3/8/11
Period 1
Bad Behaviors Should Not be Taught in School
The lessons I learned from the book Staying Fat for Sarah Byrnes are: suicide is how to deal with your emotions; people make fun of you because of the way you look; it’s OK to watch porn and masturbate; Christians are hypocrites; and you should do whatever you can to help your friends. The only lesson I needed (or wanted) to learn from this book was the last one. I didn’t like the fact that I was forced to read this book for school, and I do not think it’s appropriate for anyone under the age of 18. What’s to stop a kid from following this book’s bad examples of abortion and suicide if they are made to read such content? I believe Staying Fat for Sarah Byrnes should not be taught in schools because it confuses kids, it desensitizes kids, and I found the book to be depressing.
Suicide and abortion among teenagers are discussed for the majority of the book. I think the way these topics are discussed in the book can be confusing to teenagers. The way suicide is described in the book is a way to deal with life when it gets too hard or complicated. This subject hit a little too close to home, because I had a 26 year old cousin who committed suicide because he was gay and couldn’t deal with it, just like Mark couldn’t deal with everyone knowing he made Jody get an abortion. “Mautz barged into Lemry’s class to say Mark Brittain tried to kill himself last night.” (Crutcher p.212) “Jody said through more tears, ‘but I humiliated him. That’s what he couldn’t stand, to be humiliated.’” (Crutcher p.214) So are we supposed to commit suicide when things get tough? Suicide is NOT the solution for when life gets tough, but this book does not explain this. In the book, Jody gets an abortion. Teenagers shouldn’t even be having sex, much less considering abortion. Does this mean it is okay for teenagers to have sex because the girl can just get an abortion if she gets pregnant? These are serious subjects that I...