Galaxygirl #fundie

Galaxygirl #fundie rr-bb.com

(excerpt from the letter mrs. fundie sent to her kid's school, detailing why she pulled him out)
...I also was extremely outraged when Mr. **** ordered the book "Now I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings" by Maya Angelou. She may be a gifted writer but she is a far left ideologist and more than that her book is explicit in the subjects of rape, molestation, incest, lesbianism, and a left social justice. I as a parent have the right to decide if my children are exposed to these subjects, not a teacher! Furthermore, these are very sensitive subjects that jr. high students are not mature enough to handle unless guided with parental and spiritual support. Schools are not suppossed to be places of political activist indoctrination centers. Can you imagine the outrage if I had posted a picture of George Bush and had the class read a book authored by David Duke on the virtues of racial superiority and the Aryan Race?!!! I may seem "intolerant", fine, I will not tolerate a teacher who isn't conducting his class in a professional manner but uses it as a platform to "educate" the students with his ideology. I apologize if this seems like a "rant". My children have been given to me by God and I have the responsibility to provide and protect them to the best of my ability. In turn, I have entrusted them to ***** Charter School and given that I can no longer trust the administration to be a "trustee" I have come to this decision
to withdraw my children from their "care". I hope that in the future this school will address the seriousness of the lack of professional competency in the classroom but for my family we can not afford the time lost and the affects of it are long lasting. I am most grateful that my younger son had a excellent teacher in Mr. **** and my daughter had a good experience with Mrs. **** Hopefully, whatever issues concerning the competency of qualified teachers will be addressed and **** Charter School will have much success in the future.

66 comments

old comment by Mudak

Your kids are in Junior High. That puts them in the 12 - 15 age group. In al likelihood, they know about sex and maybe have even experimented a little bit. As far as literature is concerned, they're starting to get a glimpse into some of the more complex emotional topics that they themselves might be wrestling with. They're more mature than you think, and if you've blinded yourself to this fact, then you have only yourself to blame.

As far as reading a book authored by David Duke is concerned, however repugnant I consider the man himself and his opinions to be, I have no problem allowing his missives to be read. It's always better to have a good idea as to what those whom you oppose are up to.

But now that I think of it, what has David Duke done in the last 20 years? I can't think of anything.....

old comment by John_in_Oz

Meh.
Who can argue with the point of her post, "Whoever we entrust our children with, pay attention, even in the churches! " ?
I doubt her kids will turn out to be burger-flippers. Much of the material elided from the quote relates to her annoyance at the lack of school discipline and teaching.
I think former teacher's coment at #1215981 is cogent.
I respectfully but most emphatically disagree with JohnTheAtheist's post. Nobody else will love the little nose-miners the way their parents do. It's a hallmark of totalitarianisms, left and right, that the State tries to usurp parental rights.
Did you get the Mormon TV advertisement claiming peers from 12 have more influence than parents? Much as some parents may wish to be the sole source of information to their kids, they are doomed to fail. "[R]ape, molestation, incest, lesbianism, ..." are things kids would probably prefer not to discuss with their parents. It is still the right and the obligation of parents to prepare their kids for the fact the world is not all fluffy blankies and mum doing laundry, and to give them parental and moral support in dealing with the existance of things they will find disturbing.
No parent is perfect. Parents won't recognise their children's actual state of maturity. The saying goes "A child becomes an adult five years before his parents think so and five years after he thinks so." But this has been going on for centuries. Mark Twain has a comment or two about it. I doubt that the system can be bettered.
Even knowing she's a RR poster, I read her allusions to Bush and Dukakis as a reductio ad absurdam, not racism on her behalf. I deplore the OP's occasional spelling and grammatical lapses. I think withdrawing their child from school was an over-reaction. But I don't have a vote here, and rightly so. I think she's absolutely right in the principles she espouses. Her kids, her responsibility, her business.
Not mine.
Not ours.

old comment by Amadaun

OK, so my grandfather was invited by a friend of his to a script reading in his youth, and when he arrived the play was by Maya Angelou, he was the only white person in the room, and she glared at him for existing.

I don't like that. And I haven't read more than a bit of her six-volume autobiography. But I assume the teacher was choosing age-reasonable excerpts, and I don't believe it's seriously racist material.

I'd never heard of this David Duke before, but conspiracy theorist above appears to be ignoring "the most important book in the history of the entire world" (David Duke), My Awakening, a white supremacist condemnation of the "racial genocide of integration."

You know what's not fair? The KKK took such cool officer names. Now nobody nice can call themselves a Grand Wizard. Not fair.

old comment by Sylvana

While at the end of the day as the legal guardian of the child she is allowed to do this, she is just being a moron.

If I had a child in Jnr High(11 - 13 years) I wouldn't have a problem with them reading a book about an African Americans life. Nor would I have a problem with them reading a book from a white supremest. The only problem I would have is if the language and content of the book is too advanced. A child of 13 should be able to handle tough topics, but might have trouble analyzing the literary style. Hence it might be better to only introduce those books at a later stage.

Personally I would want my child to read about all sorts of differing opinions and scenarios even the socially unacceptable ones.

Lastly aren't the books in schools chosen by the department of education? I know in South Africa where I live schools are given a choice of about 3 books per grade. Each are approximately equal in content and style and the schools choose one that they will be doing with the class. Teachers don't just get to choose books randomly.