For one, Florida law says a book's literary merit on the whole must be considered, she noted. "As young humans, some of us who will be adults in less than a year, we are capable of engaging with these challenging ideas," she told the board.Īt issue in the parent's complaint against the book were two pages which contain passages describing a father raping his daughter.Īmong those addressing the board was 16-year-old Eliza Lane, who pointed to legal arguments for keeping The Bluest Eye on shelves at schools. "While I do acknowledge that specific content in The Bluest Eye can be uncomfortable and difficult to read, it is for this exact reason I believe it is valuable to be analyzed in the classroom setting, even though others may not want to read this in public," Prisha Sherdiwala, 17, a student at Palm Harbor University High School, told the board. WUSF Public Media Prisha Sherdiwala walks back to her seat after speaking at the podium meeting, a lesson in democracy and speaking truth to power. Students said their teachers let them skip their regular classes for the 10:30 a.m. Many came carrying paperback copies of The Bluest Eye, which they'd already read in class. And I think it's very important that we stand up for our rights and what we believe in," she said. "It's honestly an injustice that they're banning those kinds of books in schools. And I know that I care very deeply about the subjects in the book, and what we're learning in class," said Isabela Dosanjos, 17, a student in the Largo International Baccalaureate (IB) program. And there is a big slew of our students right there," said Arndt, pointing to the the school board chamber where seats were filled to capacity. "It is a frightening time to be a teacher. "I feel like I'm living on the pages of a dystopian novel," said Largo High English teacher Heidi Arndt, who said she has been teaching the 1953 Ray Bradbury novel Fahrenheit 451, about a book-burning fireman, for the past 30 years. It was standing room only at the Pinellas County School Board meeting in mid-February as students, parents and teachers came out in droves to protest the removal of Toni Morrison's 1970 novel, The Bluest Eye, from high schools last month following a parent's complaint.
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