Know What You Believe

As an English teacher, I tried to be considerate of my students and their parents when selecting classroom novels. If a parent had a concern about an assigned book, I’d either suggest other titles or ask the parent to come up with an alternative, as long as it still accomplished my learning goals. I believe parents have the right to say, “I don’t want my child reading this.” However, it is not the right of a parent to say “No one should read this book.” 

One of the novels that raised some concern was Godless by Pete Hautman. The story focuses on Jason Bock who, like most young adults, challenges his parents’ traditional belief system while exploring what he truly values and believes.  As a lark, he decides to create his own religion. As whack as this sounds, it’s not far from how some of the more colorful offshoots of mainline religion got their start.

It’s important for young adults to develop a moral compass to help navigate life. After my students read Robert Fulghum’s essay “All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten,” I had them write their own credo. They wrote everything from treatises based on Christian apologetics to an essay exploring the life lessons learned from playing field hockey. It was an important assignment, and a pivotal time in student’s lives to examine how to map their personal journeys.

http://www.petehautman.com

https://www.robertleefulghum.com