Wow, so Anne Frank was a girl?

“That ha[s] to be one of the STUPIDEST things I’ve heard in a long time. Quite frankly (no pun intended), that passage is about as sexual as a gynecological exam. Even if there was a legitimate objection to that one passage, the loss of what the rest of the diary teaches is immeasurable.”

This was the reaction from one friend of mine, in regards to the Virginia School District that removed the current version of “The Diary of Anne Frank,” from their shelves. According to an article in “The Raw Story,” one parent – that’s right, one parent – complained about a passage in the book, where Anne, essentially discovers her vagina.

Another response was as follows.

“Imagine being so terrified of anatomy that the mere description of a vagina sends you into shrieking, mouth-foaming outrage.”

Myself, I’m finding it much harder to put my feelings on this matter into words, other than to say that this is just one more example of why I’m terrified at the thought of teaching High School, in this most puritanical and  backwards of nations. It’s not the kids that scare me. It’s the parents, and the spineless, pencil pushing administrators.

At the College level, Professors and adjunct instructors are given more academic freedom, the students are actually there to learn, not held against their wills, and above all, there is no constant scrutiny by ignorant, uneducated parents, ruled by fear.

The article went on to quote the administrator in question, as saying, “I’m happy when parents get involved with these things because it lets me know that they are really looking and have their kids’ best interest (in mind). And that’s where good parenting and good teaching comes in.”

My question to him would be, what about the hundreds of students whose parents didn’t complain about the book? Why do we have to drop the educational bar, to the lowest common denominator, for one zealot, who’s afraid his daughter will discover that she too, is a girl? And why paint this whole thing as some sort of beneficent act of good parenting, in an almost Orwellian manner?

Now, Anne Frank’s diary is not an 800 page academic tome, like “Hitler’s Willing Executioners,” or “The Nazi Doctors,” or “The Third Reich in Power,” or “The Destruction of the European Jews.” But, I never would have read any of those books, had I not, first read Anne Frank. Erin Gruwell, visionary educator, and creator of the Freedom Writer’s Foundation, used this book to introduce her students to the idea of keeping diaries.

Thankfully, I suppose, the district will continue to teach the book, but will use an older, redacted version. Another friend made this point. “At least they are still teaching it, but an older addition [sp]. I have read both, and the newer addition gives a much fuller portrait of Anne as a real teenage girl, and therefore makes her more accessible to students. Speaking as a former teenage girl myself, what girl hasn’t had those exact thoughts? ”

The key word in the above quote is, accessible. Kids need to be able to relate to the people they read about. It’s what I love about History, and why I want to teach it. History is alive. It’s not a bunch of dry dates and names of long dead Generals, it’s stories about people. Napoleon was, whatever else, a Human Being. Babyface Nelson woke up in the morning and went to bed at night, just like you and I. Thomas Jefferson had difficulty struggling with his biological urges, just like every other Human being who ever lived.

The only way to prevent horrors like the Holocaust from continuing to happen – as they are, and do, all over the world – is to educate our young. And the only way we’re going to be able to do that is by giving them literature that they can access, and relate to.

So, in closing, I would like to propose some other works that this particular school district may want to ban. “East of Eden”, “Tess of the d’Urbervilles,” “Invisible Man,” “The Sun Also Rises,” “Women in Love” “Sophie’s Choice” etc. etc. etc.

Here’s the link to the original article: http://rawstory.com/2010/01/school-district-pulls-anne-franks-diary/