Blog : Ragazou

By PAUL LUNGEN, Staff Reporter (by CJN)

 

TORONTO ? The Toronto District School Board (TDSB) will launch a formal investigation into a controversial library book critics say is one-sided and portrays Israel in a hostile light.

The review was ordered after the TDSB received a formal written complaint from Brian Henry, who has a child in the Toronto school system and who has been highly critical of the book's one-sided and biased depiction of Israelis.

 

?We will now undertake the process of a formal review,? said TDSB's Lloyd McKell, executive officer for student and community equity. ?Before, we informally looked at the book. Staff gave their best professional judgement based on the educational and social value of the book.?

 

The text in question, The Shepherd's Granddaugther, is part of the Ontario Library Association (OLA) Red Maple Program, designed to provide supplementary reading material to students in grades 6 through 8.

 

Prior to receiving the complaint, TDSB staff informally reviewed the book after parents, teachers and trustees voiced concerns about its negative depiction of Israelis. Responding to similar concerns last month, the York Region School Board issue a caution to teacher librarians to provide some context to the book's narrative, to ensure an ?equitable learning environment free from bias and discrimination.?

 

Last week, prior to receiving the complaint, the TDSB issued a similar directive to principals and teacher librarians after determining ?readers are capable of deriving positive educational and social value from this book without developing destructive attitudes towards people in the current Middle East conflict.?

 

The TDSB's memorandum stated, ?It is important that teaches continue to provide appropriate guidance to students when they read this novel and other similar materials that contain controversial and sensitive issues.?

 

The advisory encouraged teachers to have students identify the nature of bias and how it is developed; to be alert to biases and explore why they exist, and determine whether they are positive or negative and ascertain how to respond to bias in the text.

 

School trustee James Pasternak said he was disappointed the TDSB is retaining the book as part of the after-school reading program. ?This book does not help bring people together or understand what the conflict in the Middle East is all about. It is totally out of context. It brings people apart and hardens their views,? he said.

 

?I've read the book. It's clearly a situation in which the author has an axe to grind. It demonizes Israelis. It doesn't mention all the good things Palestinians and Israelis have done together ? how thousands of Palestinians have been saved in Israeli hospitals, how 1.5 million Palestinians are Israeli citizens, that tens of thousands of Palestinians and Israelis work together.?

 

Pasternak said that while the book is marketed as a work of fiction, ?to a casual reader it's not presented in that way.? He noted the cover contains a photograph of a real person and a testimonial to the ?truth' it contains.

 

Pasternak said he and other trustees, including Sheila Ward, who has been a vocal critic of the book, ?will see if we can send a signal to the OLA that the book is divisive. ?We can't stop them from endorsing certain books, but we can send a signal that we can have a second tier of review' to prevent students being exposed to books that advocate a political agenda, which would be contrary to the Education Act, he said.

 

Avi Benlolo, CEO of Friends of the Simon Wiesenthal Center, said The Shepherd's Granddaughter should be accompanied by additional perspectives to give the book some balance. He said the centre doesn't favour censoring the book, but said it should be accompanied by resources to provide students with a broader context and perspectives.

 

He suggested a book, My Brother Was, would be a useful additional educational tool to accompany The Shepherd's Granddaughter. ?It is a book about children who tell stories about siblings and family members and how they were affected by suicide bombers.

 

?That's the flip side regarding what Israel has to deal with and why there are restrictions and roadblocks that Palestinians have to deal with,? he said.

 

In Barrie, meanwhile, businessman Robert Zober received a call from a teacher/librarian in the Simcoe Country District School Board who asked him to provide context and a different perspective about the issues raised in The Shepherd's Granddaughter.

 

Active in the Jewish community, he'd gotten to know the teacher a year before when he was asked to address about 70 kids in grades 7 and 8 about Operation Cast Lead, the Israeli military response to rocket attacks from Gaza that had attracted widespread criticism.

 

This time, Zober and his wife, Debbie, addressed a group of youngsters in grades 7 and 8 who were studying The Shepherd's Granddaughter in class. He also learned that the film, Occupation 101, which is highly critical of the Israeli presence in the West Bank, had also been shown to kids in grades 6 through 8.

 

Zober said ?we tried to refute the book moderately, and we did that by showing what life in Israel is all about, its achievements in agriculture, information technology, medical innovations, as being part of the world and benefiting humanity,? he said.

 

They also discussed Israel's geography and why the country is so important to Jews.

 

He found ?there was a lack of understanding of the whole Middle East.?

 

The youngsters' questions suggested they had a significant misconception and some were very shocked to hear our answers and responses. ?From my reading of the book, without check, it will leave a very negative impression in the minds of those children. They will view Israel in a poor light,? he said.