QUESTIONABLE BOOKS: SCHOOLS SOMETIMES FACE DILEMMA

Public schools always have had to find powerful reading materials to inspire their students without offending anyone.

Last week the Egyptian Board of Education in Illinois ran headlong into that problem when a group of citizens protested an Egyptian High School English class's use of "Death of a Salesman."

"I would say any literature would offend someone," Scott City schools Superintendent Roger Tatum said. "It just depends on how you look at it."

Tatum said he understands how citizens of Egyptian School District could be offended by the language in "Death of a Salesman."

"Society these days looks at things a little too liberally sometimes," he said. "Some of us are a little more conservative. Hopefully you try to stay away from any type of literature that would be offensive, but it's virtually impossible because everyone has different opinions."

Julia Jorgensen, a reading teacher at Cape Girardeau Central High School, said reading material needs to conform to standards of the community in which it is taught.

"I can understand for example in 'Huckleberry Finn,' with the N-word, I can understand why that is offensive," Jorgensen said. "In some parts of the country maybe that is not the best choice to read when you're studying Mark Twain. Maybe you need to pick another book."

Jorgensen teaches an advanced-reading class for college-bound seniors. She uses materials that have been challenged or banned in other parts of the country. She said it is vital for teachers to select material that will appeal to the maturity level of their students.

"We are in public education so we have to look at who we're teaching," she said. "If 'Huck Finn' is offensive because of the N-word and you can't get the message because everybody's hung up on that, then there's no reason to teach it. So you pick another option, another book by Mark Twain."

Jorgensen devotes two weeks in her class to studying the history of banned books in America. They study the reasons, look at the materials and draw their own conclusions.

"The purpose of reading 'Of Mice and Men' or 'Huck Finn' is to get the broad picture. If you're going through to look for the vocabulary then that isn't the reason to read Mark Twain," she said. "My students always ask me, why is this book challenged? Because I have mature enough students that they read for the meaning of the book and they don't even notice the words, so to speak."

Jorgensen is not an advocate of having every book available to every student. "'Catcher in the Rye' would not be necessary to put in an elementary library," she said. "If a second-grader picks up 'Catcher in the Rye' they're not reading it for the content; they're going to pass it around and look at the words."

"In some instances you need to tell your students that the language or the dialogue or even the subject matter might be something that would make them uncomfortable," she said. "I think if you preface the literature with that statement and you allow your students to determine where they are emotionally and psychologically, and also where they're coming from in their home, you need to give the child the opportunity to read something else."

Many of the classics are drawn from life with messages that are vital for young minds, Jorgensen said.

Cape Girardeau schools Superintendent Dan Tallant said the message can be found in material that doesn't contain questionable language.

"If a parent wants to let their kids read things that have vulgar language and things like that, that's one thing," he said. "As a school there should be plenty of other good literature we could use to teach reading and analytical things like that."

Tallant said if Cape Girardeau students find material offensive they can request an alternate assignment. If parents want a particular book removed from the curriculum they can appeal to the school board and the book will come under review.

Susan Harrison, a secretary for the Missouri State Teachers Association and the parent of a Cape Girardeau Central High School senior, said she wouldn't mind if her son were to read "Death of a Salesman."

"I would object to him talking like that, but I wouldn't object to him reading it," Harrison said. "By 17, 18 years old, even 15 or 16, with the culture we live in today, if they're not able to understand the difference by that age we've got a real problem at home."

Harrison said the reading material at public schools should reflect the morals of the community; but children need to be exposed to a wide range of thought before leaving home.

"You would think that by the time a child is in high school those morals are developed within the home," she said. "When they get out in the real world they will find a diverse culture, diverse morals, diverse everything. If they aren't exposed to it at a young age -- and I'm not saying they need to be exposed to Playboy magazine; I'm just saying if they're not exposed to a lot of different things to read and open up their minds and explore -- sometimes their minds become very closed. I hate to see that in a child."