Controversy over school texts
(Image from http://www.penguin.com.au/covers-jpg/9780141300498.jpg 17/03/08).
Last year it was The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time (and one particular word), this year it’s Deadly Unna by Philip Gwynne (winner of The Book of the Year Award : Older Readers, Children’s Book Council of Australia in 1999). Apparently, some parents and some educators in positions of influence are concerned about the offensive language and the attitudes to women portrayed by some characters in Deadly Unna. The result – students are being offered alternative set texts in some schools.
What do you think? Does seeing prejudice, racism, bias or misogyny displayed by fictional characters make this behaviour seem more acceptable to you? Are you more likely to adopt these attitudes because you’ve experienced them through books?
Would anyone care to write a review of Deadly Unna for The Portal?
On the subject of how English is taught, Philip Pullman is very critical of the way English is being taught in the UK. This article in The Guardian doesn’t pull any punches. http://education.guardian.co.uk/schools/story/0,5500,1052077,00.html
April 18th, 2008 at 2:10 pm
Deadly Unna is an alright book, but i can think of better books to study. also,Phillip Gwynne, the author, has never actually talked to an aboriginal, despite his books involving them in some detail
April 18th, 2008 at 2:10 pm
On Thursday (I think), a man named Monty (who is aboriginal) came to scotch and talked about his childhood and his life in the time of the lost generations. He knows phillip Gwynne, who is “non-aboriginal” (as he said) and he was writing the book from a “white” point-of-veiw. He said that the descriptions of aboriginal and the way they lived was wrong. Phillip didn’t research aboriginals and the way they live.
April 18th, 2008 at 2:17 pm
I think these people of power are being really stupid it was the best school text i have read in a really really long time. I really think that they need to lighten up and catch up with the times.
April 21st, 2008 at 6:39 pm
Only because I can’t handle it when people make this mistake, someone that is ‘Aboriginal’ (adjective) is known as an ‘Aborigine’ (noun), NOT an ‘Aboriginal’.
April 24th, 2008 at 11:41 pm
sorry! I meant to say ‘Aboriginie’!
You did say ‘Aboriginie’. I corrected your spelling! It’s ‘Aborigine’!
Mrs Sweeney
April 25th, 2008 at 6:35 pm
Oops…!