Published: February 23, 2009 10:38 am      

2/15/2009 Letter to the Editor

Heed the lessons of history



An open letter to the CISD Board:

My name is Josh Taylor.

I was salutatorian of the Cleburne High School class of 1999 and have since graduated with degrees in mathematics and English literature from Rice University, in part because of help I received from the Gerard Scholarship.

I was made aware this past weekend of the controversy surrounding the inclusion of Ken Follett’s “Pillars of the Earth” in Sherri Bell’s senior English classes and was, quite frankly, appalled.

Given that I reside in Houston it is difficult for me to be as involved as I would like with this discussion so this letter must suffice.

The Times-Review reported Friday that a review process of “Pillars” would include, according to CISD spokesperson Lisa Magers, a determination as to whether the novel is “age appropriate for 17- and 18-year olds who take the senior level college credit course.”

Unfortunately this task is neither concise nor straight-forward — there exists no determinstic function that accepts an array of inputs and calculates age-appropriateness.

On the contrary, assessing suitability is a highly subjective and relative process.

Because of the inherent relativity of the matter I implore you to consider a more broad demographic than the profile of one 17- or 18-year-old whose parent holds qualitative objections to this particular piece of literature.

Take, for example, the following set of very plausible profiles for young men and women in this age range: a newly enlisted Army recruit serving his first tour of duty in Iraq; a 17-year-old young woman expecting a child; an ambitious and scholarly student working diligently to extract the best education he possibly can from a rural public school system.

Given the diversity just highlighted, what, exactly, is the single unifying factor one would use to assess the appropriateness of a piece of literature for the group as a whole?

I caution you not to rely solely on your own opinions.

These young people hold, or are at the precipice of holding, legal stewardship of their lives. It would be difficult to objectively argue that any novel is inappropriate for a group of people who can wage wars, pay taxes, elect leaders, raise families and otherwise participate in active adult life.

Let us also be reminded of the dangers of implementing blanket policies after acutely negative responses to literature.

In 1988 Sir Salman Rushdie published “The Satanic Verses.” Despite being a finalist for that year’s Booker Prize and spawning a revival in academic circles around the world on the topics of post-colonialism and orientalism, Iran’s spiritual leader Ayatollah Khomeini, placed a death warrant on Rushdie for authoring the novel as he considered it to be “blashpemous against Islam.”

The novel and the resulting fatwa have continously bred tumult throughout the world, resulting in several deaths and attempted assinations on Rushdie himself.

I do not accuse Superintendant Beard or CISD trustees of declaring a fatwa on Ken Follett or inciting murderous violence through the streets of Cleburne.

I do, however, politely remind you that basing a policy on guttural responses and emotions is neither prudent nor wise. History, at least, can teach us that.



Josh Taylor

Cleburne