Updates:

1) My update to this post can be found here. I was able to look at the Golden Compass: Agenda Unmasked and found out a little more both about Philip Pullman & the Catholic League too. Also, comments from the Church of Scotland and some Australian reviewers….

2) The Catholic League is no longer selling the PDF version of the above-mentioned booklet. You can view it on their site free of charge.

***

 

It’s provoking some discussion. Maybe a little more than some. OK, so it’s just a tad controversial. What’s up with this movie, anyway? And exactly who has the hidden agenda???

Let’s see if I can piece things together. It goes something like this:

1995:
Northern Lights is published in the UK; later published in the US as The Golden Compass

1997:
The Subtle Knife follows in both UK & US

2000:
The Amber Spyglass is the third book in the trilogy
Audio book versions released by BBC

2003:
Lyra’s Oxford is published as a sort of bridge between the trilogy and the forthcoming Book of Dust
Stage version of the trilogy performed in London
BBC Radio Plays released

October 2007:
Controversy about upcoming movie begins: warning email is circulated, Catholic League announces movie boycott

December 2007:
Movie version of The Golden Compass set to be released in UK & North America

Along the way, author Philip Pullman has earned criticism worthy of Ozzy or Aleister Crowley. His reviews of The Lord of the Rings (”It’s all schoolboys having a jolly big adventure“) and The Chronicles of Narnia (”one of the most ugly and poisonous things I’ve ever read“) have been seen as unfair, even outrageous. He has also earned a Carnegie of All Carnegies for Northern Lights, the 2001 Whitbread Award for The Subtle Knife and numerous other honours, and the His Dark Materials cycle has been the subject of numerous books by other authors.

Despite the mixed reviews, Pullman has sold over 15 million copies of his books, which have been translated into 40 languages. How do we put this into perspective?

I think the first step is to read him. Read the books, read his web site. Read books about his works. Inform yourself.

Oddly enough, such is also the advice of the Catholic League’s Bill Donahue: “Get informed.” This is the same man who launched the film boycott, saying in a 3-minute video presentation that he wants an educated public. Does he want concerned Christian parents to buy the Pullman books (or heck, borrow them for free from the library) so they can decide for themselves? Does he want the public to look into Pullman’s interviews, maybe read other commentaries and reviews of his work? Does he encourage critical thinking when he speaks about an “educated public”? Not at all! What he wants us all to do - and apparently sufficent numbers of “us” have - is to fork over $5 for his 23-page booklet, “The Golden Compass: Agenda Unmasked”.

The hard copies of this pamphlet have evidently “flown off the shelves” in just the way Donahue is afraid Pullman’s novels will this Christmas. They are completely sold out, and only the PDF version remains. You can download it for the same $5 - but of course you’ll have to content yourself with screen reading or pay for your own printing. Donahue believes it important that we do read the pamphlet, though:

“The Catholic League believes in truth in advertising. It is precisely because we abhor deception that we prepared this booklet—to unmask the agenda behind The Golden Compass.” ~ Catholic League store page

 

Boycotts and other similar protests have long been a controversial issue, because while they draw attention to a subject that for a specific group is in some way distasteful - well, they draw attention to the subject! Any PR person will tell you any publicity is good publicity. So why all the hullabaloo? Surely Mr Donahue realizes that curious folks are more likely to flock to the movie (and to their booksellers) precisely because of the controversy?

Of course record movie attendance and increased book sales would only fulfill the prophesies of the good folks from the Catholic League about book sales, and give them more reason to spread their message of concern. And this would lead to more people downloading their pamphlet, so they can get educated about Pullman…. Oh, perhaps the Catholic League should be offering that download to their concerned public free of charge???

What about other Christians? What are their strategies for dealing with Pullman’s writings & the forthcoming film?

American theologian Donna Freitas, a Catholic by faith, calls Pullman’s work “a contemporary Christian classic” (Introduction to Killing the Imposter God, with Jason King) and calls Pullman himself a “reluctant theologian.”

A fellow blogger recounts how she approached her son’s 5th grade teacher (also a Baptist & the school’s reading specialist) when she received the email alert. The teacher laughed at the suggestion that reading Pullman would endanger anyone, and promptly loaned Sherry the book so she could educate herself - by herself.

Anglican priest Simon Pettitt invited Philip Pullman to speak at a public lecture he organized for the promotion of religious education. When a Los Angeles Times reporter spoke to him about the negative reactions towards Pullman’s books and expressed surprise that he would invite the author to speak, Pettitt replied, “In order to come to views, you don’t just listen to people you agree with. Education is a good thing, and, therefore, so is openness to different views.”

This attitude is echoes by Pullman himself, who is a former school teacher:

“He too is interested in what the other side has to say. This curiosity is in keeping with an ideal he calls ‘the democracy of reading,’ in which ‘to-and-fro between reader and text’ leaves each ‘free to engage honestly with the other.’”
~ Laura Miller

The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, in its review of the film, calls the film “lavish” and “well-acted”. The Film and Broadcasting Office of the USCCB sees the film as being in harmony with Catholic beliefs, saying that “[t]he heroism and self-sacrifice that they demonstrate provide appropriate moral lessons for viewers.”[Update December 13: The USCCB has since withdrawn their review. See this article for more.]

Finally, Dr Rowan Williams, Archbishop of Canterbury not only endorses His Dark Materials but believes the trilogy should be taught in public school. At a seminar of academics and theologians he proposed the books be used in religious education, in order that children be led to explore religious and philosophical concepts rather than simply memorizing facts about various festivals.

So I guess it’s safe to read Pullman, after all. If you’re not afraid of learning something!

***

Some of the most thoughtful comments about this whole kerfuffle:

“…. millions of kids who have loved Lewis’ Narnia books without succumbing to their Christian symbolism” ~ Laura Miller

Pullman declared, for example, that “the true end and purpose of education” is not to fill children’s minds with testable facts but to help them see themselves as “the true heirs and inheritors of the riches – the philosophical, the artistic, the scientific, the literary riches – of the whole world.” He praised the ideal of “setting children’s minds alive and ablaze with excitement and passion.” To which the archbishop replied, “We’re entirely at one on that.” (”Writing the book on intolerance“)

“Holding religion above critique, above alternatives, is contemptible. To suggest authors of books and scripts need to avoid saying anything bad about religion is to call back to the days where blasphemy was a crime.” ~ fitnessfortheoccasion

I find all of these protests pretty ridiculous and a great boon to movie makers when it comes to advertising for their films. I am also NOT a fan of boycotting anything before anyone actually sees a film or reads a book. If you haven’t seen a movie or read a book, you really can have no voice in the discussion. But besides all that, what really bothers me is the insistence by the religious right that culture must change to suit their spiritual needs. The Jewish Scriptures are full of examples of God enjoining the Israelites not to become like the culture in which they were taken captive, but nowhere does he tell them to take control and change the culture they find themselves in.
“Cleaning the Inside First“

“I don’t recall hearing the American Humanist Association call for a boycott of C.S. Lewis’s The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe. Thank God, so to speak, humanists believe in tolerance.” ~ Mark Abley

***

Here’s a thoughtful rebuttal of Pullman’s work, for those who are offended by the books

And a tremendous article that includes an interview with Pullman, plus a good deal of data on his sources of inspiration - thanks Andrew!

US link for those who want to purchase the book

 

This work was created by Ruby of Freehold 2, and is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 2.5 Canada License.

Excerpts copyright quoted authors. Please visit their sites to read more, and respect the terms of their copyrights. Thanks!

Those of you who are not only home educators but also among those who are lifelong learners, probably already know about MIT’s OpenCourseWare project. However, if you haven’t been to the site in a while you might want to consider it. In November 2007 MIT announced that the offerings from all of its 1800 courses (yup that’s right, 1800 courses!) are now online, and available to the public free of charge. Additionally, there is now a section of the OCW that is intended for high school students and teachers. The following video will give you an introduction to OCW, and update those who have previously visited but not in recent weeks.

 

While OpenCourseWare is not the same as attending a university class, and does not offer credit, home educators will value it for the focus on sharing of resources and information (key to the open source concept.) You may find that following an OCW course allows you to update your own skills or explore a previously unfamiliar field. Content may also help you in creating a home education plan for your older home-schoolers. Keep in mind, too, that some universities and colleges are now offering credit for previous learning (non-credit courses or life experience.) If you can find someone in your entourage who will offer than “human link” that is missing with OCW (also check the OCW forum areas) your experience will be more complete!

This work was created by Ruby of Freehold 2, and is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 2.5 Canada License.

A type of article home educators often write is a “day in the life” expose, to give those who have no experience with home-schooling a chance to see what we do with our kids. While most of these are based on an “average” day I won’t write about that. Instead, I’d like to talk about a field trip we took & about how doing it as a home-schooling family made the experience a more positive one for us.

Yesterday we met with about half a dozen other families, in a Montreal-area library, to begin a kids’ book club. We enjoyed ourselves immensely! Dojogirl made a new friend, and both the girls got library cards so they were able to borrow books from the library (it was our first time visiting this particular library.) Here are some of my observations on how the outing differed from a public school activity.

Impetus

The book club was suggested a short while after another parent circulated an email warning discouraging us all from taking our kids to see the upcoming movie, The Golden Compass. A few parents replied to the poster, saying that they had personally read Philip Pullman’s His Dark Materials trilogy or that they had researched the movie after receiving the warning. The handful who replied, all said they would keep an open mind & basically let it be known they weren’t keen on anyone telling them what choices they should make for their children.

Here’s where the difference comes in. Shortly after these posts went out, one of the mothers organized a book club. The families were to read The Golden Compass, and come together to discuss it. Once we’d had the chance to finish reading, those who wanted would present a project. Rather than argue back and forth about the book/movie in the void, this mom stepped up & organized a community building exercise that would encourage families to read the book before debating it or the movie. All I can say is, that’s some change from what I’ve encountered in other groups!

Structure

The book club was at once very well structured, and incredibly flexible. The mom who set it up announced dates, times & place in the initial invitation. She also described right away what she saw as the focus of the two meetings (first to simply discuss the book in broad strokes, second reserved for presentations.) This, I feel, gave the families a sense of what to expect. It also allowed us to plan ahead, which is especially important at this time of year.

When we arrived at the meeting, however, flexibility was the watchword. No one was asked to register or confirm they were attending, and some arrived earlier or later than the appointed time. Knowing that the day before had been a city-wide snow day, respecting each family’s schedule was an important consideration! Roads were still difficult to navigate & public transit was slow.

The kids were encouraged to discuss the book and to brainstorm about the kind of projects they might like to do. Moms (no Dads were present this time, but we do have a number of men who participate in the community) discussed our reading progress & shared some resources. We tossed around the idea of going to see the movie together once the presentations were done.

But there was discussion on other topics too - curriculum, siblings not home-schooling, other activities, a possible outing for after the holidays. And the kids soon got bored of sitting with the Moms, so they explored the library and spent time with friends or got to know each other. The Banana discovered a quiet area of the library where she could curl up on a cushion. She marvelled at how large the library’s goldfish were, in relation to ours at home. She asked how the staff could feed the fish, with the tank locked into the surrounding cabinetry. We discussed why the tank would be locked (to keep little hands from trying to grab fishies, to prevent anyone from overfeeding them) and I showed her the piano hinge along the top of the cupboard, that would allow it to lift the way our tank’s lid is lifted to feed the fish.

It felt so good to be able to roam the space with my kids at our own pace! I’ve helped to chaperone a number of public school field trips, and what I remember most from them is the frantic pace we had to adopt in order to get the kids around to all the planned activities. That, and having to divide my attentions six different ways & not being able to share the experience with my own kids. Let’s just say a school trip was never a family building activity….

We stayed at the library after many of the other families left. I took the time to make a new friend of my own, and chat about a little bit of everything. The kids were happy to explore some more & make plans for the next book club meeting (OK Yu-Gi-Oh cards aren’t terribly related to our chosen book, but perhaps we’ll look into a future activity that does!)

On the Way Home

Riding public transit across Montreal in rush hour isn’t generally my idea of a positive experience. Especially in winter. Despite the crowds & the various inconveniences associated with winter garb and lugging books (we *always* lug books!) we were able to enjoy the trip home. We stopped for ice cream, which is de rigeur regardless of the weather. We discussed our plans for the next home-school term, and decided there were some changes we wanted to make to our curriculum.

At the metro station near home we met a man busking. He had an electric guitar, and was playing in a blues-y style. Dojogirl loved it! She stopped to contribute a little something to his kitty, and waited till the end of his song to bombard him with questions. He kindly allowed her to try out his guitar and gave recommendations for a good place to buy starter guitars for kids. He even offered his number, should we later want to look into lessons.

I wanted to shake my head and ask whatever happened to “don’t talk to strangers”? But I held back and bit my tongue. On a public school trip we would never have even met someone like this. In home-school, though, all the world’s a classroom. And even a stranger encountered in the metro can be a teacher. I realized in that moment that my kids will be so much less inhibited than I was. They aren’t afraid to approach an adult they perceive as a resource, nor to ask questions or express their interests. Perhaps that’s a better thing than worrying about “stranger danger,” as long as they have a trusted adult with them.

Montreal Public Libraries

I just wanted to end with a note on the public libraries in the Montreal area. Those of us who live in municipalities that were absorbed into the mega-city are not necessarily acquainted with this resource, and it seems to be well worth looking into.

First of all, if you come from one of the areas where you have to pay for library services or where getting a library card is almost as complicated as getting a passport, “forget that noise”! The Montreal library card is both free and easy to get. Simply ask at the circulation desk, provide your contact information & sign for the card. That’s it! No photo to take. No need for ID bearing proof of address. No forms to fill out. Any resident of Montreal is eligible for a membership, which gives access to all the libraries in the network.

I also wanted to say that the library we visited (Mile End) has a very positive atmosphere, and the kids are free to be themselves. No worry about making noise (within reason,) and letting the younger ones roam is no problem. There are computers and toys/games at their disposal, as well as books, CD’s, DVD’s, CD-ROM’s. The library staff were extraordinarily friendly & helpful, and also positive towards homeschooling.

If you live in Montreal and do not yet have a membership with the municipal library, I recommend you check it out. There are at present 26 libraries on the network, with a plan in place to include all borough libraries. You can read more about Montreal’s public libraries (English or French) or consult the Nelligan card catalogue (navigation in French) online.

This work was created by Ruby of Freehold 2, and is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 2.5 Canada License.