Last month, I told you about how a local school district removed A Study in Scarlet by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle from the 6th grade reading list. I ranted. I raved. I snarked.
I now need to recant.
I presented the information to you as I had read it in local, national, and international reports, including Time magazine and the BBC. Unfortunately, the information presented was both erroneous and incomplete.
A friend of mine — someone whose opinion I value and someone who I know to be calm, open-minded, and a thorough researcher — was on the committee that collected ALL of the facts and then made the recommendation to remove A Study in Scarlet from the reading list. She was kind enough to send me a lengthy email detailing every step in the process, as well as pertinent links to supporting documents. I spent some time wading through it all and am now feeling rather edified.
Because I believe it is important to clear up the errors and misconceptions put forth by so many news outlets and bloggers, myself included, I am going to lay out the facts, one by one. With my friend’s permission — and chunks of the email she sent me — here’s the deal:
While A Study in Scarlet had been on the approved 6th grade curriculum for the entire county (six middle schools) for years, only one of those schools used it for assigned reading. So, this was a not a division-wide issue, as was implied in news reports, nor was it a new book being added to the reading lists, as was also suggested in newspaper articles.
The book was being presented to students as an introduction to Sherlock Holmes, but thoughtful discussions about the cultural and religious biases in the second half of the book were not part of the curriculum. In other words, the teachers were presenting the book, but not necessarily offering guidance about the cultural and religious commentary in the second half of the book.
Over the years, parents had complained about the way the book was discussed (or not) in the classroom numerous times, with no success. When complaints and voiced concerns at the school level repeatedly failed, a parent filed a formalized Curriculum Challenge with the central office of the school system. A Curriculum Challenge is a document that specifies the curriculum being challenged and requests that a committee look carefully and deeply at the curriculum.
The Curriculum Challenge committee is not a standing committee; rather, it is put together for the purposes of a specific Curriculum Challenge. It is made up of an administrator from the school system, an administrator from the same grade level as the challenged material but from a different school, a teacher, a librarian, and three parents, two of whom have children at the same grade level as the curriculum being challenged.
All members of the committee read the entire book, as well as the challenge document (written by the person who filed the challenge), letters written in support of the challenge, and any paperwork that the school system has on the curriculum. The committee then met for a half day to discuss the process, consider the challenge, listen to the parent who made the challenge and also listen to any of the teachers who taught the book being challenged. (Only one of the teachers who taught the book opted to speak.) After this, the committee made a recommendation to the Albemarle County Schools superintendent and then the matter was considered further up the educational ladder and voted on by the school board.
The committee never had any interest in banning A Study in Scarlet. Their discussions were about keeping the book in the curriculum but trying to determine what would be an appropriate grade level for students to study this book, as well as thinking about the curriculum associated with the book. Quoting my friend’s email: “There were many conversations about how the topics Doyle raised in the second half of the book could lead to excellent discussions of religious and cultural biases.”
As I mentioned earlier, these discussions had not been taking place in the classrooms for all the years the book was taught in the 6th grade in the middle school in question.
Children known to be of Mormon faith were offered the opportunity to rebut the controversial portions of the book with facts about their religion, but the teachers themselves were not offering rebuttals. My friend offered this analogy: Would a teacher assign a book of known anti-Semitic content and then ask 6th graders (11 and 12 year olds) to defend Judaism?
Parents in support of the Curriculum Challenge offered anecdotal evidence of their children being teased by classmates about their religion after reading the book.
Ultimately, A Study in Scarlet was removed from the 6th grade reading lists, however, it was not banned in Albemarle County schools.
To summarize and conclude: For a great many years, A Study in Scarlet was not being presented to 6th graders in a way that included thoughtful discussion about religious and cultural biases. The committee that researched, discussed, and voted on the Curriculum Challenge was thoroughly informed in every way possible and was open-minded in its discussions of the book and the curriculum being challenged. The book is still available to students in school libraries across the country.
To see all of the documents related to this matter, click here. Then, click on the calendar on the right and go to the August 11 school board meeting. When you reach the August 11 minutes, scroll down and click on item 8.1 (Recommendation of Reconsideration for the book A Study in Scarlet by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle).
I feel a lot better about this situation knowing what I know now. While I would have liked to have seen A Study in Scarlet remain on the curriculum with good supporting classroom discussion, the fact is, there are better Sherlock Holmes mysteries for the students to read.
So, what do you think?
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When all this happened, and the news media picked it up, my husband read an LA Times article about it and proceeded to come rant and rave about how he couldn’t believe our town would ban a book, and Sherlock Holmes of all things. I pointed out to him that the book was not banned, that it was available to all of the kids in the school libraries, it just wasn’t required reading in the curriculum anymore. And then he got even more furious than he had been before about the irresponsible sensationalizing of the story by the media. It was way, way over the top (and largely not well-researched – it’s quite disappointing to realize how few of our country’s major news outlets don’t actually go out and get all the facts about the stories they’re reporting!).
Thanks for giving us the straight facts, and thanks to your friend for sharing – I had wondered what was involved in making the decision, and now I know!
I studied to be a school librarian for a time, and though I ultimately chose a different path, these issues of reading lists and banning books always interest me. I’m generally not in favor of banning anything, but rather, offering alternatives to concerned parents.
I found the description of the Curriculum Challenge process (which we don’t have in MA) to be really interesting, and a really professional way to handle parental concerns. We’ve had a couple of cases here in MA, the outcomes of which make them look like very arbitrary decisions. While committee aren’t always the most efficient ways to handle things, at least this process inspires confidence that the resolution was probably carefully considered.
P.S. I love your banner!
Good stuff Jen! I love to hear the whole story, your friend and your post is real public service. Thank you.
A few years ago, I saw a different Sherlock Holmes book (I don’t remember which one, but it was a collection of short stories) on my kids’ summer reading list (Upper School). I read it and was surprised at the sexism and racism implied in the book. I was prepared to talk about it with my kids, but neither of them chose to read it.
I remember reading that the book still is included in the county schools’ curriculum, but at a higher grade level.
Thank you for letting us know about the process and the reasons for the decision, and for clarifying what the decision actually was. It makes a lot more sense now. I am actually proud now of how the school district handled the situation instead of being horrified, as I was when I thought the book was censored.
How interesting to find out that the parents who ultimately challenged the book had previously tried to encourage the kind of discussions the reading really required. I know sometimes when I think of “parents”, I think of the people in Kansas who got themselves elected to the School Board to evict the theory of evolution from the curriculum. It’s so rare to hear of parents who are trying to make teaching and learning better –I’m sure it happens a lot, but it’s not considered newsworthy.
Speaking of media-misrepresentation, the faculty I belong to just voted to file “intent to strike” paperwork. The news leaked quickly, and the various media outlets had all kinds of misinformation in their articles. It amazes me how so many journalists at local levels (where I’m sure the pay is pretty lousy) have such poor listening skills!
Thank you for the follow up! And what an interesting process.
More than anything I’m dissapointed the teacher in question could not be swayed to just address the darn issues in class. I’m very glad the book is not banned and those kids interested can still read it easily. (Of course, this is also what public libraries are for.)
I’ve largely given up on the current news media in it’s present incarnation. Between the outright mis-information and the political bias, I just can’t take it anymore.
This does encourage–that there is still intelligent discourse occurring on the education front!
Awesome post. I just kept thinking about how if I were a 12 year old, reading this book, and then had to defend Mormonism afterwards to my class… yeah, it wouldn’t have gone over very well. I was not a well spoken 12 year old. Heck, at 16 I had to correct my American History teacher over several things he’d gotten wrong on the Mormon unit and that was terrifying.
Thanks so much for taking the time to wade deeply into all the material, and to research, write and post this, Jen. I believe this is a great example of how a conscientious blogger can report more clearly and more accurately than the mainstream media — whether it’s the local paper or the big-name papers who grabbed a story off the wire and put their spin on it without checking the public record for the facts. Very well done.
I can’t imagine teaching this book to my sixth grade students and NOT using it as a springboard for discussion. If that’s the case, then definitely switch to The Hound of the Baskervilles.
Wow. Once again the media goes for the headline and not the actual news.
Thanks for the follow-up. I am encouraged to hear about the process in that district. It is a sane and thoughtful approach to parental concerns. I am appalled, however, that a teacher could have children read that book and NOT have a discussion about the issues. It would be like teaching Huck Finn and not talking about racisim!
the 24 hour news cycle + media narrative framework + simplification of a complex issue strike again!
I think it’s very classy of you to retract when you discovered your first instincts were wrong – a lesser person would have let it drop without notice.
Thank you so much for following up to set the record straight. You are right that the media did not do their job in getting the facts straight….just went for what was sensational. Unfortunately, the parent who filed the complaint (a friend of mine) was the recipient of a lot of vitriol over this from the public (even from other countries!) who trusted the media. I’m not sure that kind of hurt can be taken back.