Question

Regarding the controversy over Nickel and Dimed at Bedford High School, if you were a member of the school board deciding whether to keep or remove the book from the curriculum, what would you have recommended and why?

Answer 1

Answer:

If I was a school board member, I would vote to keep the book Nickel and Dimed as part of the curriculum.  I think the book provides important insights on the daily struggles of just getting by in America.

Explanation:

There was controversy Bedford, NH over the inclusion of the book Nickled and Dimed by Barbara Ehrenreich as part of the high school curriculum.  The book is a first-person account of the struggles the author faced while working  various minimum-wage jobs and trying to make ends meet. The parents of one student complained to school officials about the book’s use of offensive dialogue and was eventually banned in 2011 at Bedford High School for being “anti-capitalist” and for a negative portrayal of Christians. Supports of keeping the book as part of the curriculum said it provided a real life view of laborers who struggle and pay a physical and emotional toll but can barely survive economically on the wages they are paid. Ehrenreich talks about all the tools that companies can use to keep laborers submissive and dependent on their jobs. She discusses how wages are not keeping up with inflation and in many cities and towns are kept artificially low to attract investment dollars.