To my brother and sister Rara-Avians:
This letter was received by the Central Office of the MWA
recently, and has been forwarded to the National EMWA list,
to some of the regional MWA lists, and to the Short Mystery
Fiction list.
The writer, a high school English teacher who teaches a
course on crime fiction and has for the last five years, has
gotten in trouble with ONE parent, and has asked for the
assistance of professional mystery writers to make her case.
She has given permission for her letter to be forwarded to
other e-mail lists that include mystery writers and
fans.
Dear Mystery Writers of America:
I am a high school English teacher in Kaukauna, Wisconsin. I
created and am currently teaching a literature class for
juniors and seniors titled "History of the Mystery."
The class, and I personally, have been under attack (via
letters to the editor, radio talk shows, and inaccurate news
broadcasts) for approximately a month. Why? Because as a
creative writing component of the course, the students were
assigned to write their own murder mysteries. One parent
objected and has since advertised to the media that I
specifically assigned my students to "plot a murder." He has
also suggested that "thoughts are the seeds of words and
deeds" and the students, as a result, will be more likely to
commit murders themselves. My life has been a living hell as
a result, but that is not why I am writing this letter.
The one parent who has a problem with the assignment (even
though his daughter was offered an alternative assignment) is
pursuing his agenda of having the Murder Mystery writing
component ELIMINATED entirely from our curriculum. He will be
presenting his "case" to our Curriculum and Instruction
Committee and then the school board. This is where I would
like to ask for your help.
As mystery writers, surely you understand that writing a
mystery in which a murder takes place will not make you a
murderer. (If it did, I guess you would all be in prison as
opposed to free citizens who belong to this
organization.)
This seems to have become an issue of "morality," as if by
writing about murder, the author is somehow glorifying or
condoning the act, or again, be tempted to "try it" himself.
I am concerned that the school board will agree to eliminate
the assignment based on this erroneous "morality
argument."
I am writing to ask if any of you, several of you, or even
all of you, would consider writing a letter to our Curriculum
and Instruction Committee and school board, addressing any of
the following:
1. The "morality" issue 2. The fallacy that writing a murder
mystery will create a murderer 3. The literary merit of
constructing a well-thought out mystery 4. The skills that
can be strengthened by writing a mystery 5. The purpose
behind writing a mystery and/or the end result of the mystery
story (to restore order, see good triumph over evil, etc.) 6.
Anything you see as relating to the importance/relevance of
this assignment, in specific
It has been suggested by our administrators that we change
the assignment to just be "any kind of mystery." (e.g. the
kids can write about surprise birthday parties or searching
for the holy grail) While I know that mysteries can
effectively be written about anything if the author is
skilled enough, that is not the point.
We study mystery authors all semester who write,
specifically, about the solving of murders: Edgar Allan Poe,
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Agatha Christie, as well as several
other lesser known authors. When the murder mystery
assignment was created, its goal in part was to "test" the
kids on what they had learned about the construction of a
murder mystery, in specific.
As one of the teachers of this course, I do not see a benefit
in changing the language in our curriculum to assign the
students "any kind of mystery." (Please note: as an educator,
I do not force students to do things with which they have
personal issues. We have always offered an alternate
assignment on a case-by-case basis and will continue to do
so.) The big deal here is that ONE parent wants to force us
to change our curriculum. One parent, of the over 500
students who have taken this course in the last five
years.
If you are inclined to help us retain the integrity (and
EXISTENCE) of the murder mystery writing assignment, and
willing to write a letter on behalf of the course and the
assignment itself, I would appreciate it if you would address
it to:
Kaukauna School District Curriculum and Instruction Committee
112 Main Ave Kaukauna, WI 54130
And/or:
Kaukauna School District School Board 112 Main Ave Kaukauna,
WI 54130
Thank you in advance for any help you would be willing to
offer. If you have questions, or merely wish to contact me,
please feel free to do so at:
vancuykr@kaukauna.k12.wi.us.
Sincerely,
Rebecca Van Cuyk English Department Kaukauna High
School
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This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : 17 Dec 2004 EST