If I am being completely honest, at first I had a hard time reading this novel. However, once I was about half way through, I began thinking of it more as a love story than a love story about homosexuality. I though, overall, the book was not too bad. The story live seemed typical for something an adolescent would read. If my students had permission from their parents, I wouldn't mind letting them read it in their own time, but I do not think that I would teach this book in my classroom.
Homosexuality is another one of those touchy subjects that would cause many parents to be upset. I know that students are suppose to be exposed to all aspects of the world now, but I don't think I would feel comfortable enough yet to teach this. Someone could argue that if you focused on the pure relationship aspect and why the author wrote what they wrote, then you could teach it. That very well may be, however, the bottom line is, this novel is about homosexuality and I can see it causing an upset among parents.
I don't think students would take it very seriously, either. Again, it is much like the topic of sex in Forever. I don't know how a adolescent boy would feel reading this, but I can't imagine they would have a good impression about the novel.
As I said before, I thought the book was interesting, but I still don't think that I would like to teach it to my class.
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Thanks for sharing your comments Kayla. I'm curious. Is your objection to teaching the book based on your own discomfort of the topic or on the perceived objections you might receive from parents/students? Do you see this book pairing well or working as a supplement with any more traditional literature regarding love or relationships? Looking forward to hearing your ideas in class!
ReplyDeleteShannon, I like your idea of pairing the work with another more traditional text. I think that would be the key to teaching this book successfully. I think Kayla is certainly correct that this book would probably cause an uproar among parents and administrators, which is unfortunate. And so I agree that it would be a hard text to teach without having to jump through some major hoops!
ReplyDeleteAgreed, it could upset parents, but if our goal is to get these kids through school without offending anyone, are we really doing our jobs? Aren't some of these topics supposed to piss us off? Shouldn't we get mad when we see bullies pick on smaller kids, or when we see people get made fun of or beat up because they are different? Shouldn't we want to teach students about what happens in the real world before they get thrown into it? Not everyone in our world is straight. Not everyone is white. Not everyone is 5'10" and 140 lbs. Let's teach students how to handle diversity in every aspect: Obesity, race, religion, sexuality, etc.
ReplyDeleteStudents would definitely take this more seriously than Forever. Yes, it would bring out some snickers, but I think the absence of "Ralph" would be one of the keys to making students respect this text more (even though Forever teaches about responsibility). This text is written well and is engaging for students, with more complex ideas. Yes, the subject matter may be uncomfortable, but again, I don't think this can be about teaching whether homosexuality is right or wrong and we need to remove our own prejudices and discomfort from our classrooms, or we won't be providing our students with a well-rounded education.
I think you are too afraid of what parents might think-- you aren't teaching "homosexuality;" you are teaching tolerance and individuality!
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