Principal cuts offending poems out of book in school library

[Pab Sungenis]

http://www.thedailyjournal.com/article/20090518/NEWS01/905180322&referrer=FRONTPAGECAROUSEL

Two pages of "Paint Me Like I Am," a nationally recognized book of teen poetry, are missing from the copy standing on Landis Intermediate School's library shelf.
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Principal Don Kohaut recently removed the pages that included the poem "Diary of an Abusive Stepfather" after a 13-year-old Landis student's mother questioned its appropriateness. The 31-line poem is peppered with profanity and details a violent relationship between an adult and child.

...

"It is quite a piece of literature," said Kohaut, who said he opted to remove the offensive poem to allow students access to the other teen works in the anthology.

More at the link.

You know what, idiot, just pull the book, don't vandalize it. I'm more offended by your deciding which works belong in the book and which don't than I would be if you'd just yanked the whole thing.

[msongs]

1. let's hope he removed all the bibles - incest, rape, toture, murder, genocide, bestiality + more nt

[JuniperLea]

4. Beat me to it!

Don't forget the soft porn of Song of Solomon!

[Rob H.]

2. There was a biology teacher at my high school

who went through all the textbooks before they got handed out to her students and stapled all the pages in the chapter on evolution together because they didn't agree with her right-wing fundagelical religious views. :crazy:

This was at a public high school in the mid-Eighties, so it's been awhile ago, but still.

Edited to add: Apparently she also didn't realize that there's no better way to get teenagers to read something than to tell them they can't read it.

[hvn_nbr_2]

10. Reading the first paragraph of your post, I was thinking....

I know which pages of those books I would have read first.

[Mythsaje]

3. The Principal without Principles...

Seriously--defacing a book is vile.

[Pab Sungenis]

6. Anyone know how to nominate someone for Keith's "Worst Person In The World?"

This guy should be in the running.

[Sequoia]

5. I was at a school where the libriarian used a Magic Marker

to black out certain passages he thought was not for children's eyes to see. Some were "classic novels" too.

[Jkid]

7. Seriously this kind of censorship ought to be illegal.

Unless it's child porn or pornography or if the material is proven to cause actual harm to children, a book should not pulled from the shelves.

[Pab Sungenis]

8. I'd be less offended if they'd pulled it

than by them defacing it. That's only one half a baby step away from book burning.

I posted my usual offensive profanity-laden take of it over on http://whytheysuck.com but at the end I suggested that people be constructive by buying copies of Fahrenheit 451, The Crucible, and books about censorship and having them shipped to the school.

[Sequoia]

9. Excellent !

[Pab Sungenis]

11. This guy is the gift that keeps on giving

http://www.thedailyjournal.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20090327/NEWS01/903270318

The state Department of Education is investigating allegations that student violence at Landis Middle School has gone under-reported.
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Landis Assistant Principal Richard Panas, who oversees discipline at the school, has charged that information that must be disclosed by law to the state's Electronic Violence and Vandalism Reporting System has been withheld.

...

Panas charged there were 80 incidents not reported to the state over the past several years.

Hm. Gang violence good, poetry bad?

[Hanse]

12. Pulling the book would be worse than cutting out the offending parts

If he can't handle the book he should resign.