A Usenet persona calling itself BCITORGB wrote:

weiser says:
=========
"If you have two operating feet, get up and walk
out of the ghetto.
=========

did i say something about a ghetto here?

No, I did.


and, frankly, i don't give a **** about what the people in kansas want
to teach their kids. but from where i sit, their actions and similar
"ban the books" from literature classes actions in the US bible belt
look awfully similar to what the taliban was up to.

Except that I think you'll find that in almost every case, certainly in
those which have come to public attention, those calling for book banning
have been soundly thrashed by the press and the ACLU has come to the defense
of the First Amendment and those book bans have been quickly
reversed...often times with the offending public official being ejected in
disgrace.

Nobody's going around chopping the heads off of people reading Catcher in
the Rye in Kansas.

great! have your
regious freedom (if that's what you think it is)! i think it's a
purposeful dumbing down of your children.

Well, there is some purposeful exclusion of so-called "educational
materials" going on, but it mostly has to do with sex, deviant sex and
drugs, and I'm not sure that protecting children (whom I define as young
persons under about age 16) from the potentially harmful effects of
out-of-context sex and drug information that may actually cause them to
experiment before they understand the consequences of doing so.

This is certainly within the purview of the parents, through their
elementary school boards and curriculum control. Once a student goes to
college, they can, and should, study these things carefully. But giving 10
year olds instructions on how to use condoms and engage in oral sex is not
something that most middle-America parents want their schools engaged in.
Those are strictly matters for families to deal with.

--
Regards,
Scott Weiser

"I love the Internet, I no longer have to depend on
friends, family and co-workers, I can annoy people WORLDWIDE!" TM

© 2005 Scott Weiser