The following are the correct options for the above questions:
1. The statement that best expresses a central idea of the text is option A. School boards shouldn’t have power to ban books from classrooms.
2. The quote that best supports the above answer is option D. “If you and your board are now determined to show... maturity when you exercise your powers over the education of your young, then you should acknowledge that it was a rotten lesson you taught young people” (Paragraph 9).
The above questions are from a letter called I Am Very Real, written by Kurt Vonnegut in 1973.
When an English teacher at Drake High School used Kurt Vonnegut‘ novel, Slaughterhouse-Five, a few weeks later the head of the school board, Charles McCarthy decided that the language of the book was obscene and ordered them all to be burned in the school furnace. Vonnegut wrote a letter to McCarthy called I Am Very Real.
The above options are correct, as explained below:
1. The best statement seems to be A. because Vonnegut basically wants to emphasize that school boards should not interfere with the books the students must read.
It should be left up to the wisdom of the students which books they would prefer to read and form opinions of their own. Their teacher used the above book and the teacher’s decision must also be considered in the choice of books that the students read as part of their curriculum.
The rest of the options don’t seem as the best central idea of the letter.
2. The quote that best supports this answer is D. as Vonnegut mentions, the board taught a terrible lesson to the students by burning the books and it does not show their maturity as they might like to teach the children moral lessons in life.
The rest of the options do not support the above answer and option D. does.
