Forum - View topicNEWS: MD County Removes Dragon Ball Manga from All Schools
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bleuster
 Posts: 455 Location: Orange County |
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Reading for entertainment can't be educational? Doesn't seem to back up the national slogan of "reading is fun!" or "give a hoot - read a book!". Talk about sending mixed messages.
I'd say allow it, simply because it is reading, it tinkers with the thinker. I don't believe schools are going to allow a book report on KimiKiss or Monster, but if it's there let them read it at least. I wonder if these same people would take out Schulz's Peanuts or Watterson's Calvin and Hobbes from any school for any reason. Regardless if they're only seen as comics, aren't these considered literary treasures? Watchmen even has college courses centered around it, so where's the line being drawn on the sand? |
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Sven Viking
Posts: 1039 |
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For those who haven't actually seen the Dragonball manga (e.g. "Akira wouldn't draw nipples" comment in a previous thread), there're a few random examples in this news story. Click NSFW button.
http://chizumatic.mee.nu/general_anime/dragon_ball_e_for_ecchi |
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Shay Guy
 Posts: 2112 |
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Thing is, that doesn't really hold up. It doesn't explain restrictions based on things that aren't imitable, like blood and gore. (And if your kid does imitate that, she's got more problems than just what she's reading. Incidentally, I've never heard of parents complaining about the graphic violence in the Animorphs books.) It also doesn't explain why some media that contains behaviors kids shouldn't be imitating isn't similarly restricted.
Some? I can't think of any that don't. There's stuff in there that makes you wonder, "My God, they actually encourage teenagers to read this?" I'm pretty sure Act II of The Taming of the Shrew has an explicit oral sex reference. And then there's Hamlet and, among probably other things, its extremely crude "country matters" pun. |
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Onizuka666
Posts: 266 Location: U.K |
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First respct to all you librarians out there. You provide a great service and don't get much respect for it.
The removal of DB manga from younger schools make sense, as tese titles are not in their age group. Removing them from highschools is stepping over the mark. A bit kneejerky, to cover themselves. Hopefully high school kids will be savvy enough to know where manga is sold, or seek out public libraries. While many here a little selfishly moan about 'why are my taxes being spent on this stuff' etc, the angle you miss, that some libraries often deal with is donated books. A user gives them to the library, so that others can enjoy them, free of charge, therefore sometimes money isn't always being spent on such material. However, other times it will be. One thing many don't understand is that a library can be a source of knowledge as well as one for entertainment, and indeed, to expect everything kids read to be an education is pretty dumb. No one is denying kids need to learn stuff, but look at the reality of the situation from their shoes. You've been at school all day learning, and when you get home, you might also have homework to do. Escapism is needed for children, to even the balance of ones sanity, be it a game, film, piece of music or art, and yes, even foreign or domestic comics, and there nothing wrong with libraries reflecting that. There's nothing more sad, than seeing a public access point, like a library close, because not enough people are using it. With the internet at everyone's figuretips these days, libraries are in danger of becoming obsolete. Why not provide a popular medium like comics there too? And provide a good range of them within reason. If its getting kids in to read more, then this should be celebrated and carefully regulated, to make sure content, the right material end up in the right hands, and not vice versa. From Maus and Barefoot Gen, to The Walking Dead and DMZ. If possible, anything too ecchi or fetishistic should be avoided, or perhaps just be in an adult category. I hope this DB incident doesn't get blown out of proportion, and hopefully libraries will learn to be more tight on who gets what, and if its right for them. |
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cjovalle
Posts: 31 |
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I'm not a librarian, although I do have the degree.
I'm not certain why you make this assumption. --- For those of you dubious about the beneficial effects of reading comics, see if you can find a library with access to various databases, and do a search across Web of Science, JSTOR, Business Source, or any sort of EBSCO database. Most academic libraries should have this type of access, as well as some public libraries. If you can get to Wilson Web, see if you can do a Library & Information Science full text search, and an Education full text search. 
You'll find articles about comics encouraging reading, comics as an art form, comics in the classroom, effects of comics on reading comprehension, the comics as means of multimodal learning, using comics to teach reading to children, using comics to teach reading to foreign language learners... and so on. So far, the majority of comic-related research appears to show mainly positive outcomes related to using comics in education, whether in the classroom or for pleasure. Now, not all of the research shows that comics are beneficial- for example, there are certainly issues with sexual stereotypes when using comics (and other media)- but it certainly seems like most research in the area is positive (at first glance). For what it's worth, I did get to Journey to the West from a combination of Dragonball (which I'm not a fan of, personally), watching part of a Chinese or Taiwanese television drama based on the subject, and basic curiosity. |
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Ari-chan
Posts: 215 Location: Florida |
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It's not really selfish to want tax money to be spent on better things. What would you rather a school buy assuming their budget is small and their inventory is in need of expanding? A volume of Naruto? Or The Dog of Flanders? Entertainment is great, and I fully encourage kids read any and all media available to them, but a school library shouldn't be concerned with getting manga series to kids. Even if the manga was donated, the school shouldn't just accept it with no concern. They should look into the material and be sure it's something appropriate for the school and the kids attending it. There are comic book stores and public libraries for those kinds of material, and that's where kids should go if they want to find simpler entertainment. A school with young kids should be more concerned with obtaining books that will expand a child's reading level and literary expertise, while both being fun at the same time. Comics book, as fun as they are, don't do the best job at expanding a reading level, and should be a last priority. I don't think they are bad and of course they aren't completely useless as reading tools, but they aren't the top choice. High school and up? I don't care, they should already be able to read at a high level, and thus, less inhibited. I think of it like Driving, someone starting out doesn't automatically get to ride however they want, they still need to be monitored and taught, using cars that hopefully don't cost a leg to wreck, and with a license that doesn't give you full rights. When you get the hang of driving and can survive in one on your own, then the restrictions let up and you are free to do as you please (under law of course). A child shouldn't need to use manga as a stepping stone to a better education, and I don't think a middle or elementary school should be trying to use it as such. |
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Haterater
 Posts: 1727 |
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I wouldn't just write it off just because its not the traditional way to learn. Not everyone is the same, and if something different helps them learn the same thing as another, let it be. This is exactly what I'm worried about of people brushing a different way to learn. Just because its not what you're used to or not "traditional" doesn't mean its useless.
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hikaru004
 Posts: 2306 |
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Because the public library operates differently from a public school library and Wicomico County has one. There's always inter-library loan also. Edit: The quick search came back as no Dragon Ball manga in the system. Oh well those avid readers will just have to petition the library. |
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bakaShin
Posts: 102 |
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Why do I get the feeling that when they heard the title of Dragon Ball and learnt it was a Japanese comic book, they concluded it's probably porn. I bet Death Note would have took longer to figure out. They probably think it's a story about emos writing in their diary/blog.
I throw out the race card as well. |
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configspace
Posts: 3717 |
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Problem is, they don't even need to make that assumption. One flip through the manga and most will have that idea cemented in their heads on their own. Holloway, council member who pushed for the ban, said: "The drawings and story lines are disgusting," So much so to ban DB (and probably most manga from now on) even from HIGH SCHOOL |
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Navak
Posts: 88 |
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... You read Starship Troopers and it came off as fluff? I think my brain may explode if you read Heinlein and all you got out of it was something for people to use their imagination and curl around the author's idea. |
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configspace
Posts: 3717 |
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Someone mentioned the sex in Romeo and Juliet earlier. Ironically, with great classics like Heinlein and many other books that I'm sure can be found in said school libraries, all contain more explicit sexual scenes and deal with more controversial sexual issues (to prudes and conservatives anyways) than Dragonball which is absolutely tame, practically a non-issue, in comparison.
This whole argument about the validity of manga, or different types of fiction as a learning tool is really besides the point. The issue here is that the ban resulted from a reaction to the content. |
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Navak
Posts: 88 |
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animenewsnetwork.com/bbs/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?p=835166#835166 Yep. Text doesn't count...unless of course someone grows a pair and starts reading from their books at a council meeting or something as a demonstration of how absurd some things may get. |
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hikaru004
Posts: 2306 |
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People always bring up R & J. Do you know that it is not required reading in schools? You can go thru a whole high school experience without reading it. In my school, it was substituted with Hamlet. Basically, it was Julius Cesar, MacBeth, and Hamlet in my class thru out the years in high school. Thru Hamlet, I got exposure to Rosenkrantz and Guildenstern are Dead in high school so I didn't miss R & J one bit. This whole incident started when DB was placed in the wrong school. |
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Haterater
Posts: 1727 |
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When I was in high school, it was required for us to read R&J. Things may have changed now or just simply different teachers teaching different subjects. I know I didn't read Hamlet at school as required reading.
For the other matter, it seems if questionable subjects are in text, then its safe. They must assume little kidos aren't "bright" enough to understand it through text. MUCH easier to understand questionable content if in picture form. I feel the school just want to cover themselves in case something like this happens again. |
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