GREEN RIVER — Two parents of Lincoln Middle School students called the eighth-grade language arts curriculum under question due to not agreeing with two short stories being taught.

“Lamb to the Slaughter” by Roald Dahl and “The Sniper” by Liam O’Flaherty are the two short stories under scrutiny due to the parents’ concerns of violence, alcohol and tobacco use in the texts. During the Sweetwater County School District No. 2 Board of Trustees meeting Tuesday night, parent Kellie Sprecher questioned when students are learning about grammar and spelling, as she believes her child’s language arts class “seems to be more of a debate discussion class.” She added that kids are impressionable at the middle school age and need lessons and curriculum that are “black and white”.

“Kids this age, they need black and white, they don’t need gray, they don’t need exceptions to the rule, they need to know what the standard is and what’s to be expected,” Sprecher said. “The stories that are being taught are full of controversy. The victims are being made out to be the villain, the villains are being victimized. Kids are learning to sympathize with criminals, and they come to the conclusion that the victim deserved what they got, they had it coming to them, and this is the very mindset that school shooters have.”

Sprecher is referring to the story “Lamb to Slaughter”, which she explained is a story about a wife, Mary, who is waiting for her detective husband to return home, and when he does he announces his plans to leave his wife after a couple glasses of whiskey. Mary initially acts as though nothing has happened and decides to go get some food from the freezer to cook for dinner, finding a lamb leg. When her husband says he’s going out, she strikes him on the back of the head with the frozen lamb leg, killing him immediately. She then plots a way to cover up what she’s done, and cooks the lamb leg and calls the police, who are friends of the husband. She feeds them the lamb and giggles as they eat the murder weapon, and that’s where the story ends.

“The whole idea is that you wanna feel sorry for her because she’s pregnant,” Sprecher claimed. “The only reason that I knew what was being taught was because I asked my child, what are you learning about in class? What are you guys talking about? What’s going on because nothing was sent home.”

She added that she is a foster parent, and many foster children have faced trauma in their home life and stories like these exposes them to a secondary trauma in the classroom.

Parent Chad Stewart added that the story also includes alcohol use by a pregnant woman, stating, “we’re supplying material that details consuming alcohol in general, but also by a pregnant person.” “Lamb to the Slaughter” was published in 1954.

A Differing Point of View

Green River High School senior Lillian Allison spoke during the meeting to offer a rebuttal to the comments made about the middle school curriculum.

“The whole point of language arts is to teach students how to form an idea. How to make their own conclusions. We have determined that eighth grade is the perfect time to do that, and I assume that’s come from years of studying from people with PhDs and master’s and committees like the one before you,” Allison said. “I don’t think that questioning whether or not if a pregnant woman is drinking alcohol is what they’re trying to establish… Additionally, I didn’t even remember the woman was pregnant. I’ve read that story probably three times and that was never a piece I even picked up on.”

She further stated that the purpose of language arts is to teach students to think critically and look beyond the text for deeper meanings.

“Although these students are impressionable, I think what language arts is trying to teach students is far deeper than the simple little details that are hidden within the exposition of each story,” Allison said.

Further Concerns and School Response

“The Sniper” was also called into question by Stewart, due to its content dealing with war and violence. The Sniper was written by Irish writer Liam O’Flaherty, and is set during the early weeks of the Irish Civil War.

“We’ve got problems in our nation with violence in schools yet the material that we’re using to teach language arts to our children is riddled with that violence. I don’t understand how this ever got there, I don’t understand why anyone thought it was appropriate,” Stewart said.

Stewart said he contacted the teacher and the Lincoln principal, and he claimed that he did not get a response back until it was too late and they had already started learning about these stories in class. He claimed the teacher pulled the student out of class and told the student it was his choice if he wanted to continue with this lesson.

“Unfortunately he made the choice to continue with this assignment. I really feel like he got put in a position there where he didn’t want to cause waves, he probably didn’t want to restart another assignment when he had already been working one. It really wasn’t his place to have to make that decision,” Stewart said.

Stewart said he learned that the books that are taught are mostly up to the teacher’s discretion, and both language arts teachers are using these same short stories in their lessons. For this portion of the class, Stewart’s child was offered to do lessons on Plato, which is an online curriculum that is utilized in the school district.

“I do appreciate that offer but it doesn’t take away from the fact that all the other children are exposed to that as well,” he said.

Chairman Steve Core told the parents to work with Superintendent Craig Barringer and to continue to work with the administrators at Lincoln to further address this issue. He assured them that the administrators would respond to the parents with their concerns and would communicate the matter with the board.