Lalaith-
I'd like to answer your survey questions, although in my high school (during my first two years, after that I transferred) Tolkien was not banned. However, I was in school in the pre-movie days, and I don't know if anyone (other than myself) at that school was Tolkien literate. I'm sure it might have been banned if they'd known about it, as the rules were very like those posted by the principal of Eruwen's school (or whoever wrote those rules). Then I have some general comments on bans and tightly enforced rules that I hope will be accepted.
*What kind of schools are they? I don't really know what 'parochial school' means, perhaps someone could explain. The school I was at was a small, church run, Protestant Christian school.
*Are they all in the US? rural Maine for me, I wouldn't be surprised if they did all turn out to be in the US.
*What *specific* grounds are given for banning his works, if any? Like I said, Tolkien himself wasn't banned, but anything that was thought to promote magic or witchcraft was
highly discouraged, if not banned. Tolkien would have fallen into that class, I believe, during post-movie days [img]smilies/wink.gif[/img]
*What other books are banned? Harry Potter- for use of witchcraft, Madeline L'Engle- for twisting of scriptures in Many Waters, the TV show Survivor- for mean spiritedness, the X-files- I don't know why.
*What form does the banning take - are the books extracted from the library, are you forbidden to take them onto school premises, or does the ban also extend to off-school? We had no library, honestly. On school grounds would have been a problem, and technically I think it was also supposed to apply off-school, but nobody followed it.
*What would happen to you if you broke the ban? Detention I suppose, for a first offense. Repeated offenses might have involved suspension, or at least a call to the parents. Public Reprimands in chapel were not unheard of.
Now, before anyone jumps on my school administrators and begins shrieking "FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION" please allow me to finish this post. And, ah, please don't stone me when I'm done.
Saucepan Man said:
Quote:
|
"We want to turn out dull, unimaginitive clones who share our joyless and intolerant views".
|
I want to say, no, that is not what they intend at all. I know that's what they may achieve, and that they are going about goals in the wrong way, but the people who set up my school
undoubtedly had our best interests at heart.
Now, tight rules are restrictive and may cramp one's style, but let's not encourage people who are under them to break them. It's character building to deal with something like that, and it makes people realize what they think about something. Highlighting disagreements can be a good catalyst for thought, at least for me it was, realizing that I disagreed with people made me clarify my stand and look for justification.
Now, while I think the restrictions on movies, dancing, and cards are a little heavy, I have no problem whatsoever with the other ones. School is a time that passes and is soon over, and there's plenty of time to experiment in college and beyond.
So while I didn't enjoy those rules, and I certainly dont' follow most of them now, I did benefit from them, and I have not (in any way) become a "dull, unimaginitive clone who shares (my teachers) joyless and intolerant views". And to my knowledge, very few of my fellow students have either.
Oh, and for those who wonder about dancing restrictions, I think they are generally in order to avoid sexual connotations of dancing. I know at the school I was in, that did not apply to choreographed/performance oriented forms of dance, only to social dances (which might be tempting) or dances with "questionable" intent.
Wow, I never thought I'd write a hot defense of
that!, what things one learns in retrospect...
Sophia
[ May 01, 2003: Message edited by: Sophia the Thunder Mistress ]