Phoenix dad upset over teen’s class reading assignment filled with profanity, sex
By Emma Lockhart
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PHOENIX, Arizona (KTVK, KPHO) — A Phoenix dad is upset over his teen daughter’s school curriculum. The book “So You’ve Been Publicly Shamed” was a summer reading option for juniors in an advanced placement class, known as an AP class, at Horizon High School. It explores how people are shammed on the internet but it is also filled with profanity and graphic sexual references. “It is hard to preserve a child’s childhood these days. Part of my child’s childhood is probably gone now,” said Thomas Morton.
One page details a pornographic shoot, while another references a woman having sex with an animal. Morton said he and his wife are mortified their 15-year-old daughter read the book. “As I continued on, there were was a four-page description of a fetish porn shoot that contained all kinds of pornographic elements,” said Morton.
The book explores how people are shammed on the internet but it is also filled with profanity and graphic sexual references.
So how did the book even end up in the student’s hands? The Paradise Valley Unified School District said AP teachers could choose books off the approved reading list if they met board requirements. It is now removed and no longer an option in the class. Read the district’s full statement below:
“As part of the Horizon High School Junior 5-6 Advanced Placement Language Arts class, ‘So You’ve Been Publicly Shamed’ by Jon Ronson was included as an option for summer reading along with ‘Fast Food Nation’ by Eric Schlosser. Students were asked to read one of the two books over the summer in preparation for a classroom writing prompt, which took place in August. ‘So You’ve Been Publicly Shamed’ has since been removed and is no longer an option in the class.
Advanced placement teachers were able to use books outside of the approved reading list if those books met College Board policy. However, new processes were put into place to better define which books best meet educational needs in PVSchools.”
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