion.
Worse, the books - “Angels in America: A Gay Fantasia on National Themes (Parts 1 & 2)” - are required reading for advanced placement English students at Deerfield High School, but a parents’ group wants them removed.
…Hauser cites numerous examples of offensive passages from the text, including the following:
Man: What do you want?
Louis: I want you to f*** me, hurt me, make me bleed.
Man: I want to.
Louis: Yeah?
Man: I want to hurt you.
Louis: F*** me.
Man: Yeah.
Louis: Hard?
Man: Yeah. You been a bad boy?(They begin to f***.)
(Louis slips his hand down the front of Joe’s pants. They embrace more tightly. Louis pulls his hand out, smells and tastes his fingers, and then holds them for Joe to smell … they kiss again.)
Hauser said her group formally challenged the use of the books in school, and a school district committee reviewed their challenge.
“It was quite a lengthy process,” Hauser told Cybercast News Service. “They spent five or six weeks deciding whether this book should be removed. Their final answer was it would be taken off the required reading list and put on an ‘optional title’ list.
…Parents like Hauser said the work, which even mocks the Catholic nun Mother Teresa, is porn - not literature - and offers bad messages:
Man: I think it broke. The rubber. You want me to keep going? (Little pause) Pull out? Should I –
Louis: Keep going. Infect me. I don’t care. I don’t care.…Hauser noted that this isn’t the first time that Deerfield High School and the school district have come at cross-purposes to parents. The district ordered 14-year-old freshmen to take a seminar that amounted to homosexual indoctrination, she said, and had them sign a confidentiality agreement promising not to tell their parents.
I don’t even have children, and reading this article genuinely pisses me off. Frankly, this is one reason I’ve never spawned: I knew the odds were my kids would have to go to public school, I knew that this sort of thing might one day happen at their school, and I knew that when it did, I would have to beat somebody’s ass so bad that I went to jail, leaving my children motherless.
I’m almost not even kidding about that. I truly do not know how parents control themselves sometimes. If my 14-year-old came home and told me there was a seminar about anything not purely academic and that he/she was asked to sign something promising not to tell me? I WOULD FLIP MY SHIT. If they came home with a book with those passages above? FLIP MY SHIT.
And I’m a social liberal! I don’t have a problem with homosexuality, don’t have a problem with pornography, blah blah. Nonetheless, I swear to God, if I had a kid at that school I would make it my life’s mission to obliterate the careers of everyone responsible for putting garbage like that in my kid’s hands. Obliterate. Careers.
Yeah…my little boy turned 3 last week. I am determined to eat Kraft Macaroni and Cheese for 20 years to keep him from the government indoctrinators.
March 10th, 2008 at 11:32 amFive or six WEEKS?! It took them five or six WEEKS to figure out that “I want you to f*** me, hurt me, make me bleed” is not appropriate for children?
March 10th, 2008 at 11:35 amSo what happens there? They don’t get to vote for the controlling board?
Seems to me that the residents of the District need to get involved with the governance elections.
Perhaps there are recall procedures.
March 10th, 2008 at 11:37 amYeah, I hear you. I am engaged and my fiancee and I are planning on having somewhere between one and three kids. But both of us are very concerned about the indoctrination they might receive at the hands of the public school system. Right now, our best options are 1) home schooling or 2) a religious based school.
My fiancee and I are leaning more towards the first option as the second would probably mean a Catholic school and both of us are Christians who believe that Catholics have some misguided views. But if it comes down to Catholic schools or some of the teaching that you point out and are increasingly commonly taught in public schools; Catholic schools, here I come!
March 10th, 2008 at 11:37 amRachel, you wouldn’t have to go postal. I would have been there first and bludgeoned everyone within an inch of his life.
That way your kid wouldn’t be motherless.
God, there’s few things that piss me off more. Like when one middle school forcefully performed surprise full pelvic exams on young girls and told them that they were not allowed to call their parents. The school justified it by saying they were interested in “public health” but knew that the parents would likely not allow the exams - so they did it without notification and without approval.
This was years ago - I think Walter Williams did an editorial on it.
Like you I am not anti-gay, anti-sex, or anything like that. But I am most definitely anti-gay indoctrination, and anti-sex indoctrination.
School - teach reading, writing, and arithmetic. Some history and phlosophy, too, if you know how.
Leave the social things to the parents. Or suffer the very earthly wrath your arrogant souls deserve.
March 10th, 2008 at 11:37 amI’m trying desperately to get a mental picture of my father’s reaction if he found out I was asked to sign a confidentiality agreement promising not to tell him about something we were told in a seminar in junior high.
March 10th, 2008 at 11:37 amRachl sez: “And I’m a social liberal” and states a couple of her positions.
I think that our American Culture has moved so far to the left that you will find you are now actually a social moderate…
March 10th, 2008 at 11:41 amAt least the parents took interest and action in their kids’ education, some just don’t give a flying fig.
I think the general population is like Rachel; have no problems with gays but unfortuately those wieird-leather-chap-S&M-gear-wearing guys are portrayed as representative of ALL gays. A Newsweek cover story a year or 2 ago about gay teens noted that heck alot of young gays join or are members of rather conservative churches or communities because they want what most people want: find a nice guy/girl and settle down in a nice house in a nice community.
March 10th, 2008 at 11:48 amWhich is why we have this cr*p being taught at our schools now.
March 10th, 2008 at 11:50 amI’m w/ you on this one. I would have completely bitched slapped the first person I saw after I drove my car into the principles office. And a confidentiality agreement? Puh-leeeeze.
March 10th, 2008 at 11:52 am*seething
March 10th, 2008 at 11:53 amI don’t really care what kind of sexual this book is, it isn’t appropriate for children. If they can’t legally see a movie with this content, the school should not be pushing this kind of book on them.
On the one hand, yeah, WTF. On the other hand I am not a social liberal and I read way nastier stuff (well it’s hard to quantify but Hubbard does his best in the Mission Earth series) at a way younger age just wandering around my public library. I think, if I had a kid and that was on the curriculum my personality would be sufficient to overwhelm and deconstruct whatever indoctrination it amounted to. In the end, the kid’s beliefs would be more sound for having discussed it.
I’m way more worried about what the other kids would talk them into. The battle for hearts and minds is easier when fought against old unattractive English teachers then when fought against cute coeds.
March 10th, 2008 at 12:01 pmI find this quite ironic– those passages could not be read on the radio, network or non-pay TV because the children might hear it and be polluted by it. But we can skip the TV and radio and hand this stuff directly to the kids in school? And the board of ed takes six weeks to render an opinion about it???? Has the world gone mad???
March 10th, 2008 at 12:03 pmIt’s ironic how desperate public schools want (and ought to have) parental involvement and then demand students sign confidentiality agreements to not tell their parents about certain “coursework”.
It is clear someone has lost in the arena of ideas when they have no choice but to communicate with their audience under near cult-like circumstances (high-pressure, deceptions, isolation, etc).
March 10th, 2008 at 12:09 pmTrue, though in those case you are not being required to read or be graded on the ‘nastier stuff’.
You reminded me that it was the public library where I found and read books like The Bastard and Kane and Abel and Dancers of Arun and much of the sexual content went way over my head, so I just mentally set those stuff aside and read the rest of the book. It wasn’t until years later that it was “Oh! I get it now.”
March 10th, 2008 at 12:12 pmRun for your local School Board, Rachel.
March 10th, 2008 at 12:19 pmThank a teachers’ union somewhere. They are better than we.
March 10th, 2008 at 12:19 pmi’m a social conservative. it stems from my christian roots, but even though i don’t like the idea of homosexuality, i let people alone and as long as they don’t get in my face, i’m okay with it. however, there has been an increasing push to get gay literature and gay propaganda into elementary schools. due to this, i don’t know if i ever want to have children, because they’ll come home, start spouting stuff about “teacher said that homosexuality is normal and okay” because honestly, i don’t think it’s okay. for me or my kids. i’m not talking about anybody else, i’m just talking about my future family. i don’t want to be cynical, but i would imagine the lgbt people are having a field day with this and will have some press release saying that deerfield parents are homophobic and aren’t open minded. all of which i call bullshit. i’m sorry, but being gay does not mean you get special rights to have special propaganda inserted into schools. massachusetts is notorious for this. it’s crazy. i remember something my old boss told me. he said that he worked at a company where a lesbian was going to be fired. she went crazy, said that they were firing her because she was gay, when in fact she was a huge idiot that had nothing to do with being gay. she was trumped when it turned out that one of the higher management people who wanted to fire her was gay, so she couldn’t use the gay card anymore. it’s crazy and stupid and a bunch of bullshit. that’s my two cents.
if kids want to read it, they’ll find a way, but i don’t want it to be through schools.
March 10th, 2008 at 12:20 pmCrazy!
that’s earning a Blog by me.
That’s like totally wrong on about 500,000,000,000,000,000, different levels.
pick one.
March 10th, 2008 at 12:25 pmWell, it’s not as new a phenomenon as you think. In 4th grade, we were assigned to read Judy Blume’s “Then Again, Maybe I Won’t.” Pretty graphic depiction of voyeurism, masturbation, and erections.
And I’m 38.
March 10th, 2008 at 12:34 pmThis is why my kid will be going to Catholic school once he’s out of elementary. What the freaking hell????
March 10th, 2008 at 12:34 pmIs there any other verification of this story?
March 10th, 2008 at 12:36 pmIt looks like the Chicago Tribune originally carried the story, but the link is dead. FOX News (Fox News story carries the now-dead Tribune link). The tribune story isn’t even in Google cache - weird.
The gritty details of the subject matter aren’t in the Fox story; I’m guessing CNSNews picked up on it and got more.
March 10th, 2008 at 12:53 pmJohnny: Ms. Snartfarger, why did I get 10 points off on my exam?
Ms. Snartfarger: Because you got question 6 wrong.
Johnny: I did? How?
Ms. Snartfarger: Well, if you recall, the man nibbled on Louis’ right testicle first, then squeezed the other until Louis cry tears of ecstatic pain. You had them reversed.
Johnny: Oh, darn. I’ll have to read more carefully next time.
Ms. Snartfarger: Yes, you will. Great literature requires concentration. Now, hurry and get into your gimp gear, dear. Don’t want to keep the red ball in Sally’s mouth too long. You know how she drools.
Johnny:” Eeeeewwwwh, yuck. Drool.
*******
I have come here to chew bubblegum and kick ass… and I’m all out of bubblegum.
March 10th, 2008 at 12:56 pmAt least Judy Blume was a half-decent author. This isn’t even GOOD porn. It offends me aesthetically at least as much as it does morally. What hack got paid for writing this?
Although, the fact that there is no mention whatsoever of it in the Fox News story and the Chicago Trib story has gone to the cornfield makes me wonder if somebody somewhere along the line at CNS News didn’t get hoaxed.
March 10th, 2008 at 1:30 pmI can easily visualize my mother’s reaction to my being assigned such “literature.” It involves her showing up at the principal’s office carrying my father’s shotgun.
March 10th, 2008 at 1:44 pmWhere was I in school? I don’t remember being forced to read anything like that or even close. It is foul and disgusting - and I could care less about it being homo sex. Any explicit language like that is disgusting and inappropriate for school kids - not to mention the secrecy.
If it were hetero sex I bet they wouldn’t allow it but because it’s gay then it’s being tolerant and exploring other points of view. Gag me.
March 10th, 2008 at 2:01 pmFive or six weeks is actually pretty efficient for a union-run organization.
As a former HS teacher–my objection would’ve been having to TEACH this excrement. How come no TEACHERS came forth and raised the red flag (or the brown pole)? They could’ve at least argued that the text of the book cited ran contrary to the district’s “safe-sex” curriculum. I mean, this kid obviously didn’t listen in class if he wanted Mr. Nambla to keep going after the condom broke.
I totally need cerebral Mr. Clean now. Thanks, Deerfield. (Which, by the way, is an affluent suburb north of Chicago. A little research on demographics shows 96% white–because you know if it were 96% black or latino, we wouldn’t be having this discussion–they don’t put up with this kind of CRAP.)
For more fun on Deerfield and an idea of how “progressive” they’ve become, try the wikipedia article for good time nostalgia of the “no kissing zone” signs of the late 70s. I suppose a “no anal sex between pedophiles and children” sign is next for our friends in Illinois?
March 10th, 2008 at 2:35 pmI think I will be proactive on this issue. I shall take this news story and present it before my local school board. After which, I shall announce that IF my local school board EVER tries to inflict such BS on my children; they’d better have their life insurance paid in full and a gravestone precut.
Until the 1970s, GLTG lifestyle was considered a psychological disorder/deficit/disease. IMHO, it still is.
Ergo: why would anyone WANT to infect a child with this type of problem? Isn’t our society dysfunctional ENOUGH already?!!
As Americans, you are free to disagree with me: but don’t try to change my opinion on this matter. I will NOT .
March 10th, 2008 at 2:37 pmThis is just nucking futz!
March 10th, 2008 at 2:44 pmI remember a teacher asking me to rewrite part of an essay because the phrase “a new direction” could sound like something else!
That is just…wrong. “Go ahead, infect me, I don’t care” What the HELL? That, to me, is the worst part of this. Not the sex or the language, but “Go ahead and infect me?” The second worst part is “Make me bleed.” That’s also just wrong. Enjoying being injured is not healthy. That’s not art, and it’s not “good theatre.” It’s just bad, nasty porn. It used to be to get that kind of stuff you had to sneak around with your buddies. Now the teachers will just hand it over to you!
March 10th, 2008 at 2:44 pm“had them sign a confidentiality agreement promising not to tell their parents”
1)A 14 year old cannot, of couse, sign a legally binding contract
March 10th, 2008 at 3:19 pm2)Requiring someone to sign such a contract as a condition of receiving public education would appear to be a pretty clear violation of the First Amendment.
One time in Spanish we had to make up a story and write it in Spanish. I wrote a story about a band called “Los Huevos” and the teacher told me to change it because “huevos” is a slang term for testicles in some Spanish-speaking countries.
March 10th, 2008 at 4:20 pmKat: should they be graded on it? No, but I don’t know if it’s actually better to be graded (as I was) on Oedipus. My logic at the time was a) it’s a play so it was never intended to be read, b) we should have started with Laius like Aeschylus wanted, and c) can I really be expected to understand something 2.5 thousand years out-of-date while in high school. Even now, only only point c) seems like an invalid objection. Picture a hypothetical high school student reading the script of “The Empire Strikes Back” in the year 4500 AD. (Come to think of it, Oedipus has some fairly freaky sexuality as well. At least Oedipus didn’t want to marry his mom.)
I’m not saying I think “Angels in America” is ideal reading. I’m just dourly expecting my hypothetical kids to face worse influences.
March 10th, 2008 at 4:30 pmI’m sure the Kos Kidz are busy defending this.
March 10th, 2008 at 4:58 pmDead right, Kit - it’s just plain nihilistic which is a great thing to be teaching kids. NOT!
And if they were my kids I’d be down to that school so fast my feet wouldn’t even raise dust. There would bleeding ears at the very least..
March 10th, 2008 at 7:33 pmPublic schools will allow children to read disturbing, sexually explicit gay porn, but you cannot wear cologne.
It’s just a crazy, screwed up world, folks. My daughters attend a Catholic school and some of the stuff that comes out of the mouths of their teachers is amazing. I consider myself to be conservative, but they are WAYYYYYY right of me, which is scary. I just keep telling my daughters to question things if they sound strange. If they have any questions, they can always ask me.
Oh, and my 14 year old daughter has told me that indeed, the 8th grade boys reek and smell like Axe. It makes me laugh because for me it was boys reeking of Polo and Drakkar….but I date myself.
March 10th, 2008 at 9:43 pmThe problem with modern “art” these days is it’s all about shock value. It’s not about a message - it’s about whether you can get a rise out of your audience (figuratively or literally). In this case, the kids are getting a wonderful education in that.
That said…
1. I don’t care what kind of indoctrination it was, whether it was homosexual of Pure Wholesome Judeo-Christian Americanism, pre-adult students have absolutely no business signing contracts, especially ones that declare they must keep details from their parents or legal guardians. If nothing else, it’s poor business sense - children are assets until they’re old enough to live on their own. Just as a business has every right to keep track of its assets, parents have every right to keep track of theirs.
2. If you’re going to read some modern art piece, you can do a better job than picking that. Egads… throw down some Mamet or something. I mean, that looks like something that Virginia Tech shooter came up with. We can do better than gay misandry. It’s not even good porn.
March 10th, 2008 at 9:45 pmThis, and a billion similar reasons, is why we home school. We’re not religious, we’re not part of some cult, etc etc — we just want our kids to learn useful skills rather than whatever PC tripe the government indoctrination camps have to offer this week.
Single folks: you think you’re the government’s bitch? Try having kids in public school — you have no idea how much autonomy you sacrifice. It is sick.
March 10th, 2008 at 9:49 pmI..feel sick..I have..a burning feeling..ooooh yea thats bile:(
WTF really does sum it up..I cant even…*checklist*..lets see..yup got the handbasket…onwards to hell we go!
Over and over I have to reconsider if I really want to bring a child in to this world…I want kids..but fuckin hell..well atleast the kid thing is a long time off..but the End just keeps gettin closer.
March 11th, 2008 at 12:15 amAnd Christian or not..thats just plain to see.
What constantly amazes ME is that the shills for the public schools can’t seem to understand that they are cutting their own throats when they let this idiocy go on. Talk to one about the state of the schools and they will blather on about how such incidents are blown out of proportion. They apparently can’t see that that would only b the case is the official reaction to such a travesty had been to fire every ed-school-graduate imbecile involved, and bring at least a few ringleaders up on charges.
The Liberal Left took a great deal of pleasure in the child-molesting-priest scandals. This is another form of child molestation, damnit.
March 11th, 2008 at 12:43 amThe book in question is meant for AP students, no? That means they’re at LEAST Juniors, and most likely Seniors in high school. That’s 16-18 years old, people. They read worse stuff online all the time. It’s okay for your babies to grow up, no matter how much you’re afraid of it.
Also, AP curriculum is dictated by the state, at least in Michigan. Just because some PTA members got a hold of it and flipped to the raciest part of the book doesn’t mean it doesn’t have any literary value. These could be the same people who don’t want their precious little schnookie-wookims to read To Kill a Mockingbird because it deals with racism and uses the word ‘nigger’.
March 11th, 2008 at 7:16 ammightysamurai :
They went to public school! They didn’t know how to read.
March 11th, 2008 at 7:20 amWTF?!?!?!?!?! Wrong! Wrong! Wrong! On so many levels WRONG! Every wonder how our contry got to be in the state it’s in? The ‘feel goodness’ steamroller of Obamamania, instant apologies for any perceived offense, the complete obliteration of any kind of personal responsibility? PUBLIC EDUCATION folks! Read something about the home schooling fiasco in CA the other day. The reasoning for doing away with it unless the parent is a certified teacher is that the purpose of education is to raise socially conscious, good little citizens. And we all know that can’t happen unless the teacher has been indoctrinated in today’s PC busllshit. God forbid that a PARENT might want to take the responsibility of raising their children with the values THEY hold dear. The STATE can’t have that! GODDAMN THIS PISSES ME OFF!!!!!!!
(deep breathing now–hope the next post is a funny one) arrrrrrrgggggghhhhhh
March 11th, 2008 at 7:37 amBTW, I have a son in 5th grade public school. It is a constant battle to instill critical thinking to combat the crap they teach him, especially about global warming and multiculturalism (all religions are equal mom, my teacher said so). I sooo wish I could afford private or military school for him. :o(
March 11th, 2008 at 7:41 amCome on guys, don’t you think that saying you refuse to send your kids to public schools because of indoctrination is a bit ridiculous? Teachers work far too hard to try to make sure kids don’t drop out for time to worry about their political views.
March 11th, 2008 at 7:48 amThese cases tend to be isolated; and the fact that there have been two cases of this tell me that it was the principal that was the problem, not the school.
Not in my house. This school had no, I REPEAT, NO business handing this crap out to the students. End of story. If you think it’s okay, you’re part of the problem.
March 11th, 2008 at 8:24 amMy sons are both under 3, and I will work myself into a very early grave to keep them out of government sponsored and sanctioned smut houses. I can not believe that filth like this is ‘required reading,’ while the works of Mark Twain get banned… while ‘Under God’ is removed from the Pledge of Alligence… while even bowing your head to say a slient prayer at lunch can get you suspended. I am angered and disgusted but not suprised in the least.
March 11th, 2008 at 8:29 amFull disclosure: I taught public high school students for 35 years. I am conservative and the current version of a social conservative.
You can not keep this type of “literature” away from kids who choose to read it. But it is nothing less than pandering to feed it to them. The world of fine literature is not so small that you need to go looking for trash to flesh it out.
The biggest problems facing public schools are ADULTS who jam their liberal agendas in through every opening. While I do not crusade for returning Christmas to the school building, I still fail to understand the crippling damage it caused so many innocent weed smoking, foul mouthed, back seat bedroom, cheating and lying youth who are our future. But, hey, we must kill to keep any hint of religion out of the schools.
On the other hand, there are all sorts of things that are well beyond the cutting edge of morality. We must get out there and lead the children to them so that they will better equipped to………. well, better equipped to…….um………. you know.
I have helped found two private high schools (both thriving) and to organize a board of subject experts to help in home schooling.
The public schools that are rotten are full of adults who are either lazy, on a crusade or both. Public School Boards are first and foremost interested in not being sued. They have no institutional memory and their members are basically all lighted up over their own public service candle. The average superintendent in the US stays in a district for less than three years.
The DMV could run the public schools better.
And, sorry Rachel, you are probably closer to a social conservative than anything remotely resembling a social liberal. I hope that doesn’t ruin your day.
March 11th, 2008 at 9:08 amI wonder how long the life expectancy would be of the teacher that asked my kid to sign a confidentiality aggreement. Im thinking about 24 hours, max. It is time to not only demand the teachers union be dismantled it is time to prosecute and destroy the lives of teachers who push this kind of garbage on our kids.
March 11th, 2008 at 9:25 amAngels in America is the most important play of the last 20 years. It won numerous awards, and is considered a landmark of modern American drama. Quoting a few lines out of context doesn’t give an accurate view of the play, which deals with a broad range of gay issues in a thoughtful way. It is not “porn” by any means - it is a 3 1/2 hour play with two brief gay sex scenes.
These are AP students, which means that they are juniors and seniors. Most boys and girls that age are sexually active. And the rest of them are certainly mature enough to be able to read a play which contains sex scenes. Anyone who thinks 16 and 17 year olds haven’t been exposed to sexual themes is completely deluded.
I applaud this school board for being forward thinking. Students would be more engaged if school reading lists contained more interesting contemporary works which deal with real issues which are relevant to their lives - and less boring crap which students can’t relate to.
March 11th, 2008 at 9:26 am“I applaud this school board for being forward thinking. Students would be more engaged if school reading lists contained more interesting contemporary works which deal with real issues which are relevant to their lives - and less boring crap which students can’t relate to”
Posted by Iceman on March 11th, 2008 at 9:26 am
damn right - thank God our schoolboards are made up of people who can appreciate art, rather than a bunch of Thomas Bowdlers - would those who object ban Romeo and Juliet because it contains underage sex?
March 11th, 2008 at 10:08 amKids are reading gay porn that fetishizes HIV infection, but half the time you get suspension or worse if you so much as smuggle in a peanut butter sandwich.
Dude, I will send my kids to convent schools, just to avoid this crap.
RG
March 11th, 2008 at 10:23 amAnyone who sends their kids to public schools is practicing child abuse.
We’ve sacrificed bigger houses, new cars, big screen TV’s, and lots of other stuff so we can scrimp and save and send our kids to private schools. It’s the least we can do for them.
This is abominable.
Iceman, I could care less that “It won numerous awards, and is considered a landmark of modern American drama.” The fact that it wins awards from like-minded sycophants (preaching to the choir, maybe?) doesn’t impress me at all.
After all, Milli Vanilli won a Grammy, and Kramer vs. Kramer beat Apocalypse Now.
March 11th, 2008 at 11:12 amWhat this boils down to is do I as a parent have the right to direct the education of my children in the Public School System? The answer is yes but you have to fight like hell to keep your responsibilty on a daily basis. I don’t believe the answer is to circumvent the issue by homeschooling or private schools. Not that I don’t believe in the parents right to choose homeschooling but it won’t resolve the issue. Once the government obliviates your rights in the Public School System count on them moving to the homeschooling & private arena’s. Those are temporary fixes at the most. If a parent says they are ok with the current standard then that’s their choice and I support it even if I don’t agree with it but if I say no then no it is, period, end of discussion. Woe’s be to the person who is ignorant enough to go toe to toe with me at any level. I’ve done it all. I’ve homeschooled and battled the public schools for 14 years and have another 6 to go. I have no desire to run for elected positions because it just ties my hands with red tape and policies. With no political affiliation, I am free to threaten, follow thru, rant, rave, picket, scream and holler. My school district knows and I mean knows to make very prudent, creative and communicative decisions regarding my children because there will be dire consequences if that does not happen. Example: My son was issued in school suspension for fighting. He was defending himself and within his judicial rights of self defense. He was back in school the next day because I had a come to jesus meeting with the administrators and gave them the choice of allowing him back into school or allowing him back in to school when I showed up with the cops and the media the following day. I pull no punches. My children are my responsibility and with that comes my right to educate them according to my morals and value’s. If we passively allow legislation to continue the way it is going we will be in essecense handing over parenting of our children to the government. That will happen to my children over my cold, dead, decomposing body.
March 11th, 2008 at 11:31 amOK, I wish all y’all would take a DEEP breath and calm down.
First of all, I raised two children. They went to public schools. They are both grown now and neither one is a drug addict, had any unplanned pregnancies or STDs, is gay, or has an arrest record.
They DID however have many sexually active and some pregnant classmates. This started in MIDDLE SCHOOL. My daughter was invited to three baby showers when she was 13.
So all of y’all who are sayin’ it’s a Parent’s job to educate their children about the “Social” aspects of life….I have a fuckin’ news flash for you: Y’all ain’t doin’ such a great job! Take the time to look up your county’s teen pregnancy, STD and HIV rates. They are Growing. And those of you who like to say that the “Children are our Future”, well Our Future is infected, pregnant and ignorant about how to protect themselves. If they could learn SOMETHING about sexuality in school, since their parents aren’t teaching them at home, or are only teaching them abstinence in a futile attempt to keep them chaste, MAYBE these rates would start falling.
Another facet of the problem, is the welfare system. A welfare mother who went on welfare as a teen mother is much more likely to become a Grandmother of a second generation teen welfare mother. And so on and so on. The decreased stigma of unwed mothers has also contributed to this problem.
But to rail against a School Board EDUCATE older teens, with presumably more smarts if they are in an AP class, by exposing them to an Award winning piece of literature is IDIOCY.
Rachel, it is beneath you to cherry pick a few lines out of this lengthy piece. It’s been a long time since I saw it, but I’ll take Iceman’s word that it runs 3.5 hours. It’s not Gay Porn anymore than any movie or play with a hetero sex scene is straight porn.
I DO agree with your point that the school having the students sign an agreement to not tell their parents about whatever is wrong.
But for ALL these commenters to get their Vickies in a twist w/o having read or seen Angels in America for themselves is bigoted and closeminded. Have YOU seen or read it Rachel?
For y’all to base your rants on Rachel’s comments of a few lines taken out of context and call it porn is akin to the reactionaries who called Mark Twain’s work racist.
I’ve got on my asbestos underoos and there’s an email address listed on my website if you really want to come flame me.
March 11th, 2008 at 12:54 pmHollyB, that is well said. I agree completely. I bet most kids get worse from their parents own movie collections. Quoting a small part of the movie proves nothing.
March 11th, 2008 at 2:57 pmMost teenagers are more than mature enough to watch a film like this and probably much more tolerant to the views than their parents are.
Well, well, well. HollyB is all hot for “Angels in America” as some sort of anthem of profound truth. Typical liberal pap. Not much different from an infant finger painting his crib with poo from his loaded diaper.
Just who is it that takes the helm as vanguard of cultural change and the expanding ethos? A high school teacher with an itch?
After praising the importance of parental guidance, HollyB is willing to turn moral guidance over to the unsung saints of high school curriculum who march to the tune of their inner drummer. The shared culture and literary canon should not be prostituted so cheaply.
Elitism in projecting the truth in avante guarde experimental theatre is the common slop at the liberal trough. Does anyone care to stage “Hair” anymore?
There is a world larger than the core “wisdom” of the Vagina Monologues. Power to the People and Up Yours! Che lives. Peace, brother. I would like to teach the world to sing. We are the children.
March 11th, 2008 at 8:18 pmHave anybody actually seen “Angles in America” on stage? I have. Maybe it was the hype but I found it to be a let down. Boring actually. It wasn’t clever or profound, just bunch of people with relationship issues. Basically it was “Thirtysomething” with AIDS, latent homosexuality, and a wife driven to near insanity. Nowadays it seemed rather outdated. The Angel doesn’t show up until the end of Part I and until then it was a huge snoozefest. In Part II things got more interesting because one of the character was interacting with the Angel, even wrestling with her ala Jacob in the bible.
I really fail to see how Angels in America “is the most important play of the last 20 years.” Maybe I just can’t relate to it since I’m not a man, or gay, or in the closet, or has AIDS, or an insane wife, or has ever attacked an angel.
March 12th, 2008 at 7:35 amI can not give you the full context here, but I was taken to see Angels in America by a very fragile person who wanted to share it with me. It was as confused and neurotic as the fragile person who sat sucking up meaning from it.
This kind of stuff comes around regularly. It may win some praise, but is soon seeps back into the ooze from which it arose. It has no shelf life. Theatre Noir is never a happy place, but only a few examples ever survive. Those that survive have a theme that strikes a common chord.
Angels in America is a sideshow of venality. It is cheap theater for the easily swayed.
March 12th, 2008 at 8:29 amThe public schools have totally lost it. Public schools are in place to teach what the majority of us parents want our children to learn. Let our teachers keep the minds of our children pure at school in their classes. Don’t make our job as parents harder than it already is.
March 12th, 2008 at 9:57 am“And I’m a social liberal! I don’t have a problem with homosexuality, don’t have a problem with pornography, blah blah.”
Yeah, well that’s how the schools started out too. Each successive generation and new wave of teaching pushes the tolerance and morality envelope, condemning the previous one’s repressive nature.
March 12th, 2008 at 10:23 amI wish that Heliotrope was right, but Angels in America is to Gay America what the Vagina Monologues is to the radical feminists. The Author Tony Kushner revels in his “Queer, Socialist, Atheist-Jewish” identity, and is held up as a saint by the radical GLBT community.
March 12th, 2008 at 2:23 pmAndy, Gay America is not all Fulton Street Fair and Queer Nation. Of the small per cent of Americans who are gay, there is a very large number who lead quiet, conservative lives. Many gays who agitate for a special civil rights status are burdened with all manner of “victim” neuroses. I suspect that Angels in America may well be their anthem, but they are a tiny minority compared to radical feminists or Americans in general.
There are piles of niche interest junk writings out there for some twitchy lib teacher to drag into the classroom. But the libraries are over-flowing with great literature that overwhelm the time available to read them.
March 12th, 2008 at 7:46 pm