Geography and Order of the Poison Oak

As many people have already said, this week’s readings were definitely eye opening. I’ve always felt strongly that the best way to experience someone else’s struggles is to read good literature about their situation, and homosexuality is no exception. Since I’m a very heterosexual female, the plight of a homosexual high school boy was pretty far removed from me. I couldn’t possibly understand or empathize with the struggles of students struggling with their sexuality, but I feel pretty confident that I’ll face some amount of those struggles with the students in my classes and would like to be able to identify with them on some level. So I’m extremely glad that I was exposed to the Geography Club and Order of the Poison Oak, two books that I would never have picked up off of the shelf on my own. They gave two extremely sympathetic and personal accounts of homosexual adolescents that were relatable and interesting even to a heterosexual adult.

From the perspective of a teacher, these books were great. I went into them understanding that these are NOT class reads. They would be difficult (if not impossible) to stretch to include content, and I would definitely be extremely hesitant before making them lit circle books, but they’re great books to have on hand. These books felt like a lifeline flung out from an adult author who had experienced the hardships of sexual discrimination to a generation of struggling kids, and I would love to have them available and waiting for the kid that needs that lifeline to catch a hold of. They were easy to read, interesting, unintimidating, and relatable and would be a great fun read for students who are just perusing the classroom library for something to pick up.

From the controversy/censorship perspective, these books are well within a teacher’s rights to make available, I think. Though I believe that some students as young as ours (especially in the lower 4^th through 6^th grades) should be protected from information that they aren’t necessarily ready for, neither of these books broaches any topic, language, or action that these students haven’t been exposed to in the normal everyday life of a public-school kid. They’re also very up-front about their homosexual themes (it’s on the book jacket) so if students (or their parents) aren’t comfortable with these themes they’ll know to avoid them. There aren’t any really big surprises in these books, theme-wise. However, though these books get a definite “yes” from me, I am pretty conservative in my belief of what should be expressly taught in a public school classroom. I don’t believe that it’s a teacher’s place to tell students whether homosexuality is “right” or “wrong” or to help students figure out or come to terms with their own sexuality… that’s a parent’s place. However, it’s absolutely a teacher’s right and responsibility to protect all students from harassment, which may and probably does include awareness and understanding. Kids- and a frightening number of adults as well- hate and harass those things that are different than themselves, things they don’t understand. Making students understand others so that they aren’t so foreign and scary (be that people of other nationalities, languages, cultures, or sexualities) can prevent some of the hate that was displayed in the books from this week.