I believe that it is very unnecessary to remove the dictionary from the school in California. Like the parent in the article stated "you have to draw the line somewhere..." and I fully agree with him. Just because there is one definition the parent does not like, is not a good enough reason for them to ban the dictionary. Not every child is going to read the whole dictionary. And if your child looks up the word it is more than likely because they have heard it from one of there friends or from the television. So, if someones child has a curiosity of the word then their parent should step up and explain it to their child. They need to realize its part of parenting and they cannot shelter their kids their whole life. They are going to learn of the word some how and in my opinion I would want to explain it to my child myself, not them learning it from a friend.
Parents should quit banning their children from everyday ordinary books just because of one simple little thing. Children are going to learn from everywhere outside of their homes and if their parent bans something from them, they are more than likely going to want to pursue it.
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I agree, this is a ridiculous proposal. Just because there are sexually explictit definitions in the dictionary does not mean it should be banned. Children are exposed to worst through television and freinds. I find it quite amusing that these people have nothing better to do than try and ban a dictionary.
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ReplyDeleteI agree that banning a dictionary is going a little too far. While I understand that a parent may not want their child to be exposed to the term “oral sex” at that age, they also need to realize that something spurred that child to consult the dictionary. I think that instead of banning the book, the parent should take the opportunity to talk to their child and find out where they heard the term and then handle it accordingly. It should be taken for what it is, a learning moment for the parents and the child. Exploring the incident could allow the parents to learn something about their child that they may not know, such as they are hanging around with older children or watching television programs they shouldn’t be, and open up the lines of communication so that the child will feel comfortable talking to them in the future. I feel that the child did the right thing. They consulted a dictionary to obtain information about a term in which they were unfamiliar. It seems to me that banning the dictionary teaches the child that what they did was wrong.
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ReplyDeleteI also think that banning a dictionary that is widely used all over the United States is ridiculous. I think that if a child is too young to handle the definition of oral sex, then he would not be looking up the definition in the first place. In the other hand, if the child looks up this word, it is because he is old enough to have heard the word, and because of this he can probably handle the definition.
ReplyDeleteAlso, I think this would be one of the most appropriate places for a kid to learn this definition. I do not find the definition used by the dictionary “sexually graphic”. If I was a parent, I would prefer my child to look this up in a dictionary instead of searching it on the web which would probably give inappropriate definitions.
i think removing a dictionary from a school is a crazy thought. banning a dictionary for one explicit word would not productive at all. the dictionary is filled with other positive words despite a few definitons, such as "oral sex". a child is going to learn a lot of things in his life; learning about subjects like this are just apart of growing up. for a child to just get a dictionary and look up that sort of definition, he has more than likely heard it from somewhere and out of curiosity, which is what is expected of a child, they want to know the meaning. if a child doesnt learn something from a parent or friend what better alternative than a dictionary.
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