Letter from a fighting father
Saturday, June 6th, 2015
Dear Carolyn,
Since learning of you a few years ago I have learned a great deal.
Your work has been very instrumental in helping me to work on getting “Night” removed from the Freshman reading list in A.P. [advanced placement] English and Literature courses taught at the private high school where 3 of my 5 children are enrolled.
It has been a tough battle because in the midst of all that I was doing there was an administrative shake up due in part to one of the girls on the volleyball team being bullied.
Anyway, I have not let up in my pursuit of this mission. The original excuse given to me was that the teacher wanted a story about someone interned in a prison camp.* With so many great books why pick NIGHT? She could never give me a satisfactory answer. Not to cause a person to dig their heels in due to pride, I very delicately approached this issue from many avenues. BUT what has helped the MOST is your well documented articles on Elie Wiesel’s fraud. Of all the means available this has had the best response!!
There will be a meeting sometime this Summer. Do you have suggestions as to an alternate [book]? This is a Catholic school. I thought Alexander Solzhenitsyn would be good.
Anyway I’ve been very busy as of late and with some time today wanted to write and update you.
Best wishes always
Dr F.J. M____
* Strange the subject for a regular English and Literature course should be limited to a story line of a prison camp. That’s the first thing I would question with this teacher. But this is not unusual – it’s placed into the education objectives in so many districts because complete lesson plans have been pre-prepared by Jewish agencies for the book Night. The teacher is not required to know anything or even to read it. For this reason Night is the choice of almost all teachers. It’s a closed circle.
Alright readers, put some thought into this and send in your suggestions for an appropriate book for this father to suggest to his children’s school board.
One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich by Alexander Solzhenitsyn (1962), called a novella, is advanced but not too difficult for top high school students.
Crossing the Line by Paul Rassinier (1949), not as easy to get in English, is an account of the author’s experience in Buchenwald.
Do you know of a better one? Please send it in, and thanks.
Category Featured | Tags: Tags: Night in classroom,
Social Networks: Facebook, Twitter, Google Bookmarks, del.icio.us, StumbleUpon, Digg, Reddit, Posterous.
