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From: Melody Allen <melodyan>
Date: Wed, 20 Oct 1999 09:31:59 -0400
I have come to this discussion belatedly and apologize if I either repeat or digress. First, I would not call someone "silly" because we hold differing opinions. Most people who complain about books care deeply about their children and deserve respect.
Secondly, it would not surprise me if some children do increasingly have difficulty knowing what is real and certainly what is historically accurate. With all the movies and made-for-TV movies based on real events and the oversensationalized coverage of real events, I think it is not easy to make the distinction. When it comes to historical events, it is even harder. How do young people evaluate the accuracy of movies about Vietnam, space flight, Watergate, let alone events farther back in time such as those that had such significance to Indians, when history is taught less and less (and sometimes from inaccurate texts)? There is limited use of primary research materials even in our colleges as I understand it. Even current news is sloppily reported. Then a young person needs to understand point of view and how there can differing perceptions of the same event. One of my most valuable school assignments was to spend several weeks reseraching the accuracy of Howard Fast's April Morning using as much primary source material as I could (it's very accurate).
Finally, do kids know the difference between reality and fantasy? Most do in my experience, and that is part of the fun of fantasy. We should also remember in talking about books that realistic fiction is made up too. But there is evidence of teens who pursue fantasy games beyond knowing the distinction. I don't think this is the fault of the games. I think there are kids who really do lose track of what's real. The previous comment was very telling about separating your fantasies from action - that is a more meaningful distinction - to know that you can pretend or imagine or dream or fantasize anything, but that you must develop an awareness of what can be appropriately acted out.
Melody Allen Melodyan at lori.state.ri.us
---------From: drabkin Sent: Tuesday, October 19, 1999 7:55 PM To: Subscribers of ccbc-net Subject: Re: controversy
Linda wrote: We all have thoughts (especially
Thank you for writing this, Linda. And my apologies to everyone on the list for the abortive part-of-a-message that shouldn't have been sent earlier today -- a child pushed the "send" button.
We need to realize, in this discussion, that children are intelligent beings, that children who are normal (and many who struggle with severe problems) do know the difference between fantasy and reality, between books and life, between stories and actual events. Otherwise we may appear as silly as the person who is currently calling for Harry Potter to be removed from schools on the grounds that "children don't know the difference between reality and fantasy". (Obviously the person who said that -- if she was quoted correctly in the newspaper account -- had never known a real live child.)
In short, children deserve respect, which includes the telling of truth, including unpalatable truths about the way people have behaved toward other people over the course of history.
Marian Drabkin
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Received on Wed 20 Oct 1999 08:31:59 AM CDT
Date: Wed, 20 Oct 1999 09:31:59 -0400
I have come to this discussion belatedly and apologize if I either repeat or digress. First, I would not call someone "silly" because we hold differing opinions. Most people who complain about books care deeply about their children and deserve respect.
Secondly, it would not surprise me if some children do increasingly have difficulty knowing what is real and certainly what is historically accurate. With all the movies and made-for-TV movies based on real events and the oversensationalized coverage of real events, I think it is not easy to make the distinction. When it comes to historical events, it is even harder. How do young people evaluate the accuracy of movies about Vietnam, space flight, Watergate, let alone events farther back in time such as those that had such significance to Indians, when history is taught less and less (and sometimes from inaccurate texts)? There is limited use of primary research materials even in our colleges as I understand it. Even current news is sloppily reported. Then a young person needs to understand point of view and how there can differing perceptions of the same event. One of my most valuable school assignments was to spend several weeks reseraching the accuracy of Howard Fast's April Morning using as much primary source material as I could (it's very accurate).
Finally, do kids know the difference between reality and fantasy? Most do in my experience, and that is part of the fun of fantasy. We should also remember in talking about books that realistic fiction is made up too. But there is evidence of teens who pursue fantasy games beyond knowing the distinction. I don't think this is the fault of the games. I think there are kids who really do lose track of what's real. The previous comment was very telling about separating your fantasies from action - that is a more meaningful distinction - to know that you can pretend or imagine or dream or fantasize anything, but that you must develop an awareness of what can be appropriately acted out.
Melody Allen Melodyan at lori.state.ri.us
---------From: drabkin Sent: Tuesday, October 19, 1999 7:55 PM To: Subscribers of ccbc-net Subject: Re: controversy
Linda wrote: We all have thoughts (especially
Thank you for writing this, Linda. And my apologies to everyone on the list for the abortive part-of-a-message that shouldn't have been sent earlier today -- a child pushed the "send" button.
We need to realize, in this discussion, that children are intelligent beings, that children who are normal (and many who struggle with severe problems) do know the difference between fantasy and reality, between books and life, between stories and actual events. Otherwise we may appear as silly as the person who is currently calling for Harry Potter to be removed from schools on the grounds that "children don't know the difference between reality and fantasy". (Obviously the person who said that -- if she was quoted correctly in the newspaper account -- had never known a real live child.)
In short, children deserve respect, which includes the telling of truth, including unpalatable truths about the way people have behaved toward other people over the course of history.
Marian Drabkin
~~~~~~~~~~ To remove your address from the mailing list, send a message with the header...
To: listserv at ccbc.education.wisc.edu
Subject: signoff ccbc-net
Received on Wed 20 Oct 1999 08:31:59 AM CDT
