Seattle School Board considers request to pull 'Brave New World' from curriculum

[Newsjock]

Source: Seattle Times

A request by a Seattle parent to have the 1931 novel "Brave New World" removed from Seattle Public Schools' literature curricula will be considered — and possibly decided — at a Seattle School Board meeting Wednesday evening.

Parent Sarah Sense-Wilson has persuaded Nathan Hale High School administrators to drop the distopian Aldous Huxley novel from its Language Arts class, which her daughter took last year. But she has not been as successful in her attempts to have the book removed from literature curricula districtwide.

Having been denied by Superintendent Maria Goodloe-Johnson, Sense-Wilson will make her case this evening to the board, the final appeal under district rules.

Sense-Wilson, a Native American, said she and her daughter found the book offensive for its numerous uses of the word "savages."

Read more: http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2013460397_braveworld18m.html

[sakabatou]

1. Huh.... and here I thought it'd be or the orgy-porgy...

[JackintheGreen]

2. Well, then, I hope her daughter never studies

anthropology
history
colonialism
imperialism
historical linguistics
folklore
philology

or anything that requires reading primary sources written prior to 1940.

[Drale]

3. Have we become such a shelter society

that we can not deal with being a little offended?

[Igel]

33. Things are too egocentric.

When some people see the word "savages" they assume that it has to refer to them because someone, at some time, in some other place, referring to other people in a way that could refer to them.

It was remarkable to see the students in my class react very strongly to the use of the word "coloreds" in a text. It was translated in 192x from an original written in Russian in the 1870s, and referred not to African-Americans but to Africans and "felt" right when I compared it with the Russian; it wasn't the formal, anthropological word, didn't bear any great stigma, and was appropriate to educated colloquial speech. The language was put in the mouth of one of the British colonial rulers and reflected British norms.

The AA students in my class insisted that a British colonial representative, speaking in 1870 and referring--unambiguously admiringly, as even a cursory reading of the text would show--refer to Africans living in a (fictitious) African village as "African-Americans." It didn't matter that the people referred to weren't Americans. That "African-American" wasn't a term that would be invented for 100 years. No, all of written history must cater to their 20-something 200x sensibilities because ultimately, whatever was said in a Russian story from the 1870s about African villagers had to be about them. (Because, generally, the only thing that interested them in the entire class was what they could understand to be about them. Literature doesn't teach them about the *human* condition, to see that others are human and learn empathy, to broad the mind and perspectives; no, literature exists to enable them to read about themselves and find affirmation that what they already believed was true. Instead of broadening the mind, it's intended to narrow it and weld it shut.)

So it makes sense that in a work in which the word "savages" is used somebody who is Native American figures that it has to be about her, somehow, and is therefore not something that she finds to be offensive, but is something that is intrinsically, objectively offensive. Because all of English is and always has been set up with reference to that one group and because the universe created it so that the phonetic string written "savages" in all languages at all times is intended to insult Native Americans.

[nosmokes]

4. Sarah Sense-Wilson is a fascist a-hole and I feel sorry for her kids.

I pity her husband but he has options like masturbation and divorce.

[uppityperson]

5. What about Huck Finn? words change and not reading an older book because of its language is

ridiculous. Look at the time it was written. Is that language considered proper now? Could be an education talking about that. What is next, banning Huck Finn? Yes, Mark Twain used what is now considered offensive terms.

Sounds like can't see the forest for the trees situation. Ban "redskins" as a school sports team term, but read the books.

[LiberalAndProud]

31. It is often banned.

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is the 4th most banned books in schools according to Banned in the U.S.A. by Herbert N. Foerstal. In 1998 three new attacks arose to challenge its inclusion in education.

http://712educators.about.com/cs/bannedbooks/a/bookbanning.htm

[deutsey]

37. Ironically, what offended some people when it first came out didn't involve race

but class (i.e., Huck's vernacular and "inelegant" worldview).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adventures_of_Huckleberry_Finn

The Concord (Mass.) Public Library committee has decided to exclude Mark Twain's latest book from the library. One member of the committee says that, while he does not wish to call it immoral, he thinks it contains but little humor, and that of a very coarse type. He regards it as the veriest trash. The library and the other members of the committee entertain similar views, characterizing it as rough, coarse, and inelegant, dealing with a series of experiences not elevating, the whole book being more suited to the slums than to intelligent, respectable people.<15>

Twain later remarked to his editor, "Apparently, the Concord library has condemned Huck as 'trash and only suitable for the slums.' This will sell us another five thousand copies for sure!"

[Occulus]

6. *A* request from *A* parent

WTF is giving individual complaints so damned much power over content and curricula these days?!??

[Le Taz Hot]

29. But did you catch this from the article?

"Parent Sarah Sense-Wilson has persuaded Nathan Hale High School administrators to drop the distopian Aldous Huxley novel from its Language Arts class . . ."

The fact that she's succeeded even once is disturbing.

[Posteritatis]

30. Schools like to fold at the first complaint over stuff like that

They're terrified of being sued if they refuse, so screwing over the entire curriculum is seen as a better choice for some reason.

[donco6]

43. Uh - no we don't.

I've been here 15 years and we've NEVER upheld one of these complaints. We've never had one that was vaguely sensible.

[HuckleB]

7. Wait! Great idea!

Let's purge from history all the ugly things us white folk said about our fellow human beings!

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh! Doesn't that feel better?

:eyes: :wow: Ugh.

[Ian David]

8. She's not an it-getter. n/t

[knitter4democracy]

9. I've taught that book myself. We had interesting discussions about that part.

We talked about what Huxley was really saying in that particular section and whether he really thought they were savages at all. He's also fairly obvious that most of the people in that area aren't even Native American.

Instead, why not fight to get more Native American lit in the curriculum? If the problem is one of her culture being ignored or diminished by the curriculum (which I would agree with as a general rule, considering Native American lit is rarely considered much in most lit curricula), then the issue isn't this book but instead having a book that refutes it or having more poetry taught to show the reality of the Native American experience here in the US. I highly recommend fighting to have something by Sherman Alexie in the curriculum--he rocks and is a great, great writer.

[NashVegas]

11. Isn't It Obvious?

I can't imagine how anyone can see BNW as anything *but* a condemnation of a rigidly controlled society, and a condemnation of "civilized" society's sense of superiority.

[knitter4democracy]

14. I think it also depends on how the teacher and class dealt with it.

I've worked with English teachers who would have missed the point of that book or who would have led the students in a different direction. I'm wondering if the real problem isn't more that the students started calling her daughter a savage, though, and saying it was okay because it was in the book.

[starroute]

20. That doesn't mean it isn't condescending towards the "savages"

In the 1920s and early 30's, there was a great deal of despair over the failings of civilization and an idealization of the "primitive."

But much of this -- like the fondness for jazz at the same period -- had deep currents of racism and exploitation mixed in with the idealization, as well as a tendency to prefer white quasi-primitives (think Al Jolson in blackface, or even Tarzan) to actual "primitives."

There is a great deal that is morally questionable about Brave New World, mostly having to do with its deeply ambivalent attitudes towards the future it portrays and its propagandistic use of language to make the reader squirm over aspects of that future that might otherwise appear attractive.

The emotional undercurrents are far from simple, and (unlike 1984, which is a far more honest work) I can't see it being taught well at a high school level.


On edit: Now that I think about it, the book is also deeply sexist -- which may be the main reason for my own dislike of it.

[knitter4democracy]

27. Students get that stuff, for the most part, though.

My students did the year I taught it. We talked about how it ultimately wasn't that different than "A Modest Proposal", a ramped-up version of the future to make it look as bad as possible.

[NashVegas]

39. Ambivalent? Wow

Again, I don't know how anyone can walk away from this book with the idea that Huxley wasn't shuddering over this vision of the future.

[struggle4progress]

22. +

[bluedigger]

10. Perhaps she would find her time better spent

developing a lesson plan discussing the use of the word "savages" in Huxley's Brave New World.

[jtuck004]

13. Perhaps a bit of time with "The Student As Nigger" would be productive as well,

'cause I'm not so sure things have changed that much since Farber wrote that little missive.

[bluedigger]

16. Never heard of it.

Sounds interesting, thanks for making me aware of it. I don't think either she or the Seattle School Board are quite ready for that, yet.:rofl:

[jtuck004]

17. From Wikipedia

If you are really interested in education, it would be worth your time to read it. It lays it all out in a very understandable format.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Student_as_Nigger

"The Student as Nigger is the title of an essay and subsequent book by American educator Jerry Farber.<1><2> The essay first appeared in the Los Angeles Free Press in 1967 and is often cited as one of the first underground publications to receive widespread recognition. It was reprinted over 500 times in the 1960s and was published in book form in 1970 by Pocket Books.

The essay, published during the height of the American Civil Rights Movement, in which Farber was an active participant, draws an extended analogy between the status of students at California State University and the status of African Americans.

Farber uses the term "nigger" in the title to connote what he perceived as a "master-slave" relationship in modern educational settings in which students were overly constrained and intellectually de-motivated.<3>"

______________

Here's the first paragraph -

Students are niggers. When you get that straight, our schools begin to make sense. It's more important, though, to understand why they're niggers. If we follow that question seriously enough, it will lead up past the zone of academic bullshit, where dedicated teachers pass their knowledge on to a new generation, and into the nitty-gritty of human needs and hangups. And from there we can go on to consider whether it might ever be possible for students to come up from slavery.

http://ry4an.org/readings/short/student/

And for a little more academic treatment you could read stuff by

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paulo_Freire

or for a more "down-home" perspective

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Myles_Horton

Horton was interesting. He wanted to unite workers in Appalachia who were divided by race. So he brought white and black workers to a an adult school, on very hot days, but only provided one scoop for the water bucket.

Once their thirst got the better of them, they began to realize they were all in it together, and the work could begin...

[bluedigger]

18. It's a little overly 60's provocative,

but I grok the gist of what he's getting at.

[jtuck004]

19. I don't think anyone has done a better job at capturing the reality.

What I see as provocative is how dedicated teachers and gullible students go blindly (or maybe not so blindly)
through this little exercise, and then wonder how we got to where we are.

[jancantor]

24. And John Lennon said the same

thing about women...

[jtuck004]

41. Absolutely. I do understand the reticence in using the term, but

in the language we have available that word brings so much to the table that applies to students, gay people, women, and, frankly, men who work for 20 years only to be thrown under the bus with a mountain of debt.

That Farber essay is comparatively short, but it packs in a wealth of description and pain on that page.

And I think today it applies to way more of us than we want to acknowledge...

What I don't get is that people of color, especially black, figured out that if they worked together, educated each other, and organized, not necessarily in that order, they could tap a whole well of unused power that was just sitting there.

That power is sitting there, unused. Perhaps one day our society will foster those who could encourage it in everyone else.

[asdjrocky]

12. Aldous Huxley was closer in his vision than Orwell. nt

[NashVegas]

15. True

[Hannah Bell]

21. these people are insane.

[struggle4progress]

23. When I read "Brave New World" in high school, I thought John the Savage was the hero

All the technophiles led vacuous lives

[Occulus]

25. As you use the one of the greatest pieces of technology mankind has ever invented

:rofl:

[struggle4progress]

26. Being a Luddite in the 21st century does present some challenges, I admit

[deutsey]

38. Yeah, I remember Huxley saying that he put him in an ironic position where

he had to choose between madness and insanity.

I always took that to mean that the "civilized" society was as screwed up as the "savage" society, just in different ways.

I think Huxley said if he were to re-write the book, he would've given him a third middle option of fnding a small bohemian enclave where people who didn't fit in either society could escape to.

It's been a while since I read that, but I'm pretty sure it's in the intro or afterword of the BNW I have.

[NashVegas]

40. He WAS The Hero

Some people have a hard time with that.

[AngryAmish]

28. Take some Soma, it will all be better...

[Javaman]

32. I'll say it...

this woman is a moron.

Frankly, I honestly don't believe for an instant that Huxley had Native Americans in mind when he used the term "savages".

[Dappleganger]

34. Race to the bottom.

[Igel]

35. Replace it with Zamyatin's "We."

A bit harder to read, but it touches mostly on the same themes.

[Jim__]

36. Description of John the Savage character.

JOHN THE SAVAGE
the illicit son of the Director and Linda. He was born and reared on the Savage Reservation ("Malpais") after Linda was unwittingly left behind by her errant lover. John the Savage is an outsider both on the Reservation - where the ignorant natives still practise marriage, natural birth, family life and religion - and the ostensibly civilised Brave New World: a totalitarian welfare-state based on principles of stability and happiness, albeit happiness of a shallow and insipid nature. The Savage has read nothing but The Complete Works of William Shakespeare. He quotes them extensively and, for the most part, aptly, though his allusion to "Brave New World" takes on a darker and bitterly ironic resonance as the novel unfolds. John the Savage is intensely moral. He is also somewhat naïve. In defiance of BNW's social norms, he falls romantically in love with Lenina, but spurns her premature sexual advances. After his mother Linda's death, the Savage becomes ever more disillusioned with utopian society. Its technological wonders and soulless consumerism are no substitute for individual freedom, human dignity and personal integrity. He debates passionately and eruditely with World Controller Mustapha Mond on the competing merits of primitivism versus the World State. After his spontaneous bid to stir revolt among the lower castes has failed, the Savage retreats to an old abandoned lighthouse, whips himself in remorse for his sins, and gloomily cultivates his garden. But he is hounded by reporters and hordes of intrusive brave new worlders. Guilt-ridden, the Savage finally hangs himself after - we are given to infer - he has taken the soma he so despises and succumbed to an orgiastic debauch.

Other character descriptions

[WinkyDink]

42. This wins the award: Stupidest Fake PC Protest of the Year.

[Generic Other]

44. The word 'mother' was obscene in this novel

It wasn't Huxley who thought the outsiders were savages. It was the nutjobs in the 'civilized' world, and they were wrong. They were the real savages.

[BakedAtAMileHigh]

45. Let Free Dumb Ring

Argh, this pisses me off.

[MellowDem]

46. I've always believed that Brave New World...

was much more accurate in its predictions than 1984. While 1984 would surely be seen as a more "conservative" world, Brave New World reflects a sort of "liberal" dystopia.

California leglaization would've been one more step towards soma.... ah well. ;-)