Notes from a small island

Notes from a small island
A weblog by Jonathan Ali

Monday, December 13, 2004

Andrea and Mike Minnon's quest to have The Catcher in the Rye banned from their son's high school curriculum continues. Among the latest developments, the school board plans to meet soon to discuss, among other things, "what age the book is appropriate for".

The Minnons have been saying a lot on the issue, and not everything they're saying is consistent. According to Mike Minnon:

"I’m not bothered by the book.... It’s not the ideas in the book itself.... It’s not like I object to somebody writing a book (of this) particular caliber. I’m open to the free ideas of it."

However:

Andrea Minnon said she wants standards to be raised so her son and his peers are raised in a world that expects more of them....

"The more filth we teach them in school the less chance of having higher standards."

So Mr Minnon sees nothing wrong with the book per se, while Mrs Minnon--who, one hopes, has now read the book--considers it to be "filth".

Thankfully, the school's principal, the director of the school board and others are against taking the book off the curriculum, so hopefully the issue won't go further than where it is at present.

Sadly though:

"That’s such a hypothetical for us," Mike Minnon said when asked if he and his wife would let Spencer read the book. "He’s not a bookworm. Andrea and I would have to talk about that.

"If my son wants to read it to find out what all this stuff is about, I’d have to think about that," said Mike Minnon, who noted he enjoys outdoor activities like hunting with his son. "The point is he hasn’t asked us to read it. He isn’t even interested in that."

(For the record I have nothing against hunting, once it isn't solely for sport.)

posted by Jonathan | 5:02 PM 0 comments

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