Atwood novel too brutal, sexist for school: Parent
Robert Edwards says if students repeated some of the words from Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale in the school halls, they'd be suspended, so he questions why it is okay in the classroom.
And what about the foul language, the anti-Christian overtones, the violence and sexual degradation, asks the parent who launched a formal complaint about the Canadian novel. Don't they violate the Toronto board's policies of respect and tolerance?
"If you look at the board's policies, it goes to these great lengths to talk about respect and not using profane language, and in fact so do the policies at Lawrence Park Collegiate," where Edwards' 17-year-old son was studying the book in his Grade 12 English class.
"The board is adamant about those policies, but then puts books like this in place."
http://www.parentcentral.ca/parent/article/571999
I saw that story. Seems to me that the claim that the novel is sexist is a bit misplaced...
It's times like this that I appreciate my own parents. At age 10, they had a talk with the local librarian and made arrangements to allow my brother and I free access to all of the libraries contents (at the time, children under 12 were only allowed to take out books from the children's and young adults section). We considered the head librarian (Mrs. Jones) a family friend, and I think there was one occasion when she suggested that my older brother wait a couple of years before taking out a particular book (I cannot remember the title), otherwise she was just happy to keep checking books out for us. I feel something akin to pity for Mr. Edward's son.
Duplicate thread:
http://rabble.ca/babble/culture/handmaids-tale-too-sexist-school