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Miami’s ban on “A Visit to Cuba” doesn’t go far enough…
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by MonkeyPundit | February 11, 2009 at 04:53 pm
252 views | 10 Recommendations | 6 comments
The 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has upheld the Miami-Dade County School District’s right to purge a book titled “A Visit to Cuba” from its libraries. A Visit to Cuba is one of many childrens’ book in the A Visit to series published by Heinemann-Raintree Library.
The A Visit To book series aims to increase childhood literacy and provide Kindergarten through Second Grade students with basic information about the geography, culture, and lives of children living within countries all across the world.
This series also includes books on Brazil, Cambodia, China, Columbia, Costa Rica, Egypt, France, Germany, India, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Poland, Puerto Rico, The United Kindom, and Vietnam.
The 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the ban on A Visit to Cuba because it presents an “inaccurate view of Cuba” by not exposing its readers to horrors inflicted by Cuba’s Dictatorship. In upholding the ban on A Visit to Cuba, the 11th U.S. Court of Appeals has implied that the focus of childhood education should not be on basic social studies, but on the complex politics of atrocity.
This ban does not go far enough. Concerned parents should push for a ban on the entire “A Visit To Series”, because too many of these books fail to address the catastrophic conditions of the countries about which they are trying to education children.
For example:
A Visit to Columbia: This book does not address the influence of international drug cartels and paramilitary terrorists.
A Visit to China: This book does not address the rampant abuse of the death penalty, the suppression of free speech, the destruction of the Falun Gong exercise movement, or the horrors of the One-Child population control policy.
A Visit to Egypt: Does not address the poor human rights under the authorian rule of President Hosni Mubarak
A Visit to India: This book does not address the rampant poverty felt by nearly 30% of the population.
A Visit to Vietnam: This book does not address the issues of Child Prostitution and Exploitation.
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Most RecentMost Recommended Comments (6)
at 17:10 on February 11th, 2009
Thank you for an interesting opinion, MonkeyPundit!
"The 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the ban on A Visit to Cuba because it presents an “inaccurate view of Cuba” by not exposing its readers to horrors inflicted by Cuba’s Dictatorship. In upholding the ban on A Visit to Cuba, the 11th U.S. Court of Appeals has implied that the focus of childhood education should not be on basic social studies, but on the complex politics of atrocity. "
For grades k-2? I am finding this very difficult to believe!
at 18:24 on February 11th, 2009
MonkeyPundit, I am providing a link to the original story here, for the reason that it provides a broader view of the issue.
Also, in the future, please use NowPublic Highlight tool. Please visit the Newsroom for tips on publishing. Thanks!
at 19:42 on February 11th, 2009
This is a hard one. If your family suffered deaths and imprisonment under Castro, then you don't want your children given a Disney-ish view of an evil place.
It would be better to acquaint the children with some good and some bad by letting people talk with the kids about their experiences. My mother used to tell us stories about her life as a refugee in WWII and what happened in the town where she lived as Germans came in and Tito's partisans came back and everyone wanted revenge and got it. I doubt that in 1956 she would have wanted a book about Yugoslavia to sugar coat what a murderer Tito had been..
The problem is that the people who fled Cuba see an attempt to whitewash Castro behind this and given what I know about my lib friends, there is some truth to this.
at 22:03 on February 11th, 2009
Maybe we should ban all books that embellish the US and fail to talk about Homeless and unemployment. Use of the Atom Bomb on Civilian and Illegal War against Iraq.
at 00:19 on February 12th, 2009
We do talk about the homeless and unemployment. There are plenty of books about the atom bomb. We discuss it in every American history course and I had a lecture on it from a survivor of the bomb, a Catholic priest who just managed to get out of the bomb zone.
The war against Iraq illegal? Under what law? The UN"s? Don't make me laugh. The UN is possible one of the most corrupt organizations on the planet.
And we do talk about the war. We see horrible pictures. We are well-informed.
What do you know about Castro? What has Castro really done for Cuba? Got rid of the Mafia? Great and put in a leftist Mafia to take their place. Locked up homosexuals and artists. Persecuted people for their religion. Locked up people because they had AIDS. Militarized the entire country. Ah, yes, but they reduced infant mortality. But dissident mortality is way up as a counter-measure against overpopulation. How clever of Fidel, ma belle!
at 00:37 on February 12th, 2009
Roy, I said embellish not that it is not talked about. I worked in Cuba on a water purification plant and know that every one there has great health care, a roof over their head, good schools and employment as well as food. Some thing that many countries do envy. Yes there is injustice as well as in the US whose prison are filed be on max.
There is good and bad to all systems and yes, I would say Cuba in the balance in no worth then the US and vice versa.
Demonizing Cuba and then doing business with China just to name one example, is some what inconsequential.