South Carolina Teacher Suspended For Reading 'Ender's Game' To Middle School Students

What is wrong with the schools in America?

Just read this article, in which a teacher has been suspended, and the board is considering to have her fired, for reading "Ender's Game" by Orson Scott Card for a class of 14 years old!!!!!!! It is considered PORNOGRAPHIC!!!!! If it was April 1st I would have viewed it as an April's Joke.

In South Carolina a teacher has been placed on administrative leave for reading excerpts of Orson Scott Card’s science fiction classic Ender’s Game to his middle school students. “The parent that reported him to the school district complained that the book was pornographic,” Tod Kelly writes. “[T]hat same parent also asked the local police to file criminal charges against the teacher. As of today, the police have not yet decided whether or not to file charges (which is probably a good sign that they won’t). The school district, however, appears to agree with the parent, is considering firing the teacher and will be eliminating the book from the school.Text

Teacher suspended for reading "Enders Game"

reply to post by Hellhound604


Shame on that man.. I am very glad a teacher made introduced that to us in school. It was by far one of the best books I read..

I never read that one, does it allude to sexual content or does it describe in detail like the "romance" novels?

I have read that book multiple times. How did I mist the sex scenes?

reply to post by Hellhound604


Interesting, they have the last twilight book in elementary schools and that has sex, birth and violence in it and not to mention it is at least a 14 years old reading level.

Originally posted by calnorak
I never read that one, does it allude to sexual content or does it describe in detail like the "romance" novels?

There is no sexual content. Nothing worse than you would find in a locker room full of straight boys.

I was thinking the same thing.. In fact, I cannot even remember anything to do with sexual acts... I do remember a lot of mind blowing stuff though.

I still consider it to be one of the best books I've ever read. I wonder what that parent considers to be "Pornography" in that book.

Its not really Enders Game the teacher was suspended for. He was apparently reading material from the internet as well dealing with prostitution ect. The parent complained about enders games assuming it had the porno content because it has been on the evangelical hit list forever due to the fact that card is a Mormon.

Here is Orson Scott Card's take on it :

There's nothing in 'Ender's Game' that they are not completely familiar with. These kids are 14 year olds in South Carolina. I know for a fact it is impossible that they aren't hearing those words at least once a week, if not every day.

Dang, now Im going to need to read the book.

I always love it when a parent complains because the word "damn" is in a middle school text. Then the student describes, in vivid detail, the latest Freddy Krueger movie.

The best thing to happen in education: learning the joy of reading. Students who read for pleasure outperform those who don't. And the best books that capture a reader's interest are the Harry Potter, Hunger Games, Twilight novels.

To avoid any potential issues, many of our teachers make parents sign a permission slip before reading a class novel. Although I disagree with this teacher losing his job, parents do have the right to monitor their child's education. Chalk it up to lesson learned and keep this teacher...sounds like he knows what appeals to teens!

reply to post by smyleegrl


I predict that pretty soon there will be a whole generation of kids in the USA that can't read. I guess if teachers are not allowed to read books to the kids in class, those kids are not allowed to read books at home too. I feel really, really sorry for those kids then, I don't think I'll be able to live without books.

Well if its true about the teacher reading the adult materials off the net, then I think firing should happen.

That's just not appropriate in the classroom.

As for the content of the book, I will have to reserve judgement on that.

That's terrible. Now those kids know what to do with those free prophylactics the nurses hand out.

reply to post by Hellhound604


I can live without books, I have the net. I have read 2 books in this year and probably twice that last year.

Originally posted by Hellhound604
reply to post by smyleegrl

 

I predict that pretty soon there will be a whole generation of kids in the USA that can't read. I guess if teachers are not allowed to read books to the kids in class, those kids are not allowed to read books at home too. I feel really, really sorry for those kids then, I don't think I'll be able to live without books.

We will have students who can read, recite multiplication facts, and know how to code phrases on Facebook.

I fear we have a bigger problem looming. Our kids can't think. They can't reason logically or think outside the box. All due to the wonders of standardized testing.

reply to post by Hellhound604


I agree with numerous other posters here that this was one of the best books I have ever read.

The only thing I can think of is the fight scene in the shower. Ender grabbed the bigger boys testicles... or something to that effect. It's been a long, long while since I've read any of those books.

I'd bet that the school has sex education classes.

The irony.

There is no sexual content in this book whatsoever. The main characters are all 6-12 years old. There is violence, which is implied, minimal, and not of a gory nature...mostly just ship to ship combat. I suppose the only thing a very conservative adult MIGHT find objectionable is the fact that the children live in coed conditions and share coed locker rooms and are mentioned as changing out of their uniforms in the same room.
Thats it.
Sigh.

B_R