We were running this on our provincial news feed this morning, and I had to go seek out more information.
First, the necessary back story. I'm sure you've all heard the shocking murder that happened in Medicine Hat. A 12-year old girl and her 23-year old boyfriend killed her parents and brother. Well, it's come to light that the 12-year old girl was a Goth, so Goth is becoming the new persucuted, mis-understood, teen subculture that must be banned.
Anyway, the news story that was running this morning was that a Medicine Hat school has pulled a book from its curiculum that prominently featured a Goth character. The school board says they are doing this out of sensitivity.
Naturally, I had to find out what the book was.
So, I found the whole story, from Saturday's Edmonton Sun.
The book is called Runner, and it's by Peter McPhee. It's about a man wandering the streets of Calgary looking for his runaway sister...who just happens to be Goth.
McPhee says that he wrote the book to show that a life on the streets will lead you nowhere...not as a glamorization of Goth culture.
But reading the book was just one small part of the class assignment...along with it came an exploration of Goth culture, including drawing a picture of yourself as a Goth, and checking out some Goth websites.
Naturally, a parent objected. The parent who objected says that her child - who is doing the assignment - is "highly impressionable" and "suffers from a learning disorder," and that the assignment compelled her child to proclaim that she's "going Goth" and even cut the words "I want to be a Goth" into her arm with the pointy end of her compass.
The parent who objected chose to go unnamed. And, as my mother who was on the school board for 15 years once told me, "If a parents chooses to go unnamed, then 9 times out of 10, it's a teacher."
Anyway, that's the whole story, as I got from the Edmonton Sun. Click here to read the article
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