In a recent column Jon Margolis discussed the ”Tempest in a Tea Pot”
now going on here in Palatine. While Mr. Margolis correctly identified the issue as ”wacky” he did give some credence to the ”Impressions” series as being too violent for the students involved.
I, too, read the story ”The Witch and the Rainbow Cat” and found it to be a combination of ”Hansel and Gretel” and ”The Wonderful Wizard of Oz.” Just as in these two classics, the young and innocent heroine triumphed over the evil witch. If this story is too violent for fourth-graders then we should certainly ban the great and classic movie ”The Wizard of Oz,” because Dorothy`s trials in the witch`s castle make the ”Cat” story pale in comparison.
Members of this small group opposing ”Impressions” have also announced that they are against the ”Junior Great Books” series and that they want to change the teaching of evolution. At a time when our schools are facing innumerable and significant problems, we greatly need constructive public participation and not a return to the discredited ”know-nothings” of the 19th Century.
