How honest are teens really?

[TxWildCherry]

My 13 yr old sone came home from school yesterday and said mom i need to talk to you i siad alrighty shoot he said mom i got a book at the school today that was on my teachers reading list and i dont think it is reading material for jr high kids and i asked him what was in it i mean it cant be that bad right Wrong in a 101 page book over 40 pages each had swear words and i dont mean your run of the mill He** and D**n i mean it has S**T the only word i did not find was F**K i asked him if he told his teacher and he said yea she said it was on the approved reading list and as long as re did not repeat what was read it should be fine **NOT IN MY HOUSE**
I got on the phone with the school this morning talked to teacher and she KNEW about it i said how sad you make these kids read this book then i called back and spoke to principle and he said mam as long as the book has one or two words it should be deemable for students to read i said well its not one or two it more like 40 and he said how old is this book i said it has been in your library since 1997 how could anyone miss this it has been on the reading list since then

Is it me or has society lost it i mean swear words in junior high books tell me if this would be apporiate for kids this age i mean my son is a boyscout and he always tries to do the right thing and now the teacher is saying he should have just went on tell me what some of you think i tell my son to always do the right thing

[GeThang]

Yikes. IMO, a book with that amount of swear words shouldn't be in the school library at all. I remember reading a book like that in high school, and hated every minute that I had to read it. There were complaints, but we still kept reading for some reason. I could have refused to read the book, but I knew that I would get a bad grade. I wonder what would happen if the superintendent started getting tons of calls about this book???

[freeby4me]

I agree that this is indeed very sad. Some great classic books have the occasional swear word such as d*mn, but that is completely un-acceptable. I would make it clear to the teacher that your son will not participate in reading that book and he will do a different book in place. That way other students dont make fun of him for not reading when everyone else is. If the teacher has a problem tell her you will talk to the super-intendant about it. If you are not happy with the educational programs your son is being exposed to, how can he be happy and how would this book actually help your son when he goes out on his own? Stand your ground!!

[TxWildCherry]

the priciple said they dont read all the books they put in their library so they dont know i said i wonder how many other kids read this book and never said anything and he said this book has been on the reading list for 7 yrs i am soory but my kids are exposed to things like this maye i am too old fashioned but they now look at my son like he is a stitch but i was wondering how many people would allow their child to read this book

[justme23]

Well I remember bein 13 and I was SAYING all those words, even the F word... and I wasn't the only one doing it either. I guess to me they're just words... the only kids I wouldn't say them around (or allow to read it if they were mine) would be kids under 10... But in my opinion, there comes a time where they start hearing it regular (most times at home too), so if the book has a good moral value then I wouldn't have a problem w/ them reading it.

[TxWildCherry]

thank you freebyme my son feels it is wrong for people to swear people say he takes being a boyscout to seriously but i am sorry my sons goal in life is too make something of himself he does everything he can for the community and he feels things like this as bad

[TxWildCherry]

i read the book and it is about a soceer team how they make the soccer team and talk about how they drink and smoke and have their way with the girls just because they are on the team and ways to get away with it by throwing up just before the game so people dont know some of the things they are doing how sad

[justme23]

Originally posted by TxWildCherry
i read the book and it is about a soceer team how they make the soccer team and talk about how they drink and smoke and have their way with the girls just because they are on the team and ways to get away with it by throwing up just before the game so people dont know some of the things they are doing how sad

I can't imagine a book like this being in the school library w/out the ending of it having SOME sort of moral value. Them getting caught and showing the consequences or SOMETHING. However, if there isn't then I would agree w/ you that it is inappropriate despite the words.

[TxWildCherry]

i would have understood if it had a moral to it but it does not and cant believe they actually expect a child of this age to even understand this book they make this book out to make the stuff these kids to do to be okay maybe this book is why some of the superstar atheletes the way they are i mean it seems if they have money they can get off any charge and walk

[ckerr4]

What is the name of the book, if you don't mind my asking?

[zitra]

I remember reading a book similar to what you mentioned in highschool called "Catcher In The Rye"... I don't/won't have any problem with it if my kids bring home a book like that, as long as they know better than to say the words/how to behave it doesn't matter to me if they read the words...I am sure they will hear worse than that in the halls at school (I know I did).

[TxWildCherry]

Shots on Goal by rich wallace it says on the back it is wonderful book for teen guys to read

[TxWildCherry]

i think it would be okay for high schoolars to read but junior high kids are just starting to learn their place in society and dont need to learn that it is okay for junior highers to swear and this book is about 7 grade students i would not think kids should behave like this early in life

[teddy2948]

They have several books like that at my daughter's school, but the are in a certain area of the library and parents had to sign "special" permission slips in order to allow their children to read any sort of book that had material in it that some people could deem "offenseive".

[TxWildCherry]

well it seems the teacher knew what was in the book yet the principle and the librain had no idea they are now taking it before the school board to see if they should leave this in the library or not and they said my sons does not have to take the reader test over this and gave him a new book and said for me to look it over before he reads it after talking to a few parents on the phone taoday most of them had no idea books like this (with offensive language in them) were in our library *we are a private school* some of the parents are deciding to look over some of the reading material on this teachers list seems she has had the same list for years and no one has ever questioned her but some parents are gathering she makes her own list up (does not go by school reading list) and thats what the kids read no questions asked but none of us never think to actually look at these books make me wonder how many others are this way also they just started the reading list starting monday so he is not far down the list

[ImaGApeach]

My daughter is in 9th grade and she brought one home the other day that had alot of cuss words in it and it talked about oral sex and masturbating-I was shocked.
But a few years ago a guy from my brothers' church was giving a book to read that he did not want to read because of his religion-the swearing and all -If I am not mistaken it had Gd##n in it and he refused to read it and he failed the course and was also punished-there was board hearing and law suits involved but the book is still in the library and I think he still failed the course in the end of it
I think this is so dumb-what would they do to these kids if they used these words to them?

[maysie]

Here is a site that tells about other parents and their objections to this book.


http://www.pcparents.org/issue1.htm

[Unicornmom77]

omg! ui am sorry!! i want the name of your son school!!!! please pm me or email me! i am so upset at this! we cannot pray? or say one nation under god? but we can condone the use of ba***rd??????????? OMG!!!!!! i am so so upset!!! i am going to make sure this book isnt in our kids schools when they get to this level!!!!

[ckerr4]

She said they are in a private school, so they might be able to pray, if it is a religious school.

Without adding my opinion about the language and content of the book (I haven't read the book, so I will refrain from doing so), I will say that at Amazon, the reviews of the book seem to be written by kids from the intended age group, and not surprisingly, the kids aren't focusing on the same elements as the adults here. The kids are saying things like "it's a good sports book" or "I like the way the book shows what real kids do or want to do." They even talk about what they didn't like in the book, which is things like the inner monologues of the characters, which one reviewer had trouble understanding.

Interesting, I think, the dichotomy between what kids see, and what we expect them to see.

[TxWildCherry]

the back of the book gave rave reviews also would not think about much until you open it is does have some about soccer but i will type an excerpt from it edited for profanity
what the he** kinda tackle was that its called defense it is well Eat S**t

another part i found offensive
Set ...and i raise up on my fingers and lift my butt and i feel a warmth spreading over my crotch and hear a tinkling sound the starters start to laugh

now we are not considered a relgious school as they dont teach religion and we have people of all backing race and everything but gets agrivating when stuff like this comes up

[Sparkli]

Originally posted by TxWildCherry
the back of the book gave rave reviews also would not think about much until you open it is does have some about soccer but i will type an excerpt from it edited for profanity
what the he** kinda tackle was that its called defense it is well Eat S**t

another part i found offensive
Set ...and i raise up on my fingers and lift my butt and i feel a warmth spreading over my crotch and hear a tinkling sound the starters start to laugh

now we are not considered a relgious school as they dont teach religion and we have people of all backing race and everything but gets agrivating when stuff like this comes up

Totally uncalled for. This book should never make it into a juvenile's hands. I am so glad they didn't insist that your son read it, I know alot of school insist and then the child has to fail. It's a terrible practice.

Tammy

btw, I think you handled the situation very good. :D

[ckerr4]

Something to think about:

Those of you who are dead set against this book (whether you have read it or not) because of language and inappropriate situations, best hope your children never read Shakespeare, Dante, Twain, Shelley (both of them), and many many other classic authors. They all contain inappropriate language and/or situations.

I'm not saying that this book is on the same level as these classics, only that there are parallels as far as content, and as far as response to the content.

Just something to think about ;)

[queenangie]

TxWildCherry, I think you should be very proud of your
son! He is standing up for what he believes in,
and this certainly reflects what a good Mom you are.

Is the private school your son attends a religious
one?

It is a good thing the teacher gave an alternate
selection for your son to read and review.

Give your son a hug and tell him
how proud of him that you are!

Angie

[TxWildCherry]

we took the book before the school board last night some parents were shocked this book was on the shelf of our library and it is now being removed and the board said they wished their were more students like my son the parents have now decided to look over the books this teacher has on her reading list we are a private funded school but most of us are very religiuos and most of these parents were flaming luckily not too many students have read theis book yet

[Syrinx]

I agree with ckerr, and speaking as a library science student, ethically your librarian should have objected to a book being removed from the library because a few people complained.

It's been held up in more than one court case that school libraries should not remove materials because a few people don't like them -it's a violation of the First Amendment rights of the rest of the students.