I'm a librarian and I have a student at the Park. The interim superintendent's decision to ban this book is outrageous. Students have every right to read good literature. If a parent doesn't want their child to read something that is their choice, but they should not foist their opinions on others.

I am, as the parent of a junior at PCEP, in the words of the interim superintendent, "deeply offended and shocked" that this book on the AP English list was banned.

History does not kindly remember Thomas Bowdler or the people in Emily Dickinson's reading group who insisted that she not be exposed to the bawdy parts of Shakespeare, or the folks who banned Ulysses, or the nations that labelled books seditious to suppress ideas. Which side of history does the interim superintendent want to be on?

I have personal emotions about this because I led a Shakespeare Reading Group at the Plymouth Library with students from Ms Burnstein's Shakespeare Seminar Class participating for a couple of years. They seemed like very
bright students of great integrity with the ability to process material and make informed evaluated judgments of their own. Foisting one's own opinion that reading supposedly salacious material will be detrimental to the well-being of our high-schoolers
on the general population is the real scandal here.

As young adults, perhaps we can trust the high-school students to make their own decision about this? Or offer an alternative reading option to the kids whose parents wish to be shielded from the same.

I was deeply concerned when my daughter, a student at Salem Highschool, told me that the book was being banned. I was not informed prior to the banning by the school. How can one parent (and superintendent) automatically assume that all parents would agree to this? I knew that there would be mature subjects discussed by looking at the published reading list that my daughter received in the summer , prior to starting school. The student ( and parents_ should have reviewed this list and maybe the student should have waited a year to take the class if not mature enough to discuss these subjects. Our juniors and seniors already encounter mature material in the music and movies that they encounter outside of school. At school, they have an outlet for questions and discussion. Furthermore, where is it written that one person makes a decision for the many in a public school?

Finally, it is important to remember that these children who take the AP classes are clearly intuitive and highly intelligent people. All this banning did was to make the book more attractive and it now will probably be read by more teens at the school. How ironic?

Thank you, Canton Patch, for this article. It seems clear that P-CEP has procedures in place for review of sensitive curriculum and for public challenge of it. Dr. Hughes flouted this official process. I am glad to hear he plans to honor protocol going forward. But I am angry that the AP English curriculum, which is thoughfully developed and tightly scheduled, was compromised by our District's top official.

Wow! It saddens me that books are still being banned. This is a form of censorship.

So the superintendent can ban any book he doesn't like? That seems like a very dangerous policy. And it appears he is not willing to listen to any complaints about his decision. I'm afraid this will only lead to more people calling in to ask that other books be banned. It worked one time.

hughesj@pccs.k12.mi.us

Also this gem of a contradiction "Finally, I will do my best to communicate with our audiences clearly and often so that we are all on the same page. That is a recipe that has served me well throughout my career. I welcome your questions and suggestions."
http://www.pccs.k12.mi.us/node/54

And this one: "Jackson said Hughes credibility would help Plymouth-Canton's public image."We've got a a reputation that we can't get along with people," he said. "We've got to restore our reputation."
http://canton-mi.patch.com/articles/unanimous-vote-for-plymouth-canton-interim-superintendent

I don't agree with banning books but given the selection for 10th grade American Literature I wonder about the selections the teachers make. Why do our kids just learn about drunks and losers? Can't our teachers select stories about heroes?

Crime and Punishment, To Kill a Mockingbird, and The Catcher in the Rye are ALL similar to Waterland, they all contain controversial topics. They have profanity, they have murder, they have racism. There is nothing different. If you censor Waterland, you mind as well censor 90% of the books in school, even Mark Twain's Huckleberry Finn.

Mike: I'm a junior at the Park, and not every book we read in American Lit is about "drunks and losers." We read To Kill a Mockingbird, which has one of the greatest heroes of all time. Even the books we do read that have controversial characters, like Catcher in the Rye, teach us something. The teachers chose books like this for a reason and they all have a message. No matter what the personalities and actions of the characters are, they are all wonderful pieces of literature that are in our curriculum to serve a purpose. Not every book has to have wonderful, heroic people all the time, that's just how life is. Our teachers are trying to expose us to different kinds of literature, isn't that what school is all about?

My name is Devan. I am a Senior at the park. I recently did a presentation on the debate about physician-assisted suicide for a report in Advanced Composition. Are there people who would oppose my choice and say that their child didn't need to learn of such things? Sure, but it's a dark world out there. There are things that cannot be kept from today's youth especially if it is for the teaching of moral debates and psychological aspects of others. It's interesting to learn about the views of characters like Holden Caulfield who make us think about the worth of our own views. The teachers at Salem are very good about holding deep debates and making us think harder about things than we ever would have on our own. Something else I learned from English class? Censorship will only lead to many people seeking what it was that someone wanted to hide. We're not going to turn a blind eye to others withholding knowledge. How much longer until it's all government run because someone might be offended?

I'm a student at the park, and was in APE last year. Waterland remains one of my all-time favorite books, and was truly an inspiration. It's absolutely horrifying that the superintendent even has the authority to remove books and jeopardize the curriculum of the class.

AP English, one of the most rigorous courses at the Park, has only 11th and 12th grade students. Even if the supposedly "shocking" material was so offensive, it's only openly available to the most mature and brightest students at the school. What kind of message is he sending? Should we not question and critically evaluate? Is it okay to make decisions based on personal reactions and not look at things logically?

This is disgusting.

As a senior at the Park who was in AP English last year and read Waterland, I am absolutely disgusted. Schools have a responsibility to teach students how to read mature material in an acceptable manner. This is a college level class. Do you think a college professor would remove material because someone was offended? There is a better chance that he/she would remove the offended.

It's just wonderful that the district teaches us about the principles this country was founded upon and that we have the ability to take a stand and then uses its position of power to overrule protocol. It would've been great if the students and parents had been asked their opinions, but I guess having a voice is overrated.

I was in Matt's class for Advanced Placement English last year and of course, I also read this book. I am extremely offended by the decision to ban this book from the classroom. It was certainly one of the most thought-provoking books that I have ever read. I found it interesting that time was never strictly linear in the book; it ebbed and flowed between past events and the present. The novel also exhibited examples of tragically beautiful emotion.

As Matt said, by taking AP English, you should expect to be reading college-level material. Although there were sexual motifs in the book, this should in no way cause it to be banned. Personally, I believe that if as a parent you are so protective that you refuse to let your child to read any references to sexual love or reproduction, you are keeping your child in a bubble that will be inevitably popped in college next year or the year after. If I were a mother, I would rather educate my child before setting them loose into the big bad world.

I strongly believe that the beliefs of this one parent should not have had such a large impact on the curriculum for the rest of the students. Clearly, some people are oblivious to the fact that there are far worse influences around school that do not come from classic literature.

I am a student that took the AP English course two years ago, my junior year at PCEP, and the experience I gained from that class would not have been the same without this novel as part of the curriculum. Many students in just the first few days of reading the novel were claiming it to be one of their favorites that year. It is an egregious overstepping of boundaries by the Superintendent to pull it out of the class simply because of one complaint in the YEARS that the book as been taught, and his own personal opinion. Having read the book, and not just any one excerpt that can be construed to be offensive, I am very confident that only those people unwilling to analyze literature at a college level, and purposefully searching for offensive material would be able to twist this into any sort of controversial issue. If we are to continue with this low standard for what it takes to ban a book, then on the same grounds as the superintendent has set we must also ban half of what is taught in AP English, including Beloved, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, The Color Purple (summer reading), Brave New World (summer reading), and the liberty of the students to pick whichever novel they like for their final term paper. Last I checked, the only time that the Superintendent's sole personal opinion matters is weather or not there will be a snow day.

Instead of waiting until the 10th, we can all contact the board via emails and let them know. That way, for those of us that may not be able to attend, we can still have our opinions voiced.

I applaud the students who have posted their opinions on this story. The articulate nature of their comments proves what they have learned in a remarkable way.

Pulling the book in this sudden manner was uncalled for! The fact that Dr. Hughes has not allowed it to be re-circulated shows me the hollowness of his promise to follow the established procedures in the future.

Avery Bruni says above the the students can use the book of their choice for their final term paper.If I were a student in the class, I would pick Waterland just to re-affirm my right to study it.

I bet most of the student population at the park will now read the book only because Dr. Hughes has turned it into a 'forbidden fruit'.

??????? Wow

ONE complaint (in so many years) is enough to immediately overrule already agreed-upon curriculum?
He admits this was wrong without offering to change anything?
He thinks this action is the best way to keep kids from reading it?
If this is about protecting kids, then is he now checking the whole reading list for inappropriate books?

How does a book with sexually explicit scenes get into a high school curriculum in the first place? In a public school? The argument that it also has literary value is lame, as is the argument that kids are already exposed to it everyday.

It sounds like the parent had a legit complaint and the superintendent decided to handle it as poorly as possible.

Here are a few ideas I took from Waterland (which I read as an AP English student in the Plymouth-Canton School District):

1) the world is full of cycles - things are constantly ending and re-beginning in ways both large and small. In the same vein, many things that happen undo themselves; events are woven and unravel, only to be woven again. Water is a beautiful and easy-to-understand metaphor for this.

2) our family histories are a key part of our own history - we are who we are not just because of our experiences and the experiences of our parents, but also because of the experiences that came even before that. Knowing our past is part of knowing ourselves.

3) time is a complex and living thing. The past is not as solid as it seems, the future not as unpredictable, and the present not the only space in which we live our lives.

All of these things have lingered with me over the past decade and shaped my life.

I guess we should be happy that he did not have a public book burning. This was a knee-jerk reaction by a poor excuse foe an educator.

Salem High School English teacher Gretchen Miller is quoted as saying that her AP English class is: “...more mature and provocative.” “It should be a course that's selected by people whose kids are ready for that.” "Mr. Hughes should not be allowed to deprive other students of educational opportunities based on his and a single parent's opinion.” I agree that Dr. Hughes should follow the process though it is refreshing to see some backbone at the district. Let the school district also follow the "book selection" process before approving more graphically sexual material that is presented to some unknowing students and parents because a single teacher thinks "it's a great teaching tool". I do not favor banning books. Have your student read this sexual writing out loud at your dinner table and see if you still want this book in the AP English class.

Thanks for your comments "Down". Paying attention to a book title does not lend to the knowledge that the reading material inside may have explicit sexual content. We talk so much of being respectful of our diverse community why can we not be respectful about what our young students are presented in their studies?

You have a valid point about the dinner table. I assume you would still like to hear about your students studies, so just have them read the material to you in the family room, then you can decide if you like the material or not.

Agreed. The proper process should be followed if there is a question about the content of a book. I also would like the proper process to be followed in the selection of reading materials. I was just making a point about your student reading the material just to you, so you would have a chance to consider if the writing was appropriate.

Janet-
Fox News wants their conversation notes back..."ungoverned" "trashy" "can't read the Bible in schools". Your ignorance is so evident here. The Bible IS allowed, and is read in several different English classes at the Park and in other local school districts. Teachers have specific degrees in literature; have studied it for years. They meet in book clubs, collaborate with other colleagues and receive Masters degrees in material interesting and appropriate for different age groups at the Young-Adult levels. When was the last time you read any of these books? When was the last time you had an intelligent conversation about these materials with people of varying opinions? I'm glad to see you are at least reading The Patch, this alone bodes well for your future...but try to read more than you view. Try to listen more than you spew.

I really wish Patch would require posters to reveal their real names. GA and Janet's comments, for example, are irrelevant, personal attacks. It's amazing that self-described "educated" people can sound so divisive. Please, Patch, think about raising the level of civility on this blog by requiring participants to come out of the shadows.

This is absolute insanity! This is exactly the kind of thing we find when the extreme right-wing and the fanatical factions of the religious-right become empowered -- we must come together and stop this madness!

Wow Janet...you are a piece of work. From your comments it shows that you don't actually know what a teacher's job really involves. Also, I am guessing you have not read these books. I am glad that you see yourself as so very important, and kudos on your many degrees and material objects. I am just so very glad that you are not teaching my child!

If parents are concerned about their children being exposed to sex and violence they will want to reconsider letting them read the Bible.