I’m now “that parent”

[Eminybob]

Just had to email the school about DS1’s reading book. He’s 6!!!

This isn’t a moan about the school, his teacher replied straight away with an apology, but I’m shocked

Oops! Obviously an old book. You're not "that parent". I'm sure the school will be grateful you've pointed it out. And glad your DS must be actually reading the book for you to have spotted it!

Yeah, pretty much what the teacher said. That was an awkward conversation with ds though.

Oh hell no!
I would so be that parent with no worries over that

Honestly, how is that OK?

Honestly, OP, so fine to email

That wouldn't be good if there are any kids from within the gypsy and traveller communities in the school and they took that home.What a horribly racist phrase.

What’s the book?

Is it Famous Five?

It’s an Oxford treetops book - Aliens at Paradise High

It looks like the character saying it is supposed to be a nasty character though - it’s hardly endorsing the phrase.

It doesn’t look like a suitable book for a 6 year old. My DC have always been “advanced” readers but school were hesitant to give them books too far ahead because the subject matter wasn’t appropriate. This sort of book would be ok with an older child when you could have a conversation about insults and language that we shouldn’t use.

Schools make mistakes, it may be a book that was donated a while ago. YANBU to point it out in a helpful way.

It is an opportunity for your DS to know about unacceptable language.

Exactly my thoughts. Before we got to that bit I felt the content of the book was too old for ds.

Well it’s a good opportunity to have a discussion about derogatory language but if it’s from an established author then I can see how it would be undetected. I would have thought that some fictional characters would be prejudiced and unpleasant and it would be unrealistic to obliterate all evidence to make every character PC.

The content is too old for age 6 but surely you can't say "it's an old book". Just because there is a racist insult in it? Stories are written about all sorts of subjects.

Don't worry, my KS1 child brought a book home from school to read together about a school trip to a power station where one of the children was taken hostage by a man wearing an explosives belt (complete with illustrations). It wasn't even a particularly old book, published early 2000s.

Quite why it was endorsed by a staff member to form part of their library in the first place is beyond me and it was pretty obvious it hadn't been vetted by the teacher prior to being sent home.

On the plus side, I won't have to fork out money on school trips given the fear now instilled in my child.

Can't be that old, talks about computers.

Teachers can't be expected to read every single reading book they send out. They rely on the publishers to ensure that content is age appropriate. This book is probably from an older series. However, it could initiate a discussion about how certain groups of people were treated in the past and sadly, are treated today.
Too many books have been altered to comply with today's politically correct generation.

We have that book in school. It’s not that old. Generally read by 8-10 year olds. I’ve never read it and have had no complaints from parents. I’ll find it tomorrow!

I don't think I would complain but I'd want to know there is an accompanying discussion in class about racism

Oh dear yeah that had to go.

@Divebar2021

Well it’s a good opportunity to have a discussion about derogatory language but if it’s from an established author then I can see how it would be undetected. I would have thought that some fictional characters would be prejudiced and unpleasant and it would be unrealistic to obliterate all evidence to make every character PC.

Agreed.

I presume there's going to be a moral of the story and that it's unacceptable to speak like that?

To be clear, I didn’t complain to the school. I just brought it to the teachers attention. He thanked me and said he’d take it out of circulation.

It’s his homework reading book, He’s not reading it in class. He is reading at an advanced level, but is still quite young for his age so it all probably went over his head. We discussed what the word means and why we don’t use it and that it is offensive etc. Don’t think it really sank in, his interest was off on to something else by that point!

I used to buy books for a primary school that was using the accelerated reading scheme and had parents complaining about Captain Underpants because they said turd! They were Y4 children though.

It’s possible to buy books at an easier reading level but with older interest to stop later readers from being bored with ‘babyish’ books, but harder to find recently written books for younger, more advanced readers. I’d try some old-fashioned books where the language is harder but the themes still appropriate, maybe Narnia books or Joan Aitken etc? Even Enid Blyton if you can vet them first.

At least you were reading it with him. I’m not sure it’s entirely inappropriate. Just from the snippet it’s obviously meant to be something the character says that is unacceptable. The real question at hand is how will a child reading this solo interpret the passage. I would think that most 8-10 year olds would understand the horror of the language being used. My own 6 year old would have been reading whatever was sent home independently so she would have been left to interpret on her own. She probably would have asked us about the passage and we could discuss the racism, but it’s possible she might not.

I guess in simpler terms, I have great sympathy for the teacher. It’s extremely difficult to find appropriate reading material for advanced readers. Our biggest mistake involved approving DD’s selection of an award winning novel that got all sorts of accolades for its attention to racism and poverty along with its historical accuracy. None of the reviews happened to mention the detailed descriptions of ritualistic murders. Dd loved the book, but we got a call from the school saying that her book project was far too macabre for presenting to the other 9 year olds in class.

Can't be that old, talks about computers.

There were computers way before this kind of slur was understood not to be acceptable. We had our first home computer 35 years ago.

Well my jaw dropped!