I mean, what can I say? You see the pictures. Today I went to the McWane Science Center with the kids and went to the store to look for a cool science toy for a birthday party we are going to on Friday night. Almost every book in the store was inappropriate. Tons of "Grossology" and disgusting things everywhere. Even boxes of disgusting experiments to make more disgusting things. Iwas shocked! I had already noticed this "it's okay to be gross" phenomena in the bookstores with the below FAMOUS (how is this possible) book series:
When did this become okay? Don't even one person comment and tell me that despite the grossness of the above things, they are really endearing or educational. I do not care.
They are gross. They are a waste of our children's beautiful minds. We decided long ago that we would edit the things that come into our children's minds (as best we can) to TRY to instill in them a sense of what is truly beautiful and what is not. Because it is an OBJECTIVE truth- there is BEAUTIFUL and there is UGLY and we have to know the difference.
Today I saw a Wall Street Journal article asking How can we raise boys who READ? Because apparently reading is not something boys today can do with any pleasure- unless it's disgusting. But whose fault is that? The little boys or their educators/parents? Here's a quote from the article:
When did this become okay? Don't even one person comment and tell me that despite the grossness of the above things, they are really endearing or educational. I do not care.
They are gross. They are a waste of our children's beautiful minds. We decided long ago that we would edit the things that come into our children's minds (as best we can) to TRY to instill in them a sense of what is truly beautiful and what is not. Because it is an OBJECTIVE truth- there is BEAUTIFUL and there is UGLY and we have to know the difference.
Today I saw a Wall Street Journal article asking How can we raise boys who READ? Because apparently reading is not something boys today can do with any pleasure- unless it's disgusting. But whose fault is that? The little boys or their educators/parents? Here's a quote from the article:
Education was once understood as training for freedom. Not merely the transmission of information, education entailed the formation of manners and taste. Aristotle thought we should be raised "so as both to delight in and to be pained by the things that we ought; this is the right education."
"Plato before him," writes C. S. Lewis, "had said the same. The little human animal will not at first have the right responses. It must be trained to feel pleasure, liking, disgust, and hatred at those things which really are pleasant, likeable, disgusting, and hateful."
The article concludes, and I from experience agree, that the answer to getting boys to find beauty in Literature is stop making Literature compete with video games/computer games/television. The books will lose! I know this in my own life, I'd much rather veg out and watch Dancing with the Stars than plough through the Abolition of Man. We have to let our kids be BORED. Boredom is the impetus to reading. Marky began reading Around the World in 80 Days today because he had nothing better to do. We have no video games, he's only allowed to play chess on the computer once in a while and the TV is off during the day. What to do....what to do....get lost in a book. Get completely enthralled in a book- take-it-to-lunch-and-can't-put-it down enthralled in a book.
I've explained this idea of filling our minds with beauty to our kids. When Marky was little and we would be in a bookstore, he would hold up a book and say, "Mommy is this beautiful?" Beatrix Potter- yes. Junie B. Jones and the Stupid, Stinky School Bus- no. Yes, I assume that my kids, like all kids, would think gross, sassy stuff was as funny as the next kid, but I'm the parent. I'm in charge of filling their minds with beauty and give them a right understanding of what is appropriate in civilized society. Trust me, I'm preaching to myself here, because I will still find myself filling my mind with worthless things. I'm just kind of surprised that we've gotten to the place where we ON PURPOSE dumb down and debase our CHILDREN'S books in the name of education and "getting them to read".
Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. Phil 4:8
13 comments:
i concur.
This is excellent, and is spot on. I have such an astute wife! This reminds me of the cheap way in which church camp counselor would try to get kids to to pay attention to them by making dumb jokes like "I wonder if angels have nose hair." Junk like this is not meat for the mind - it is mental sugar to kids. Looks and tastes good for a second, but it has no real nutrients and is bad in the long run. And take a kid who has "learned to love reading" on this crude pop junk and then give them a real book and see what happens. It is not a love for learning and imagination that has been instilled, it is a love for base things presented in colorful pictures.
The temptation is always on adults to go down to a child's level to try to take the so-called easier road to parenthood ("My son really likes me when we watch Baywatch together"), but the real life lessons - the ones that I remember with fondness - are the times when adults challenged me and called me to live up to something higher. Painful at first, wonderful later.
Donna, I SO very much agree with all of these thoughts. Yet wouldn't you know it, tonight while answering the question "what is your favorite book?", our oldest answered, "Winchell Cut the Cheese" (a book about a tooting pig given to him as a gift!)
So why did he choose this one over the MANY other beautiful, well-written literary gems we have in the house? Probably because it makes him and his brothers laugh more than any other book we read. And part of me loves that reading can bring laughter and enjoyment at such a young age. We read it and laugh together and then move on to other good reads... Not so bad from a general standpoint, right?
Right on sister! Just so you know, I have a boy who LOVES TO READ! And he's 10. When he is grounded from TV (we have no video games, and he is very limited to computer time), he always asks if he's grounded from reading. When he gets into a good book, he chooses it over TV...YES! You guys are on the right track, and your kids will be lovers of books! Matthew Kelly says that we change because of the people we meet and the books we read. What kind of person will we become? What kind of people are we surrounding ourselves with, and what kind of books are we reading? He says, show me the books by your bed, and I'll tell you the kind of person you'll become. CS Lewis, yes please...farting dog...no thanks!
Amen Sister!
Preach it, girl! I read that article too and thought it was wonderful- very inspiring to this mom who wants to raise a boy who loves to read.
I Cor. 6:12 reminds us that what may be permissable may not be beneficial. Our children are the most important, clean, holy vessels God entrusts to us. We have to be so aware of what we are either putting in them ourselves, or what we're allowing to be put in them. "Trash in, trash out" :(
In re-doing a study of Daniel (for the 5th time), I'm reminded that nothing is more dangerous than "friendly captivity". The Jews in Babylon has assimilated to the point that they were virtually undistinguisable from the Babylonians. Except for Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednigo. What made them different to begin with? They first refused to put into their temples...their bodies...what came from the king's table. It was unclean.
Parents can't control everything that their chldren see, hear and do..it gets harder every year. But I love you are making sure not to add to the dialogue!
"Be careful little eyes what you see, for the Father up above is looking down with love so be careful little eyes what you see".
"Literature adds to reality, it does not simply describe it. It enriches the necessary competencies that daily life requires and provides; and in this respect, it irrigates the deserts that our lives have already become." C.S. Lewis
I completely agree. What our children read changes who they are. And I, for one, want that change to be in the direction of godly character. Beyond that, what children read at these early ages will form their appetite for years to come. For example, if we fill them with junk food, they will crave junk food. In the same light, we will fill their minds with garbage and mindless entertainment, they will crave it. They will never learn to desire the better things, the beautiful things. Good on ya, mama.
Agree, agree, agree. We've dumbed ourselves down in just about every way imaginable.
But far worse, we project that lowest-common-denominator thinking on others, and on our kids.
If you've never had, say, amazing food, you won't miss it. And if you've never read incredible lit, or witnessed great art, you don't even have a sense for what can only be described as poverty.
People who oppose these books need to remember that kids are READING. READING! I don't care what's in those books, no one in their right mind should ever stop a kid from reading anything.
While they may seem vulgar, that's what they said about the Police Academy movies.
Note: My uncle made the same argument regarding the political articles in Playboy magazine. He turned out fine and has great respect for women.
Patrick- No matter what you say, I told you I am not coming to your Grossology party.
You are so totally wrong about so many things, and some of us are exhausted from hearing you talk. For example, when we were in line at the midnight showing of Twilight, you decided to treat everyone in line to your tired speech about how Taylor's pecs represent Life and Death. You are way off, as there are any number of more plausible interpretations that have been offered.
I used to think that "reading is reading" too, but I was wrong. Really learning to read is crucial. Why, I remember growing up on the streets of Philly, trying to make ends meet by part-time boxing, working in the local meat-packing plant and shaking down people for money for the local boss. I could not read, then either. I met a nice girl who worked in a pet store, but was really too embarsassed about my illiteracy to impress her. All that changed, of course after Apollo gave me a title shot. But I got lucky, Patrick! Do you want your kids to have to rely on luck??
My life on the streets didn't really help my typing and grammar skills, however....
Marc,
Pathetic. You stole that story from the wonderful book by Ms. Julia Sorel. We've all read it.
And please steer clear of the Twilight series- at least in its written form. I never knew I had such a vivid imagination until I read those treasures.
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