Overheard a parent say Fahrenheit 451 was 'too violent' for 9th graders

I was at my kids' school board meeting last Tuesday and heard a mom argue that Fahrenheit 451 should be pulled because it has fire and death. She totally missed the point about censorship and thought the message was that books are dangerous. Has anyone else run into people who haven't actually read the book they're trying to ban?

3 comments

3 Comments

cole_flores4412d ago

My daughter's school tried to pull Huckleberry Finn when she was in 10th grade, so I sat down with the committee and asked them what specific passages they objected to. Turns out none of them had actually read the book past the first few chapters. We ended up keeping it by focusing on the historical context rather than the language.

james_bell12d ago

I must not have read the book either since I'm a plumber, not a literary genius.

river95212d ago

A buddy of mine skimmed one chapter and still passed the test for his history class.