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Re: How much...?
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From: Christine Taylor-Butler <kansascitymom_at_earthlink.net>
Date: Sun, 20 Nov 2011 01:12:02 -0500 (EST)
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Rosanne,
You mak e a good point. My counter to that is of course, if there is a student in the c lassroom who has faced horrors first hand, then adjusting classroom materia l appropriately is in order. And I certainly wouldn't introduce - for insta nce - Middle Passage to younger children or someone who is a current victim of child trafficking. Heck - it's hard to digest as an adult unless taken in small chunks. And even Tom Feelings told me he had to be dragged o ut of his depression discarding his original draft and crafting one closer to the emotional truth.
What I think some of us are saying is that t he industry tends to "err" on the side of a one note approach to difficult topics. To gloss over the real details in favor of a more "feel good" appro ach especially as students get older. Some of it is driven by the reality o f wanting a huge school and/or library buy to boost profitability.
B ut to have options and choose not to select one is much different than to n ot have the option at all because the gatekeepers tried to anticipate what the buyers wanted and completely missed the mark.
I contend balance is needed across the board. And more acknowledgment that students, wh en presented with material, seem to handle it much better than we give them credit for. I know that when I talk about the Everest book, I can co ver all the amazing obscure facts about its geology, engage the students in a conversation about the unfairness of the Europeans naming a mountain the y didn't own and educate students on the life of Sherpa - but in the end, t he number one question I get from 4th graders and the subject of almost eve ry fan letter and hand drawn sketch is "what happens to the dead bodies of the people who don't come down" -- a topic I wasn't allowed to address in t he book.
To put things in a scientific sense: children who grow up i n a sterile, antiseptic environment never develop the antibodies necessary to fight off disease later in life.
Kids are astute and they know mo re than we think. Sometimes it's the adults in their lives than need to get out of the way of their curiosity.....:-)....C
Received on Sun 20 Nov 2011 01:12:02 AM CST
Date: Sun, 20 Nov 2011 01:12:02 -0500 (EST)
D"
font
Rosanne,
You mak e a good point. My counter to that is of course, if there is a student in the c lassroom who has faced horrors first hand, then adjusting classroom materia l appropriately is in order. And I certainly wouldn't introduce - for insta nce - Middle Passage to younger children or someone who is a current victim of child trafficking. Heck - it's hard to digest as an adult unless taken in small chunks. And even Tom Feelings told me he had to be dragged o ut of his depression discarding his original draft and crafting one closer to the emotional truth.
What I think some of us are saying is that t he industry tends to "err" on the side of a one note approach to difficult topics. To gloss over the real details in favor of a more "feel good" appro ach especially as students get older. Some of it is driven by the reality o f wanting a huge school and/or library buy to boost profitability.
B ut to have options and choose not to select one is much different than to n ot have the option at all because the gatekeepers tried to anticipate what the buyers wanted and completely missed the mark.
I contend balance is needed across the board. And more acknowledgment that students, wh en presented with material, seem to handle it much better than we give them credit for. I know that when I talk about the Everest book, I can co ver all the amazing obscure facts about its geology, engage the students in a conversation about the unfairness of the Europeans naming a mountain the y didn't own and educate students on the life of Sherpa - but in the end, t he number one question I get from 4th graders and the subject of almost eve ry fan letter and hand drawn sketch is "what happens to the dead bodies of the people who don't come down" -- a topic I wasn't allowed to address in t he book.
To put things in a scientific sense: children who grow up i n a sterile, antiseptic environment never develop the antibodies necessary to fight off disease later in life.
Kids are astute and they know mo re than we think. Sometimes it's the adults in their lives than need to get out of the way of their curiosity.....:-)....C
Received on Sun 20 Nov 2011 01:12:02 AM CST
