Parents, students, and teachers are pushing back against Hamilton County Schools’ recent decision to remove a book from a high school English class after parents had gone to the board with concerns about it being inappropriate for the classroom.
Hamilton County Schools says, in a statement sent to Local 3, that a Soddy Daisy High School parent expressed concern and made complaints about the book “The Kite Runner” to their leadership, saying it contained graphic content not suitable for students.
The book had been selected as additional material for a high school English class and was not part of the district’s curriculum.
The novel underwent review, and it was decided that it “no longer meets our current standards for age-appropriate instructional content.”
That decision has since received backlash from former students and parents who say they’ve read the book and ‘absolutely loved it,’ describing it as eye-opening, informative, and rich in life lessons.
Karen Claypool is a former teacher who taught English and German to high school students for nearly four decades and says this recent decision is appalling and devastating.
“It’s criminal. I think it’s criminal,” Claypool says.
This is something she’s been concerned about since schools nationwide began removing some of her favorite classics, including many she taught, like Huckleberry Finn, To Kill A Mockingbird, and The Diary of a Young Girl.
Just two years ago, she created her own Banned Books Book Club, where people can meet weekly to read and discuss controversial novels, including The Kite Runner, which the group finished a few months ago.
“It’s a beautiful book,” she says. “I was so bothered that people wanted to ban these wonderful books.”
Claypool says removing these novels robs students of the opportunity to learn about the reality, hardship, and beauty of life.
“We want our kids to understand people and life, and it’s through reading that we do that, and it’s through reading and discussing good books.”
When asked about the decision to pull The Kite Runner due to graphic content, Claypool told me she believes, regardless, there’s no reason to ban a book because of its language, and agrees some novels require an older and more mature audience.
“I wouldn’t have a five-year-old read it, but a high schooler-sure,” she says.
Claypool tells me she just hopes people consider the novel in full, cover to cover.
“Parents will read a snippet of something and say, ‘Oh, I don’t want my kid reading that,’ and they don’t read the whole book,” Claypool says. “They don’t see that there’s a message that comes out in the whole book that is important.”
