The Menifee Union School District in California recently pulled all copies of Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary from their shelves and is investigating what they consider “age-inappropriate” words. The controversy began when a student thumbing through ”oralism” and “orang” in the dictionary, found the recent entry “oral sex“. A parent complained to the school district after the child read the definition: “oral stimulation of the genitals.” (And how).
The school district is now forming a committee composed of principals, teachers and parents to determine whether the 470,000 entries are suitable for children. Free speech advocates (and sane people), worry that this is “needless and harmful censorship”. Seriously, why don’t you take a look at the Bible and let me know if the stories of rape, pillage, murder and the like are suitable for children? Or for that matter, check out one of any classically gruesome Brothers Grimm Fairy Tales.
The Executive Director of the California First Amendment Coalition stated, “If a public school were to remove every book because it contains one word deemed objectionable to some parent, then there would be no books at all in our public libraries. I think common sense seems to be lacking in this school.” Obvi. The school district might settle for trading the collegiate editions for Merriam-Webster’s Children’s Dictionary. (I’m sure the pictures are lovely.)
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Yusuf Ibn Yusuf on 02.14.2010
You forgot to mention the massive amounts of incest and pornography in the Bible. Ugh! Gross!
*Disclaimer – I mean no insult to Christians or Jews, but I can’t imagine ever reading those passages to children and trying to explain it.