My 9-year-old daughter told me the other day, Mom, you suck the fun out of everything! Of course, that was after I yelled at both kids to stop horsing around in the backseat so I could concentrate on driving by the high school as classes were letting out. Common sense told me I needed to concentrate so I didnt hit any zombies, er, I mean kids as they crossed the street.

Now Im going to suck the fun out of the Hermistons zombie craze. Common sense is what Hermiston School District Superintendent Fred Maiocco showed by replacing the zombie survival skills class offered at Armand Larive Middle School after some parents expressed concern about the focus on weapons and questioned the educational value. Thank you, Mr. Maiocco.

Look, I know this material sparked an interest in reading and writing in a lot of students. Kudos to social studies teacher Rich Harshberger for using something the kids wanted to learn about. Before the class was cancelled I spoke with one of his students who loved the class. Im pretty sure hes not a happy camper right now. While zombies are disgusting to me, there is no doubt 8th graders are enjoying the current media hype of mobile, flesh-eating corpses. Im sure many students are mad the class is cancelled. So be it.

The violence in the book the teacher was using has absolutely no place in a middle school. Thats my opinion, and Im sticking to it. After glancing at the first page, I told my elementary-aged children they are not allowed to open it. In the name of research, I did indeed read The Zombie Survival Guide, Complete Protection From the Living Dead by Max Brooks. I will be returning it to the library forthwith and scrubbing my brain with a toothbrush.

Not everyone in the class had the book, just the pages the teacher copied and handed out. Some did have the actual book, though. So what in the name of common sense was that administration thinking when they put a detailed guide to killing people (they may be dead, but according to this book, they were people at one point) in the hands of impressionable youngsters? The Weapons and Combat Techniques section is pretty specific in its directions. In this day and age of school tragedies being played out around the country, do you really want 13-year-olds to be reading how to accurately use a machete, how and when the best use of Molotov cocktails, how to dismember and dispose of dead bodies? If you dont believe me that weapons use was being taught, check out Wednesdays EO story by Natalie Wheeler. The sketch of boys holding guns and displaying other weapons is no joke.

Out of fairness, I will say that the student I spoke with was very clear that the class was mostly about survival. In fact, his mom said if she hadnt known that it was about zombies, she would have thought it was just a survival class. If it werent for the weapons part, I would be okay with that.

But weapons were a part of the class. A class where they read and discussed the material, than wrote in a daily journal. You cant tell me this type of learning does not sink into their psyche. In fact, I wanted to know more about how that, so I e-mailed Hermiston psychologist Jennifer K. Cooper, who holds a doctorate in psychology.

By eighth grade, most students will be beginning to develop abstract thought and would be able to distinguish between a fun exercise and real planning; it would not overly affect them in a negative manner. My concern for a class such as this is that it is difficult to determine sometimes which students are at risk and would be affected by this, wrote Dr. Cooper. While I understand the parents concern, I am assuming that parents would have to sign a consent form for their child to attend this class (my daughter attends this school and has brought home such forms for other classes). This level of screening, along with the school selecting students who are moving beyond being concrete thinking would be necessary. This is not a course that I would suggest offering to all students.

Dr. Cooper concluded that many studies have shown that exposure to violence does make a person more likely to be violent. Even students who are not at risk may have some reactions to the violent content and show increased violence.

She did add that because she isnt sure of the content, it is difficult to say exactly how it would affect them.

Honestly, right now Im just mad the topic of how to kill (dead) people is part of a middle school curriculum. As a parent of elementary students whose school had a student disciplined earlier this year for bringing a gun to school for protection against bullies, I can honestly say that teaching this type of survival disturbs me. Even more than the zombies, who have been eating my dreams since I read the book.

Mr. Harshberger told the EO, We live in a culture of guns, especially in Eastern Oregon, he said. It gives students an understanding and appreciation for guns that goes beyond what video games glamorize them to be.

I get that, I just prefer to think those lessons belong in the hands of parents and gun safety instructor. To me, thats common sense, even if I do suck the fun out of learning.

 

Heidi Ann Gray is freelance journalist for Eastern Oregon Parent magazine.