Today I received written permission from Piers Anthony to reprint a portion 
of the Author's Note in his book entitled CHAOS MODE which is Book Three of 
the MODE series. Although Piers Anthony is a science fiction writer (he is 
the author of over 80 books including GHOST and TOTAL RECALL) the events 
depicted in the excerpt below are regrettably true.  --- Valery Frosty
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     Reprinted with written permission of the author, Piers Anthony.
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Excerpt from the Author's Note of CHAOS MODE written by Piers Anthony.
   "I was later a teacher myself" ... "and later still a parent with a 
hypersensitive, dyslexic, learning-disabled child. I became militant when 
the teacher was yelling at my daughter Penny from the first day of first 
grade. To make a seventeen-year story short, Penny did make it through to 
her college degree, and is today a well-adjusted adult. I fear she would 
not have made it, had I not fought throughout to ensure fair treatment for 
her. I thought my quarrels with the school system were over."
   "Not quite. When the first novel of this series, VIRTUAL MODE, was
published in hard cover, a reader who was Penny's age named Jessica bought 
it, read it, and liked it. Jessica's seven-year-old daughter Samantha, also 
a fan of mine, saw the book, and asked to take it to school so she could 
read it during her free time. Now these MODE novels are adult, and I don't 
recommend them for children. Had I been on the scene, I would have urged 
that she take a Xanth novel instead. But some children are more mature than 
others, and can handle adult material. Indeed, even Xanth may not be safe, 
as I had discovered two years before."
   "On that occasion, a Florida grade school student, Tommy, had taken a
Xanth novel to school, because he was hyperactive and his counselor 
recommended that he take something interesting to read instead of running
around. So he took a copy of HEAVEN CENT, a humorous fantasy about a 
nine-year-old boy, and was reading it in the cafeteria when a teacher
approached, looked at the book, and took it away from him. The book was not 
returned. When Tommy's mother protested, she was lectured; apparently the 
school administration felt that it owed no accounting to the child's 
parent. Now I once taught school in Florida, and I know the general 
procedure; if a book is inappropriate, the teacher takes it from the 
student, but returns it at the end of the day with the admonition not to
bring it to school again. Policies may vary from school to school, but this 
is really all that is required for a first offense. One might ask why the 
schools are not the first place where reading should be encouraged, and 
censorship discouraged. But if there is too much freedom, the kids will be 
bringing in whatever they believe will freak out the teachers, including 
wild pornography. So there do have to be reasonable limits. A Xanth novel 
is hardly a taboo-breaker, however, and many schools encourage the reading 
Xanth novels because they do get students interested. Xanth has taught many 
folk to read. Also, this was not just any trashbin junk; this was a copy 
specially autographed to Tommy, of some personal value. When I learned of 
this, I wrote to the principal. "What is the difference between this and 
theft?" I inquired. But the principal fudged the issue, claiming that books 
weren't allowed in the cafeteria. The counselor, whose advice Tommy had 
been following, pursued the case, challenging the teacher, in the presence 
of the principal, to establish why the book was forbidden. Well, it seemed 
there was a picture of a naked man in it. The couselor had a copy of the 
novel: Would the teacher show the bad picture? Of course the teacher could 
not. Could it have been the cover, which does show the back of a bare boy? 
No, it was an interior illustration - though there are no interior pictures 
in that novel. Still the book was not returned, and no apology was 
forthcoming. Probably the teacher, with the arrogance of a minion almost 
impervious to accounting, had simply thrown the copy away. Yet there was no 
recourse; I saw that the principal was covering for the teacher's mistake, 
stonewalling it, and would fudge the truth as far as necessary to avoid 
admitting error. Florida education is not firstrate: I knew that from my 
own days as part of it. Many teachers are dedicated, but the bureaucracy 
too often weeds them out while protecting the inferior ones, because a 
dedicated teacher is apt to be the first to protest injustice. By the 
bureaucracy's definition, that's a troublemaker. I sent Tommy another 
autographed copy, with the note "Some battles need to be fought." Even 
when, as in this case, they are lost. Virtue is not necessarily rewarded, 
and truth is too often secondary to convenience."
   
... continued next message         
~~~ ReneWave v1.00.wb2 (unregistered)
--- Mankind = One Family
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