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GOD,I ICf-I ssrGNAI,r-STAR, THURSDAY, DgCEMBER 28,1978-P•QE.0 '
ok banning baffles, bothers
By3EEF SEDDON
The. Huron County
-Board of Education faced
possibly its toughest
political >dtcision in its
short his ry in 1978 when
the Huron chapter of
Renaissance Inter-
national lobbied to have
three English literature
texts taken out of high
school curriculum.
A well organized
campaign to have three
books, The Diviners by
Margaret Laurence,
Catcher in the Rye by J.
D. Salinger and Of Mice
and Men by John
Steinbeck, resulted in the
board taking The
Diviners out of the
classroom.
The book issue was
nothing new. It had
cropped up from time to
time for three years prior
to April of 1978 when the
Kingsbridge Catholic
Women's League started
a letter writing campaign
gathering support for
having the literature
banned. For the next four
months hundreds of
people from all parts of
Huron County, both for
and against the banning,
became involved before
the board of education
made its decision.
Subtle hints that the
controversy was going to
blaze up again in 1978
became apparent in
February and March
when members of the
Huron chapter of
Renaissance Inter-
national began raising
support for their book
banning. The
Kingsbridge CWL felt the
book banning was
legitimate and stepped up
'efforts to have the board
take them off the list.
POLITICIANS POLLED
In April the -CWL' an-
nounced the results of a
letter writing campaign
involving politicians from
the grass roots through to
Ottawa. Councils in
townships, towns and the
county of Huron were
asked to support the
banning and letters were
sent to provincial and
federal members of
parliament as well as'
provincial minister of
education Thomas Wells.
Clarice Dalton, a
member of CWL in
Kingsbridge, said that
over 200 letters, ac-
companied by excerpts
from the three novels,
had been sent out. Many
of the politicians
receiving the letter sat on
the fence neither at-
tacking nor defending the
books but the councils of
the townships of
Tuckersmith and Stephen
and Huron -Bruce MPP
Murray Gaunt showed
their colors.
Both councils agreed
with the CWL claims that
the literature was ob-
scene and supported a
move to have the books
removed„from the
schools. Bt Gaunt went
farther than that.
"Of all the crap I have
ever heard that has to be
it,” he wrote in a letter to
the CWL. "1 Can tell you
that if that material is
going to be taught in
Huron County high
schools when my children
go they won't be going to
the public school
system."
Gaunt suggested that
the board had no
reasonable alternative
but to remove- the books
from its approved list and
wanting them out.
Seaforth trustee John
Henderson made his
sentiments known. He
wanted the books
removed from the list of
approved texts.
handle this type of issue
to prevent future flare
ups.
BOOKS DEFENDED
Supporters of the books
came to the fore in a June
Collins told the board
that the novels under fire
were not "blasphemous
or obscene" but rather
were of "superior
quality". He said all
three had "excellent
The strike
On page 11
suggested that if the
board condoned that sort
of thing it would have to
be prepared to accept the
effects it would have on
the students.
Gaunt .called the
material "junk taught
under the guise of
freedom of education".
BOARD BECOMES
INVOLVED
The issue hit the board
in •May and rather than
try to make, a decision
when public feelings were
running so high the board
sent it to a committee for
investigation. Trustees
are trying to avoid a
confrontation between
teachers and students
wanting the books left in
the schools and parents
Donis & Suzanne) '
I'7 WestSt., Ooderleh 524-4155
Teachers began a series of rotating strikes early in February protesting a
break off in negotiations between the Huron county board of education and
its 273 secondary school teachers. The rotating strikes started a 31 day work
stoppage that closed the five county high schools.
John Cochrane,
director of education,
warned the board that to
simply take the book off
the list another con-
frontation would be
imminent. Cochrane
suggested the matter be
resolved by teachers,
school principals and the
board's committee. He
said taking the book off
the list would only be a
short term answer. He
added that if the board
decided to remove the
book it should prepare
some sort of policy to
session of the board. rA
group of concerned
parents concerned about
the way the book banners
were, operating sent a
delegation to the board to
defend the novels. Dr.
Tom Collins, chairman of
the English department
at the University of
Western Ontario,
headlined the supporters
and was joined by Peggy
Rivers, spokesman for a
Goderich based support
group, and Paul Ross,
spokesman for a Clinton
group.
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educational value" and
advised the board to rely
on the opinions of its
teachers when making
any decision on the books:
He told the board that
the banners had sifted
through the books looking
for spicy excerpts to
support their argument
and pointed out that the
same thing could be done
with Shakespeare's
works and The Bible and
with the same results. He
added that it wasn't the
type of material taught in
chool that was ob-
jectionable but rather the
things that surrounded
students when they were
out of school. He cited
magazines, trash novels
and X rated movies as
examples.
Peggy Rivers told the
board parents in the
group she represented
were not happy with the
methods the book ban-
ners had used to prepare
their case. She urged the
board to look at the entire
novel ratherthan the
excerpts when making a
decision. Ross said
similar things telling the
board that the excerpts
alone should not be
considered but rather the
whole book.
EMOTIONS
RUN HIGH
A public meeting called
by supporters of the
books was perhaps the
largest display of
emotions and support the
book banning ex-
perienced. About 500
people attended the
meeting at Central Huron
Secondary School in
Clinton and argued,
prayed, cried, shouted
and pleaded their case.
Emotions ran high as
people lined up behind a
microphone placed in the
centre of the school
gymnasium to state their
feelings.
The organizers loaded
their guns with four noted
Canadian authors
brought in to defend the
literature. June
Callwood, a non fiction
writer, Alice Munro, a
fiction author, Steve
Osterlund, a poet, and
Janet Lunn, author of
books for children, al'1
said authors must be free
to write what they want
and readers must be free
to read what they want.
Using several different
themes and analogies the
four basically said that
when an author writes
something he or she
cannot worry about
whom it is .going to of-
fend. They claimed that if
authors attempted to
write something that
would offend no one they
would never put a word
on paper.
Secondary school
students told their
parents, many of whom
opposed the books, that
they were old enough to
make up their own minds.
The students said they
could decide for them-
selves what was ob-
jectionable and what was
not and could take steps
to either study theibook or
not study it. They /pointed
out that what is unsavory
for parents may not be
unsavory for students.
One man held a Bible
aloft as he pleaded with
people to use Christian
thinking and speak from
the heart when they of-
fered an opinion on the
books. A woman pointed
out that in the heat of the
battle no one in the
building was listening to
what anyone had to say.
She said it appeared as
though many people had
made up their minds and
were not about to change
them 'while others were
only thinking of what they
wanted to say instead of
paying attention to what
was being said..
BOARD FACES
DECISION
„The board finally made
up .its mind in August.
When it came time to
approve books for use in
the classroom it decided
to take The Diviners off
the list•
ardLin. 78
John Henderson
started the ball rolling
when he asked for a
motion to have the book
taken out of the
classroom.
Goderich trustee
Dorothy Wallace told the
board it would be foolish
to make such a decision.
She said Some trustees ..
had not even read the
book and that the trustees
were not qualified to
make such a decision.
She said the board should
rely on its teachers to
Turn to page 1 l •
It's always good for
a laugh!
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