Someone just sent an e-mail to my office that I've been thinking about all day. It was a mom trying to get someone to back her up in her fight against her daughter's school district. Her daughter is going to be a senior this year and is dealing with her AP English summer reading project. The mother (not the daughter... although the daughter may feel the same way) thinks that the project requires too much work and has too much objectionable content. Granted, she has to read 8 books, which is more than I ever had to do for a summer project, but I highly doubt that she would be complaining if she had started on the project at the beginning of summer instead of 2-3 weeks before school starts. That's not the point though...
The point is this. The girl is a senior in high school. Obviously she's fairly mature for her age or she wouldn't be taking AP English. Do you think that at this point her mother should be that outraged at the situation? I don't, and I'll tell you why, but I'd like to hear your opinions too.
As a whole I'm against parents censoring what their child reads or watches once they get to high school. I think it's counterproductive. When kids are young they should obviously be guided to age appropriate material (because there are definitely some things I didn't need to read when I was in middle school that I'm reading now), but isn't it better to teach them as you guide them? Tell them why you don't want them to read this book or go see that movie. I'm a firm believer that if something is just point-blank vetoed then as soon as kids are out of the house they'll be exposed to it and binge on it (whether that something be smutty novels, violent movies, or even junk food). I'm not saying that parents should encourage their kids to participate in bad things while they live at home just so they won't go out of control when they leave the house, but rather teach them the principles behind your decisions.
I grew up in a very lenient household though. My mom never got involved in my schoolwork to the point where she would object to the assignments once I was in middle school. I'm sure that if I had told her I didn't like what I was reading due to content she would have helped me to find a solution, but I never thought of complaining about it. I'm grateful that my mom didn't step in unnecessarily because it allowed me to be the judge and learn for myself. When my teacher picked a rated R movie to show to the class, I told the teacher I wouldn't watch it even before he sent the permission slips home and then I had to go watch another movie while the class watched that one. I was fine with it. When my friends wanted to go see a movie, it was up to me to decide whether or not I saw it. Yes I saw some awful movies, but I learned from those situations which friends I could trust and what actors to avoid. While I'm not condemning people who put their foot down more than my parents did, I'm also grateful that my parents gave me enough freedom to make those choices for myself.
So what are your thoughts and opinions? Should this mom have gotten involved in the situation (obviously she shouldn't have e-mailed my office, the proper action would have been to talk to the English teacher) or should she have told her daughter to take care of it as she saw fit... whether that meant dropping out of the class, talking to the teacher, or sucking it up and plowing through?
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