A School Board in Virginia voted a couple weeks back to remove the first Sherlock Holmes novel, "A Study In Scarlett" from the 6th grade reading list, because the book contains much that is anti-Mormon.
Had coffee with some English teachers this morning, and it was the main topic of conversation. Words like "censorship" and "book burning" got bandied about. It annoys me.
Perhaps because I'm a real teacher (science) I was actually interested in the facts. Here are some:
- Every single article I've found refers to the book as "banned." This is a lie. It is not in any way prohibited, not removed from the library, and in fact is still on the 8th grade reading list.
- Most articles make the dismissive claim that someone "decided" the book was "allegedly" offensive to Mormons. This is funny to me that anyone who defends literature doesn't even bother to read the book, which gives the Mormon's a supernatural-powered secret police that enforces child rape on pain of death. You can approve, disaprove, apoligize for, or explain away, but there's no denying that the novel is intentionally and clearly anti-Mormon.
- The book is just not very good. It's a piss poor mystery and Doyle really hadn't figured out the formula yet. The person who brought the complaint to the school board even pointed out that "Hound of the Baskervilles" is a much better book to serve the same role of introducing mystery novels.
Is there a way to talk about what is and isn't appropriate in education without knee-jerk reactionism? Is it debateable that a piece of Victorian-era intolerance is perhaps more appropriate for slightly older students? Sure, but is it too much to ask for ONE article somewhere in the news to get event he most basic facts right?
