'Bamboo' lesson plan to be revised

The decision to continue teaching the controversial book, "So Far from the Bamboo Grove," to sixth-graders in the Dover-Sherborn schools got mixed reviews last week, with supporters of the book expressing relief and critics expressing frustration.

The Dover-Sherborn Regional School Committee voted Tuesday night to revamp the lesson on the book, which is part of a unit in the English Language Arts curriculum that focuses on stories of survival.

The book, which details a Japanese family's flight from Japanese-occupied Korea at the end of World War II, came under attack this fall. Thirteen parents complained that it was biased against Koreans and too graphic, particularly with its references to rape, for children who are 11 or 12 years old. They asked that it be removed from the sixth-grade curriculum but said it should remain in the school library.

One Korean-American parent, Sheila Jaung, whose son is in the sixth grade, made it clear that, although it was an academic question for the committee, the decision to keep the book was deeply personal for her family.

She told the committee that her son's great-grandfather was beaten to death by the Japanese occupiers for speaking his native tongue, and she worried about how her son would be affected by a book that depicts Koreans, who were reclaiming their country, as villains, with no mention of the war atrocities committed by the Japanese.

"What you have failed to discuss is the child who is going to be affected by this book," Jaung told the committee, her voice cracking with emotion. "How will you keep my son from being bullied?"

"The school has a responsibility to provide a safe environment for him, physically and emotionally," she said. "What are you doing to ensure that for my son?"

During the occupation, which spanned from 1910 to 1945, thousands of Koreans were killed or wounded, while others were drafted to fight for Japan or to perform forced labor; Korean women were taken as sex slaves for Japanese soldiers.

The book by Massachusetts author Yoko Kawashima Watkins tells the story of her family's harrowing escape when the Japanese were forced out of the country at the end of the war. The story, described as a "fictionalized autobiography," is told from her 11-year-old perspective.

She and her mother and siblings had lived in Korea while her father worked in Manchuria as a Japanese government official.

The award-winning book, published in 1986, is taught in middle schools throughout the state and country.

Many parents and educators have come to the defense of the book as a poignant lesson on survival and the horrors of war that resonates with sixth-grade students. The lesson on the book, which has been coupled with a visit from the author for years, stays with students as a powerful experience years later, some said.

Jeff Lee , a 17-year-old senior at Dover-Sherborn High School who is of Korean descent, spoke in favor of the book. "I think it should just be taught better," he said. "It's a good book -- I really liked it." Lee is president of the Coalition for Asian Pacific American Youth at the high school.

But other parents, some of Korean descent, have said the book is egregiously one-sided, ignoring the brutalities of the Japanese occupation, in which Watkins's father played a role as a government official.

Watkins has said her father was a civilian who worked on the Manchurian railway. He was imprisoned in Siberia after the war. She considers herself a peace activist and apologizes for the Japanese government's wartime atrocities when she meets with students. She also has defended her book, saying it is not biased against Koreans.

One School Committee member said she had vacillated on whether the book should remain in the curriculum.

Shelley Poulsen said she asked herself if the school would teach a book that described a Nazi family fleeing its enemies after the war. "I said, 'Well, no, we wouldn't,' " she told about 50 people who came to hear the debate. "It's just a slap in the face."

But then she reconsidered, she told them, wondering, "Where is the healing?" if the book is not taught and discussed.

Poulsen said there is no indication students have been traumatized by the book, and the district should keep it in the curriculum and help children understand why the book is so divisive.

When the book was first criticized, early in the school year, the district formed a committee to review it that was made up mostly of administrators and teachers. That panel recommended on Oct. 30 that the book be removed from the curriculum because there wasn't enough time to provide all the historical context that would be needed to render a balanced lesson. Superintendent Perry Davis supported the recommendation, and the School Committee took it under advisement.

In the meantime, middle-school English teachers expressed a "strong interest and willingness," Davis told the committee, to expand the unit with other survival stories that show the period from the Korean perspective. That led to a reversal of the original recommendation.

The district did explore moving the book to a higher grade either in the middle school or high school, but, said Davis, it didn't easily fit anywhere else.

Frederick Randall, the middle-school headmaster, who was part of the review panel, acknowledged that restructuring the unit to offer more balance will be no small feat.

"The sense I have gotten is people want us to take the challenge on," he said. "Can it be done? I can't give you an answer with total confidence."

Randall added that he is confident his staff will work hard to do the best job possible.

The restructured unit will be taught this spring and the School Committee will review it in October.

After the vote, parents who had asked for the book's removal from the curriculum were stunned and frustrated.

Agnes Ahn, a Korean-American parent of a fifth-grader, said she wants discussion of war crimes committed by the Japanese to be included as part of the survival stories lesson.

"I'm hopeful that this will allow the public to learn more about Asian history and the war atrocities committed by the Japanese against the Koreans and the Chinese during their occupation."

Lisa Kocian can be reached at 508-820-4231 or lkocian@globe.com.