Keith Noel, Contributor

Noel

The recent contretemps between Minister of Education Andrew Holness and a number of professional educators highlights the persistence of an age-old debate regarding the treatment of sex and sexuality in literature. It also raises the head of another spectre regarding the definition of obscene language.

The subject of literature (in the definition we are using, i.e. fine prose fiction) is life. It deals with all aspects of human existence and relationships. It describes heroism, beauty, love, cruelty, cowardice, hatred, and other passions, emotions and states. It makes us laugh, cry, grow passionate, and ponder the human condition.

Appreciation for literature

So, the texts one chooses to use in a school situation would expose children to these. Teachers help students to develop appreciation for literature and, in doing so, to see humanity at its finest - and at its most wretched. They are given vicarious experiences that help them to grow as human beings. These texts also give teachers a wonderful opportunity to discuss social and other issues with the students.

Among the most vital of these issues, to today's children, are those regarding violence, sex and sexuality. Yet, it is these issues that parents grow concerned about when they are treated in these novels. It is a genuine (and reasonable) concern that the novels chosen are not ones that valorise promiscuity or support views that run counter to our religious beliefs. But, as is the case in the recent contretemps involving our Minister of Education, the desire often seems to be to keep our children away from any references to sex that we consider crude - no matter how vital these references are to the value and truth of the novel.

Matters of sexuality

The danger here is that some people do not trust anyone to deal with matters of sexuality with their children. They do not care if they are trained educators. They rush in alarm to ministers of education (and of religion), seeking support whenever they think that their children run the risk of being 'ruined' by what appears in these books. This fear is further stoked by an ever-present puritan, book-burning, right wing which is fast becoming the Christian version of that wing of Islam which burns publishing houses because the Prophet Mohammed was insulted in the newspapers.

It would be a classic example of 'throwing the baby out with the bathwater' if we, in an effort to protect our children from all 'crude' references to sex and sexuality, should deprive them of the tremendous benefits that are to be accrued from the study of A Kestrel for a Knave, [published, interestingly by Penguin Modern Classics] or the ground-breaking Beka Lamb!

In closing, I raised the point in a discussion on Friday with a Gleaner representative that language is culture-based, with all of the culture's attendant biases. So, what we call 'obscene language' is simply those words used by the working class to describe sex, the (female) sexual organs, and sexuality in general. Think about it. It may be (vaguely) relevant!

Keith A Noel is a teacher of literature and past principal of St Jago High School.