Toronto School Board to ‘review’ The Handmaid’s Tale on one parent’s complaint
Hate (thought crime) laws, as corrupt as they are, aren’t even meant to address depictions of hate in cases where the work’s intent is to proscribe or condemn these positions. And if he thinks the depiction of theocracy run wild in The Handmaid’s Tale is an accurate portrayal of the majority of Christian folks, then perhaps the shoe fits. Hey, heard of the Inquisition, genius? Expect renewed attacks on this and other books if Canadian society continues to close since it addresses issues of state brutality, sexism, and the mechanics of apartheid. Everyone should take this opportunity to read it. Maybe Atwood should even send Edwards a cheque and a ‘longpen’ thank-you note for the free publicity.
Kristin Rushowy, The Toronto Star
January 16, 2009
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.”
Edwards, the father of three sons, said he hasn’t complained to the school about a book before. He only read The Handmaid’s Tale after seeing his middle son with it.
He considers himself religious, and believes religion should be discussed, but if one faith is going to be “cast in a critical light, then the board ought to open it up” to others.
“I’m not looking to ban books,” he said. “I’m just looking for justification as to why this is an appropriate book … if the board can declare to me that in their view it fits within their policy, I’d like them to explain how.”
A spokesperson for Atwood said the author has already said a lot on the topic and her opinions are widely available on the Internet.
Edwards filed a formal compliant with the Toronto District School Board before the Christmas holidays, arguing that while the futuristic theme of the book is acceptable, its focus on “sex, brutal situations, murder, prostitution” is not.
The book “is rife with brutality towards and mistreatment of women (and men at times), sexual scenes, and bleak depression,” Edwards said in a letter to the school’s principal. “I can’t really understand what it is my son is supposed to be learning from this fictional drivel.
“I have a major problem with a curriculum book that cannot be fully read out loud in class, in front of an assembly, directly to a teacher, a parent, or, for that matter, contains attitudes and words that cannot be used by students in class discussion or hallway conversation. Let alone a description of situations that must be embarrassing and uncomfortable to any young woman in that class — and probably the young men, too.”
He said if the book was anti-Islam, it wouldn’t be allowed.
According to board policy, any complaint that can’t be solved at the school level goes to a review committee.
Such a committee is now reviewing The Handmaid’s Tale, which was first published in 1985. It met yesterday at Lawrence Park and will eventually make a recommendation to the director of education.
If Edwards still isn’t satisfied, he can appeal to trustees.
The novel centres on a futuristic, theocratic world where women are used as breeders.
After Edwards complained, his son was assigned another book, Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World, and will step out of class during any discussions on The Handmaid’s Tale.
Russell Morton Brown, a retired University of Toronto English professor, said The Handmaid’s Tale wasn’t likely written for 17-year-olds, “but neither are a lot of things we teach in high school, like Shakespeare.
“And they are all the better for reading it. They are on the edge of adulthood already, and there’s no point in coddling them,” he said, adding, “they aren’t coddled in terms of mass media today anyway.”
He said the book has been accused of being anti-Christian and, more recently, anti-Islamic because the women are veiled and polygamy is allowed.
But that “misses the point,” said Brown. “It’s really antifundamentalism.”
At one time, Brown taught a graduate course to high school teachers on Canadian fiction, which included The Handmaid’s Tale.
“It’s the most taught Canadian novel at the high school level,” he said. “I think it provides a lot to talk about, and generally speaking it does engage students.”
Source | See Also under Culture: A decade later, Lastman proud he called in army | GPS wristwatch helps parents track children | U.S. war resister, mother of 3 must leave Canada | France braced for ‘rebirth of violent left’ | They hate us for our bombs | Ban-happy Ontario accused of ‘Big Brotherism’ | Private firm may administer UK surveillance database | UK: Big Brother CCTV to spy on pupils aged four – complete with CPS evidence kit | Toronto surveillance project to enter new phase pending review | UK Culture secretary wants international age restrictions for web | ‘Greek Syndrome’ is catching as youth take to streets in France, Sweden | Reports reveal concerns over drug use among Canadian military | Canadian Junior Hockey team gets ‘military training’ | Army ‘Strategic Shock’ Report Says Troops May Be Needed To Quell U.S. Civil Unrest | 1,900 Guns Traded for Cameras in Toronto | Public access vs. government secrecy the issue in Supreme Court of Canada case | Afghan war boosts recruiting | Bestiality, suicide questions OK for job applicants, Halifax concludes | Has your child been CAFed? How the Government plans to record intimate information on every child in Britain | They killed their neighbors: genocide’s foot soldiers | SWAT Teams raiding Amish, Food Co-ops in Rural US | UK Big Brother police to get ‘war-time’ power to demand ID in the street | London musicians expected to disclose ethnicity, 8 pages of personal information to perform | Author wins award for work identifying categories of state corruption | UK launches high-visibility community punishment | Queen’s proposed thought-crime cadres prove controversial | Tribunal shouldn’t police online hate, report says | Safety report author Falconer on armed police in schools: “Facile” | Two More U.S. Military Units Assigned For Homeland Security | Australia to Implement Mandatory Internet Censorship | Parents, children to be fingerprinted at initial 250+ nursery schools in UK | Germany rejects full-body scans at airports | US military targets social nets | UK Shortly to Become Worse Surveillance Society than Stasi East Germany | Another U.S. War Resister to be deported | Tasering of mom with baby ‘necessary’ in order to take child, police say | ‘Pre-crime’ detector shows promise | India’s use of brain scans in courts dismays critics | Comedian begins asking Harper question, cuffed by RCMP | Council threatens families with a £1,000 fine… for parking on their own driveways | 27 Toronto schools to get armed police presence | Troops in the Streets: Army Brigades Standing By to Assist in Disasters, Help Quell Dissent | Do Swiss parents need a childrearing licence? | Greyhound bus passengers now subject to arbitrary luggage searches | CCTV cameras spying on hundreds of classrooms | Brain will be battlefield of future, warns US intelligence report | RCMP spied on… Rita MacNeil? | Turning Toronto into a nanny state | Public conditioning continues: Ratings reach ‘Flashpoint’ for tactical assault squad drama | Behavioral Targeting: ‘It’s Only Going to Get Creepier’ | Chicago, awash in gun violence, gives Toronto advice: You need a gun ban like ours | U.S. army war resister’s deportation sparks outrage | RCMP conducts random search and seizure on Canada Day | TASER bracelets considered for airline passengers | Papers Please: UK cops stopping millions in streets | UK Parents Need Government Permission to Kiss Children | In the new Canada, we are all wards of the state | Air passengers to undergo ‘virtual strip search’ | Could humiliation be the next weapon in our war on crime? | Berlusconi puts 2,500 troops on streets of Italian cities to patrol alongside police | Blogger arrests hit record high | Freedom isn’t failing us – we’re unhappy because we’re no longer free | Hats banned from Yorkshire pubs over CCTV fears | TTC Considers Treating Employees Like Criminals with Forced Drug Testing | Pistol Pendant Causes Airport Holdup | $4 Million Earmarked for Cameras, “Respect” at Toronto Schools | Despite criticism, electroshock therapy commonly used in depression | Burmese monks sent to prison camps | You Are a Suspect
January 21st, 2009 at 2:32 pm
[...] | See Also under Culture: Inauguration triggers joy, jubilation around world Toronto School Board to ‘review’ The Handmaid’s Tale on one parent’s complaint | A decade later, Lastman proud he called in army | GPS wristwatch helps parents track children | [...]
February 26th, 2009 at 10:03 am
[...] children on plane, charged with Terrorism | Inauguration triggers joy, jubilation around world | Toronto School Board to ‘review’ The Handmaid’s Tale on one parent’s complaint | A decade later, Lastman proud he called in army | GPS wristwatch helps parents track children | [...]
March 3rd, 2009 at 3:29 pm
[...] children on plane, charged with Terrorism | Inauguration triggers joy, jubilation around world | Toronto School Board to ‘review’ The Handmaid’s Tale on one parent’s complaint | A decade later, Lastman proud he called in army | GPS wristwatch helps parents track children | [...]
April 1st, 2009 at 4:05 pm
[...] children on plane, charged with Terrorism | Inauguration triggers joy, jubilation around world | Toronto School Board to ‘review’ The Handmaid’s Tale on one parent’s complaint | A decade later, Lastman proud he called in army | GPS wristwatch helps parents track children | [...]
May 19th, 2009 at 1:49 pm
[...] children on plane, charged with Terrorism | Inauguration triggers joy, jubilation around world | Toronto School Board to ‘review’ The Handmaid’s Tale on one parent’s complaint | A decade later, Lastman proud he called in army | GPS wristwatch helps parents track children | [...]
July 17th, 2009 at 9:11 pm
[...] plans for nationalized internet service | Publication ban law too broad, top Ontario court rules | Toronto School Board to ‘review’ The Handmaid’s Tale on one parent’s complaint | UK Culture secretary wants international age restrictions for web | Latest Round of Closed-Door [...]
July 26th, 2009 at 5:01 am
[...] plans for nationalized internet service | Publication ban law too broad, top Ontario court rules | Toronto School Board to ‘review’ The Handmaid’s Tale on one parent’s complaint | UK Culture secretary wants international age restrictions for web | Latest Round of Closed-Door [...]
September 13th, 2009 at 1:27 am
[...] plans for nationalized internet service | Publication ban law too broad, top Ontario court rules | Toronto School Board to ‘review’ The Handmaid’s Tale on one parent’s complaint | UK Culture secretary wants international age restrictions for web | Latest Round of Closed-Door [...]
October 5th, 2009 at 1:15 pm
[...] Flashback: Toronto School Board to ‘review’ The Handmaid’s Tale on one parent’s complaint [...]
November 12th, 2009 at 1:29 pm
[...] [...]
February 15th, 2010 at 1:11 pm
[...] | Police presence in high schools makes the grade | Plan to add Toronto red-light cameras on hold | Toronto School Board to ‘review’ The Handmaid’s Tale on one parent’s complaint | A decade later, Lastman proud he called in army | Toronto surveillance project to enter new phase [...]
February 22nd, 2010 at 8:01 am
[...] | Police presence in high schools makes the grade | Plan to add Toronto red-light cameras on hold | Toronto School Board to ‘review’ The Handmaid’s Tale on one parent’s complaint | A decade later, Lastman proud he called in army | Toronto surveillance project to enter new phase [...]
March 3rd, 2010 at 1:33 pm
[...] | Police presence in high schools makes the grade | Plan to add Toronto red-light cameras on hold | Toronto School Board to ‘review’ The Handmaid’s Tale on one parent’s complaint | A decade later, Lastman proud he called in army | Toronto surveillance project to enter new phase [...]
June 2nd, 2010 at 10:56 am
[...] | Police presence in high schools makes the grade | Plan to add Toronto red-light cameras on hold | Toronto School Board to ‘review’ The Handmaid’s Tale on one parent’s complaint | A decade later, Lastman proud he called in army | Toronto surveillance project to enter new phase [...]
June 4th, 2010 at 4:33 am
[...] | Police presence in high schools makes the grade | Plan to add Toronto red-light cameras on hold | Toronto School Board to ‘review’ The Handmaid’s Tale on one parent’s complaint | A decade later, Lastman proud he called in army | Toronto surveillance project to enter new phase [...]
June 14th, 2010 at 4:39 am
[...] | Police presence in high schools makes the grade | Plan to add Toronto red-light cameras on hold | Toronto School Board to ‘review’ The Handmaid’s Tale on one parent’s complaint | A decade later, Lastman proud he called in army | Toronto surveillance project to enter new phase [...]
June 30th, 2010 at 3:01 pm
[...] [...]
July 5th, 2010 at 5:24 pm
[...] [...]