'Persepolis' Won't Be Pulled From Chicago Public Schools After All
Normally when we come across stories about banning books in schools it happens in states like Kansas and with science textbooks. We don’t expect it to happen in Chicago Public Schools. Yet Chicago Public Schools CEO Barbara Byrd-Bennett today reversed an earlier order to have schools pull copies of Persepolis, Marjane Satrapi’s autobiographical graphic novel about growing up in Iran during and after the Islamic Revolution, from libraries across the school system. Byrd-Bennett did say the book, which is included in the teaching curriculum for seventh graders, should be reconsidered for students that young. Publishers Weekly spoke with CPS office of teaching and learning chief Annette Gurley who confirmed that, while Byrd-Bennett rescinded the order to have the book pulled from libraries, it would not be returning to classrooms in grades 7-10 for now.
“We want to make sure that the message about inhumanity [is what] kids walk away with, not the images of someone with exposed body parts urinating on someone’s back or someone’s being tortured,” Gurley said, “We are not protesting the value of this book as a work of art. We just want to make sure that when we put this book into the hands of students, they have the background, the maturity to appreciate the book.”
“That book will not be back in place as required reading for grades 7-10 until the support is put in place. We want to put the support in place so that the content of this book can be accessed. I don’t think that happens by putting a book on a list and letting people discover it. There needs to be preparation for that,” she added.
In a letter to principals this morning, Byrd-Bennett wrote:
“It was brought to our attention that it contains graphic language and images that are not appropriate for general use in the seventh grade curriculum. If your seventh grade teachers have not yet taught this book, please ask them not to do so and to remove any copies of the book from their classrooms.”
That’s one of the reasons why it’s called a “graphic novel.”
http://chicagoist.com/2013/03/15/cps_reverses_ban_on_persepolis.php
