Children and Death
Mar. 30th, 2004 02:30 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
talktoolooseFor those of you who don't know, Cecilia Zhang was a nine year old girl who disappeared in October, taken from her home. In the first days, it was assumed there would be ransom demands and that she had a good chance of returning alive. But she never reappeared and they found her remains last weekend in a ravine in suburban Toronto.
Snake was supply teaching grade twos on Monday, the first school day after the discovery of Cecilia's body. The excellent principal at the school (one of Snake's favourites) made a serious, no-nonsense announcement about her death in the morning and the children were all very interested and full of questions.
More than any other school activity, Snake loves reading stories to children and has amassed a library of picture books which are both well written and stunningingly illustrated. He does not believe in modern movements which rob children of great literature, including sometimes dark works by the Grimms and others, in favour of illiterate pablum written primarily as propoganda and secondarily as literature. He calls these latter books "Johnny walking down the street in his baseball cap" books because they mostly share the patronizing assumption that children can only relate if the hero of the book exactly resembles them, down to his Gap Kids t-shirts.
Following the announcement of Cecilia's death, he wondered if he should go ahead with his book choice of the day -- Hansel and Gretel -- but in the end decided to read it. The story, about all kinds of adult inhumanity to children, features a brother and sister who, through their bravery, defend themselves against evil. I think he's probably right that this is a good message for the children to hear. Far better than the message they get in these over-shepherded times: you are always in danger! Trust no-one! Live in fear!
Snake was supply teaching grade twos on Monday, the first school day after the discovery of Cecilia's body. The excellent principal at the school (one of Snake's favourites) made a serious, no-nonsense announcement about her death in the morning and the children were all very interested and full of questions.
More than any other school activity, Snake loves reading stories to children and has amassed a library of picture books which are both well written and stunningingly illustrated. He does not believe in modern movements which rob children of great literature, including sometimes dark works by the Grimms and others, in favour of illiterate pablum written primarily as propoganda and secondarily as literature. He calls these latter books "Johnny walking down the street in his baseball cap" books because they mostly share the patronizing assumption that children can only relate if the hero of the book exactly resembles them, down to his Gap Kids t-shirts.
Following the announcement of Cecilia's death, he wondered if he should go ahead with his book choice of the day -- Hansel and Gretel -- but in the end decided to read it. The story, about all kinds of adult inhumanity to children, features a brother and sister who, through their bravery, defend themselves against evil. I think he's probably right that this is a good message for the children to hear. Far better than the message they get in these over-shepherded times: you are always in danger! Trust no-one! Live in fear!
