As stated below, according to all accounts TAIB has come across, there is no "official" reading list issued by IBO for its courses. It would seem however, that there is some sort of list which includes "preferred" selections for IB courses.
Lani Brandt began her efforts last year when her daughter brought home the book “Ceremony” from her Loveland High School International Baccalaureate junior level English class.Brandt said she was surprised to find explicit descriptions of sex acts in the book with harsh language and curse words, which she didn’t want her daughter to read. "There was not a permission slip to do this or anything. It was just handed out to the kids," Brandt said.
“Ceremony,” by Leslie Marmon Silko, is an acclaimed novel published in 1977 about a Native American WWII veteran returning home to a poverty-stricken reservation who struggled with post-traumatic stress disorder and alcoholism. It’s also approved reading for the International Baccalaureate program, TSD spokesman Wes Fothergill said.
It is important for TAIB readers to understand that TAIB does not support the banning of books. That is not the issue in this case. The issue is whether or not IB "approves" inappropriate reading material for student assignments.
Brandt, who removed her daughter from the class, went in front of the Thompson School District Board of Education last month to further voice her concerns and to read the excerpts, but said she was stopped short from reading the language.
Good for you, Mrs. Brandt. Unbelievable how school authorities think it's fine for 16 year olds to read vile descriptions but won't let those same words fall upon their own deaf ears.
Unfortunately, the article about the above story has been removed from the Coloradoan. But TAIB did come across a new story revealing that IB doesn't appear to be the "draw" school officials originally thought it would be: School Board Briefed on Expected Student Enrollment Drop
The first thing readers should know, is that with any IB course, IBO does not require specific texts be assigned to "align" with the curriculum, nor does IB issue specific recommended reading lists. One could either view this as "flexible" or "non-descript", you choose.
Click HERE for a sample of some of the more "popular" novels chosen for IB English: Click HERE to take a look at the summer reading for one IB school's History of the Americas course:
The #1 suggestion? Howard Zinn's - A People's History of the United States. Chapter 16 Excerpt
This textbook was purchased with American tax dollars in the Locust Valley, NY, school district for use as the primary textbook in the HoA course. It was selected by the IB teacher without any oversight of a textbook committee and rubber stamped by the Board of Education for purchase.
But who is Howard Zinn? What do American students know of Zinn prior to reading his manifesto over their summer vacation?
Following the recent release of the movie An American Carol in which the character who parodies Michael Moore's attempts to abolish the 4th of July, any right minded individual would be hard pressed to find humor in the following Zinn essay Put Away the Flags:
Is this really what you want your child to "learn" over their summer vacation?
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