Some local parents are concerned a novel containing graphic sexual content continues to be used in a Lambton Kent District School Board Grade 11 English course that focuses on Indigenous issues.
Two parents, who wished to remain anonymous out of concern this issue could negatively impact their children, spoke with The Chatham Daily News about the novel Three Day Road, by Joseph Boyden.
One parent said she noticed her teen was flipping past some pages while reading the book and asked why.
When her child told her what was written was “inappropriate,” the parent said, “Then, of course, I wanted to know what was inappropriate.”
Pages that were scanned and provided to The Daily News, included a graphic name for a penis along with references to oral sex and sexual intercourse.
After seeing some the passages, she said, “I was rather shocked that was in a book that was a mandatory read for the Grade 11 students.”
Mark Sherman, superintendent of education, said the book is not a mandatory text for secondary schools in the LKDSB.
He said from looking around, the novel appears to be left in use in a couple of places within the board.
“By and large, we’ve moved on to other books,” Sherman said.
The other parent said the book was discussed at a previous school parent council meeting where it was discovered other parents attending were not aware of this content in the novel.
She said the parents at the meeting “were rather shocked” when they read it and were unanimous in their disapproval of the book being used in the course.
When asked about the language in the book, Sherman said, “Times have moved on, if you think what’s out in the general current media and so on, it’s of a different level than (the past), but we don’t get many complaints.”
The superintendent said there are several resources available and as new books are released, there are often “hotter literary products” out there that are viewed as covering more ground or gets to the heart of some contentious issues such as the treaty rights or the residential school system.
He said parents are encouraged to approach their child’s teacher and/or principal and let them know they are not comfortable with the resource and would like a substitute.
“I can’t remember when we haven’t accommodated that request, because people have sensitivities across a range of themes.”
The parents said the issue has been brought to the attention of school board administration. They said the response received was the board doesn’t pull books or ban books.
“Our argument is this is not banning a book, this is choosing appropriate material,” one of the parents said.
“We’ve been asked to ban books in the past . . . and we don’t do that,” Sherman said.
He added it is just not the role of the school board.
“We don’t want to be known as ‘burn the book’ parents,” a parent said. “I can’t believe I’m coming forward to say this book is inappropriate, because I’m pretty open minded, but I think this really pushes the limits.”
The issue of the novel’s sexual content has also been discussed in Facebook posts.
“Wow, I can’t believe this is a high school book,” one post states. “University, yes. But kids aged 16-17 reading this?? I would be upset too.”
“Thank you! I didn’t want to be the only parent to speak up and embarrass my daughter but she was horrified and sent me a text when she was doing her homework the other night and said “Mom what are they making me read!!??” stated another post.
There were also posts that indicated some people don’t share the same concerns.
“So you’re ok with sex ed. But reading about sex bothers you? I mean, would you rather they learn from porn?” stated one post.
“It’s actually an educational read,” another person posted. “I read it and it turned out okay.”
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