heinleinblog

Or he will be if Mrs. Grundy gets her way:

Four parents of Science Academy sophomores are determined to protect their children. From books. The board of directors for the South Texas Independent School District is expected to decide tonight whether to ban two books — Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World and Robert Heinlein’s Stranger in a Strange Land — from the high school’s 10th grade English Advanced Placement curriculum. The books, part of the class’ summer reading list, may lead to “inappropriate sexual arousal of young teens,” parent Julie Wilde wrote in her complaint to the district. “We feel this is inappropriate for the ages of the students at (the) Science Academy or at any South Texas ISD High School,” she continued in her letter, specifically citing Brave New World. “This is pornographic literature and we do not feel it has a place in any school funded by taxpayer dollars”? — Each of the titles has received praise from teachers, professors and critics alike. Stranger in a Strange Land – which Wilde said she did not read — is a 1962 Hugo Award winner about a boy raised by Martians who returned to Earth as a true innocent without knowledge of sex or religion, and is viewed by many as a science fiction masterpiece. Brave New World has been called one of the most brilliant satires written in English, about a dystopia where babies are born in laboratories, people pop “happy” pills like candy and sex is a casual act. “The references to sexual behavior which the complainants cited as leading to sexual arousal are non-explicit attempts by the author to engage the reader in critical thought about human values and societal codes of conduct,” the committee wrote in its report on Stranger in a Strange Land. “The book addresses sexuality and portrays groups with radically different approaches to sexuality than that generally accepted as our societal norm. The book does not promote these lifestyles as desirable. The book does not give graphic descriptions of sexual acts.”

Rational analysis of “Stranger” and “Brave New World” will not impress these people. It’s the ideas to which they really object, not just the sex. I read Stranger on my own while in high school. But I read “Brave New World” as a high school junior for a science fiction and mystery literature class. At that time, Peoria School District 150 was known for it’s blue-nosed attitude. If this book wasn’t too risque for Peoria in the 1979-1980, I have a hard time believe anyone would object to it in 2003, the era of “Temptation Island” and lesbian kissing on television. In fact, I would think that Huxley’s negative portrayal loveless sexuality would counteract some of the loveless sexuality these children are bombarded with every day.

 

Why not write letters to the school board encouraging them to keep both these great novels? The contact information is: South Texas Independent School District, 100 Med High Drive – Mercedes, Texas 78570 — Phone (956) 565-2454 – Fax (956) 565-4639. Via Obscure Store.

UPDATE: The School Board passed. The books stay.