The brainlessness of an English Tutor. Fuming

My son read it for GCSE and also Animal Farm. I can’t bring myself to read them.

I doubt very much that that was all that was said to your child. Context is everything.

Surely you could just email the tutor, preferably without the childish slurs, and ask her exactly how that conversation went?

Why are you so quick to go full fury?

I am close to emailing said teacher calling her a ct, because, you know "it's just words". See how her feelings are when she reads something that makes her uncomfortable.
My DD turned to her to ask because the book was making her uneasy and that is the response. What about children who get verbally bullied? Where is this Womans morals

These aren’t comparable. With emails and bullying, the words are directly attacking another persons to whom they are addressed. This book isn’t specifically targeting your DD.

If for some reason the subject of the book is particularly triggering to DD and she really feels she can’t continue reading it, then I guess she should be allowed to stop. But I don’t blame the teacher for pushing back on this a bit, books that challenge us can often be the most rewarding to read. Plus on a practical level, how will your DD benefit from her lessons and be involved in the class discussion if she’s read a different book to everyone else?

It's a long time since I read Zola and I was in my early 20s, not teens. My recollection is that the novels in Les Rougon-Macquart cycle are upsetting. I don't think they are suitable for young teens.

In my experience, the content of books aimed at children aged 9-12 is much more strictly policed by publishers etc than it was in the past, although naturally there will always be themes that individual children might find upsetting for their own good reasons. For school librarians and parents, the YA category is too wide. Perhaps a Young Teen category (13-15) would be helpful for parents/librarians but might not be so appealing to teens!

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I wouldn’t change the story for my DC if whole class were studying it. Not wrong to question the choice /raise a concern. Might influence future decisions for the subject content.

My secondary school English texts in the 1990s
To Kill A Mockingbird
Of mice and men
Cider with Rosie
Empty world

All had dark sides and sexual content. I enjoyed them all (except cider with Rosie, for which I found the text dull and slow)

My DC texts have included hard hitting storylines (A monster calls, Run Rebel) though these had less sexual content than the texts of my day.

Yes they do

I literally don't understand this whole thread. Why does a 12 year old think they need permission to return a library book? I'm not sure anyone needs to be called a c word over this....

Well I've no idea how old you are, but there have always been TV shows aimed specifically at an 18+ audience, and you obviously would have watched some of those shows as a young child. I watched shows like South Park and Eurotrash at a young age. No harm done.

Oh god, I loved Dorothy Sayers at that age 😍

At 13 I was absolutely reading Stephen King. Also the Pan horror anthologies, lots of Jack Vance, lots of Agatha Christie, Dorothy L Sayers, Rex Stout and Dick Francis. A real mix. My mental health is excellent, thanks. Handling potentially difficult themes is part of learning about literature. And learning about literature is and should be part of growing up. So you read the books as a parent, you discuss them with your children, you grow with them.

I found the Flowers in the Attic series very boring.

I completely agree. It’s also missing the point to think that “just words” is stupid.

You said in your post

We didn't read scary books or upsetting books. And not all parents allow their dc to watch awful stuff online, amazingly enough.

I’ve never read anything by Zola so can’t answer that bit. Another poster was talking about that author.

I think the point is, if the OP's daughter was reading a book from the school library for pleasure and she didn't like it, she just needed to swap, which she did. No need for rudeness from Mum.

Perhaps things are different in the US.

The teacher is right. Books are 'only words'. We decide how we react to them. I say that as teacher of English/English Literature. We close or open our minds to books often before we have opened the book. We can choose how we react to words in a book as we choose how we react to what people say.

If you choose to call the teacher a 'cunt', she could choose to be upset or choose to think your behaviour is pathetic, unprofessional and risible, not become upset and simply report you to the Headteacher and let them deal with you.

Loved those early Jilly Cooper books too. And Poldark and Lynne Reid Banks L-Shaped Room.

I had school friends who tried to get me to read flowers in the attic! Was never tempted though. At 13 we were still passing around Jinty and Tammy.

At 15 we passed around Jilly Cooper Octavia et al

I was more into books like those by Lynne Reid Taylor I think. Relationships and people.

@SmileEachDay which is exactly what the Op's daughter chose to do. Calling the teacher names seems so unnecessarily aggressive.

Students need to be challenged by what they read.

I’m an English teacher.

Difficult themes can be explored in literature they are “just words”. No one is actually hurt, or killed. They are words - they can be read, discussed and put away with no damage to anyone.

That’s why they are so powerful and beautiful. They allow us to experience all sorts of things at a safe distance because we can stop the experience entirely simply by stopping reading.

I think maybe re-read my posts? And which Zola is upsetting?

@CharlotteByrde I am sorry if my post came across as a bit sarcastic - I went back to edit but was too late. So the gist I meant, but I should have worded it better, sorry.

I'm an English teacher, born in the late 70s/ early 80s. I read some classics ,but Stephen King et al more, becausethey were much more interesting to me at that age.

And of course, flowers in the attic on the school yard at 13. Thank you, Emma's nan.

I am eternally grateful for the Jean m auel book, valley of the horses, because that was the kind of sex I expected to get when I eventually started having it. It made me expect better, which definitely helped me sort the wheat from the chaff.

Oh that's ok then, to hell with the child's feelings.

I loved Z for Zachariah. The film is truly terrible though.