This summer, the Hardin Valley Academy wanted to keep its STEM students interested in school subjects during their vacation. After determining that the best way to do this was probably not by assigning weekly physics equations, the school assigned Daniel H. Wilson’s best-selling sci-fi novel Robopocalypse (Doubleday) as the program’s summer read.
A parent of an incoming freshman voiced his concerns over profanity in the book, apparently convinced that his 14-year-old has never heard the word fuck before.
The dean of the academy, Debbie Sayers, responded to the parent in an e-mail stating: “We discussed adult-level language, and decided that most (not all) students of this age group are exposed to profanity through much more graphic means than the written text…we knew there might be some objection to his, and we were willing to defer to parental concerns and discretion.”
The student in question was offered an alternative assignment, but this of course was not sufficient and the parent wants the book removed entirely and ASAP. But he doesn’t want to file a formal complaint, evidently, since it sounds like a lengthy process.
Hardin Valley Academy alum Ryan Clark posted this awesome video in response to the incident:
We couldn’t have said it better ourselves, Ryan!