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Brave New World approved in Seattle

December 8, 2010 @ 8:01 pm (Updated: 3:46 pm - 3/28/11 )

Brave New World will remain on the list of approved materials Seattle high school teachers may use in their language arts curriculum.

The Seattle School Board vote last night to continue allowing its schools to use the book was unanimous.

"I am opposed to banning of any book," says Harium Martin-Morris. "If we go down that road, it is a road that is a dangerous one. Do we now say we won't do Huckleberry Finn because of its portrayal of African Americans. Do we get rid of Native Sun ? The list goes on and on."

He called these kinds of books an "opportunity to talk candidly with our students - our very capable and knowledgeable and quite frankly very savvy high school students - about these topics."

I was the first to write about the Brave New World controversy last month.

Nathan Hale High School parent Sarah Sense-Wilson objected to the book her daughter had to read for one of her 10th grade classes.

"I was outraged when I read through the book. I had to keep putting it down because it was so hurtful," Sense-Wilson said. "It was traumatizing to read how Indian people were being depicted."

The text has a "high volume of racially offensive derogatory language and misinformation on Native Americans. In addition to the inaccurate imagery, and stereotype views, the text lacks literary value which is relevant to today's contemporary multicultural society," she says.

Nathan Hale responded to her concerns by removing the book from its curriculum. Sense-Wilson then wanted all Seattle Schools to pull the book from their instructional options.

Board Director Betty Patu says the majority of emails she's received from parents indicated they do not want the district to remove the book, but to make sure that if kids read the book "there is some kind of education that goes with it."

Another board member, Peter Maier, says he re-read the book recently and it is clearly satirical. He supports making the Aldous Huxley novel available as a high school text.

BraveNewWorldSet in the year 2540, the book depicts a world in which everyone's life is predetermined. Boys and girls are conditioned at birth to fulfill already designated societal roles. As a result, everyone grows up happy. Or, almost everyone. The conflict in the novel arises when a few people try to fight the system that's running and ruining their lives.

While the book is the center of a new controversy in Seattle, the debate about the fictional story has gone on for decades. The American Library Association ranks Brave New World as number 36 on the list of the top 100 books people have either banned or tried to ban. Objections are generally because of drug or sexual references, rather than being a slam against Native Americans.

"I don't believe that censorship is the right answer," says Steve Sundquist, board vice president. "If a teacher wants to teach this text, clearly I want it done in a culturally sensitive and appropriate way."

Board members apologized that the Nathan Hale parent and student thought the book was taught in an "insensitive" way.

Sense-Wilson was in the audience of the Seattle School Board meeting last night when directors voted to approved continued use of Brave New World.

Board President Michael DeBell added Sense-Wilson was "brave" to challenge the book.

"In the heart of a very liberal city like Seattle it is not necessarily an easy task," he says. "This lesson Ms. Sense-Wilson has offered to the community is that we have to be thoughtful. Our teachers have to be very thoughtful in the use of these kinds of materials."

More from Linda Thomas

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Comments (15)


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  • wonderfullone wrote...
    I had to chuckle over this line...
    December 8, 2010 7:30 pm
    "...to make sure that if kids read the book "there is some kind of education that goes with it."

    The audacity of suggesting such a thing occur in a classroom. Education.

    Fiction carries with it endless opportunities to expand perspective, creativity, exploration, that's a good thing. Where it's a problem is when fiction is portrayed as fact.

    Something Al Gore was good at, and mush-heads still lap it up, pass it off as education in schools.

    This book is less harmful than his by a mile. And a half.

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  • Democratic wrote...
    A double chuckle.....
    December 8, 2010 9:34 pm
    You site Gore, I site Bush (WMD) Cheney (wanting to take away liberties), Birthers, Fox Nutwork, Beck, Dumbaugh. The right wing list goes on and on and on and on.
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  • Brandon_P wrote...
    Democratic
    December 8, 2010 11:34 pm
    You didn't 'cite' anything...you might want to look up the definition of the word 'cite' before attempting to use it again.
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  • roomtemp wrote...
    Brave New World approved in Seattle...
    December 9, 2010 1:07 am
    I knew it would happen sooner or later. It's a good thing I'm out here with the savages then... Oh, you mean the book, phew!

    There are certain ages/experience to wait for to introduce certain concepts. But books should not be banned, ever. By the time you're in the later end of grade school, I'd say any book is fair game for debate.

    Books can be time capsules for culture. Even if we don't do things the same way now, that should not erase history. It's easier to know where you're going (and why) if you know where you've been.

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  • flint wrote...
    I'm glad the vote was unanimous
    December 9, 2010 3:57 am
    Censorship is terrible-all young people should read books that challenge them to think and form their own opinions. I feel that is more important now than ever with the bombardment of electronic media they endure. Demogogic-you will never find happiness until you stop blaming others for all your problems. Work on your internal locus of control.
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  • flynmexican wrote...
    Interesting web site
    December 9, 2010 5:55 am
    From the ALA, graphical depiction of books that have been or have been attempted to be banned based on reason for the ban and who is trying to ban it. http://www.ala.org/ala/issuesadvocacy/banned/frequentlychallenged/challengesbytype/index.cfm
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  • Skeeter Diarbo wrote...
    Intelligence prevailed
    December 9, 2010 6:16 am
    So happy that Sense-Wilson was defeated. Reading her statements, her use of all the PC colloquial expressions, I really got the sense that she was plainly ignorant. Not a good role model for her kids either. She should have been able to explain what was happening, instead, she took the path of least resistance used many times today...complain, then compensate for the truth with excuses. Sense-Wilson has learned the game, but in the end did not succeed. Just sick of all the excuses. Get your act togather!!!
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  • Irish Rover wrote...
    Wheres the educational value ?
    December 9, 2010 6:50 am
    We live in a world where other nation's children are passing ours educationally and technologically, and our teachers are worried about a fictional book. Make the book avaliable in the school library, or start an extra-curricular book-of-the-month club to those who are interested, and then get back to focusing on hard subjects that will actually make a difference in the real future, not an imagined one.
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  • Skeeter Diarbo wrote...
    wonderfullone and Irish
    December 9, 2010 7:35 am
    Good points... appreciated (although Gore isn't even relevent for criticism anymore) I think the best point however is when "fiction is protrayed as fact". That's what attracts the dumbed-down set like Sense-Wilson. History is not kind. However, if I was faced with the comments her child brought to the table, one could relish in the fact of how far we as a species have come, and about holding your head high and learning from history's mistakes, to make a difference...one grain of sand at a time. Sense-Wilson relegated her child to thinking like an oppressed minority, instead of a proud individual with unlimited potential. This whole thing really irrited me.
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  • hnuh wrote...
    Now I have to
    December 9, 2010 7:53 am
    read the book again. Indians? What'd I miss? I didn't get native americans out of that there book in any way shape or form. I didn't get Americans out of that book. It didn't have anything to do with any of our contemporary victim groups. Sheesh... it was political. Wow.
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