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CULPEPER
A version of an iconic autobiography detailing a young Jewish girl's two-year experience hiding from Nazis in a cramped "Secret Annex" has been pulled from the shelves of Culpeper County Public Schools.
"The Diary of a Young Girl: The Definitive Edition," a vivid memoir of Anne Frank's private thoughts during the German occupation of the Netherlands during World War II, will no longer be assigned to CCPS students, according to Jim Allen, director of instruction for the school system.
This book is usually given to eighth-grade middle school English students to read.
Citing a parent's concern over the sexual nature of the vagina passage in the definitive edition, Allen said school officials immediately chose to pull this version and use an alternative copy.
"What we have asked is that this particular edition will not be taught," Allen said from his office Wednesday morning. "I don't want to make a big deal out of this. So we listened to the parent and we pulled it."
Apparently, Anne's father, Otto Frank, the sole survivor of the "Secret Annex," felt the need to censor his daughter's most intimate thoughts as well, eliminating about 30 percent of the original diary published in 1947.
He omitted parts where Anne criticized her mother and other Jews living in the confined quarters as well as some sexually suggestive references.
However, during the 50th anniversary of her death in a concentration camp, the Anne Frank Foundation published the unedited definitive version in 1995.
Sometimes dubbed controversial, this book has been translated into more than 50 languages an English version in 1952, and transformed into a play and several movie versions.
The diary, which Anne received on her 13th birthday, chronicles the teenager's life from July 1942 until she was arrested in August 1944. It is considered the most widely read literary composition about Holocaust victims.
According to Allen, a teacher had already assigned the book in the fall and students had completed the assignment before the complaint was made.
"I'm happy when parents get involved with these things because it lets me know that they are really looking and have their kids' best interest (in mind). And that's where good parenting and good teaching comes in."
The alternative version will be used for future assignments, he said.
According to the school division's "public complaint about learning resources" policy, a review committee consisting of the school's principal, library media specialist, teacher, complainant, parent and/or student usually convene to discuss this type of issue.
The committee's responsibility is to read, view or listen to the challenged material, read several reviews, check standard selection aids, talk with knowledgeable people about the material in question, make and file a recommendation with the principal and superintendent and notify the complainant of the recommendation. The complainant has the right to appeal any decision.
Allen suggested teachers become more familiar with any reading material before issuing an assignment and described this situation as a "teachable moment."
Asked about other "pulled material," Allen said there's no specific list that he's aware of to use as a reference.
"I don't think a list exists," he added. "We just try to deal with everything on a case-by-case basis."
Any pulled material, Allen said, is usually stored in the librarian's office.
According to Amazon.com, "Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl," tops the list of commonly banned children's books in public schools nationwide.
The reason listed for banning this book is "for being too depressing for students." Other books that made the Amazon list include "The Catcher in the Rye," ''Harry Potter," ''Of Mice and Men," and "Harriet the Spy," to name a few.
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Some ideas (other than misuse of the word "banning")
1. If a class reads the version of the novel that Otto Frank, Anne's father published, in which he withheld 30% of the diary, that is not "banning." Not unless you want to accuse the now-dead father of being a censor.
2. If there is no clear learning objective that specifies 17-year-old girls should feel comfortable talking about vaginas in front of every 17-year-old boy in their class, choose the version that leaves that part out.
3. Maybe no longer a possibility in public schools, but you could gender segregate the class for discussion of vaginas if you feel that reading that part is essential to your learning objectives.
4. Privacy is not censorship either. Not all kids feel comfortable discussing sex in a mixed group.
Our Children/Ourselves: Can't even recognize the truth
This iconic book simply records the deep musings of a young girl. These are the pure and true ponderings of a girl turning into a woman with no intrusions of television or any other influences, but her own mind and observations. None of our children will be able to observe and record in this way, their feelings. There is an intensity as she knows that she and her family are in great danger. It is real and visceral. There is little as real in our children's lives. I once knew someone who lived in VB (north end)and passed herself off as a Nazi victim. Somehow her stories didn't "add up" (I knew many concentration camp victims who emigrated after WWII). I later met some of her family members and asked about her "war experiences". Her niece laughed and said, "Is that what she told you?" The niece explained that her aunt had worked for BMW after the war, but during the war she was a Nazi engineer designing engines for "buzz bombs", the terror of London during the blitz. She lived among VBers for years, but they didn't know who she was. Children need to be taught discernment and reality...so do adults. This book is about reality. Easier to stick your head in the sand.
But since you all commented . . .
The article plainly said that Otto Frank himself censored that comment, along with 30% of Anne's journal. That would be her father, who survived the war. If he published it with the 30% gone, why not read it that way in high school? I am talking about family privacy, not prudishness. Yes, the longer version has come out since Otto's death, but why read the word "vagina" just to say you did it? Why create controversy just to do so? The definition of progressive doesn't always have to be "pushing the limits". At least not in high school. Plenty of time for that in college and later.
Reasoning with unreasonable people
In which country do we live? So now we are banning books to accomodate people with whom nobody can reason? Oh yeah! I forgot! As long as spineless unintelligent "instructional specialist"-bureaucrats are given a place in school administration offices, this kind of nonsense will continue. They'll cave to anything since their primary goal is the preservation of their useless jobs at taxpayer expense.
Monica!
Not "banned"--reread the article. They read the shorter version of the book, the one Otto Frank, her father published.
When you throw the word "banned" around so casually, you diminish its meaning for someday when something bad really *does* happen.
Also, the school folks all discussed this and they are happy with the shorter version. I.e., there really is no controversy here, except for the Pilot article.
Virginia is for ?
What a backward place we live in. No wonder they elected a Pat Robertson cultest as governor!
WOW
The parent should be really pleased with themselve. They saw a way to show there kid that there body is dirty. That thoughts like that are dirty. That school system is in for it when that kid goes through the rest of the grades and the parent attacks health ed, and other classed.
outrageous
This is 2010 and we're pulling books because an innocent girl mentions her vagina. I firmly believe if more parents would talk to their kids about their bodies, maybe they wouldn't be learning the wrong way. I was in the 5th grade when I first learned about the holocaust. I saw the footage of naked bodies in mass graves and it didn't ruin me. On the contrary taught me at a young age just what hate can drive people to do to one another.
I remember when in
middle school that a fellow student, whose grandfather had been in the battalion that liberated one of the camps brought pictures he had taken, brought those pictures to share in History class while we were studying WWII. They were horrific but showed us the brutality of that wicked regime. No one complained and no parent was offended; they wanted us to know the horror. Now we complain about a diary of a young girl who died because of this regime and find it offensive. I am saddened by this. Have we gone to far in protecting our children? WHat kind of adults will these over protective parents create? I fear the intolerant and self righteous lind. I hope not.
One parent
One parent doesn't like this, so there it goes. What a world we live in. What a country we live in. What a commonwealth we live in. The one poster was correct. It is ok to hear about the carnage that happened during WWII in Germany concentration camps. That is far worse than using the word that is part of the female reproductive system. I also believe that parents should have taught their kids about sexual education prior to middle school. Parents take care of your responsibilites to your kids, and don't let other kids do it for you.