It *is* possible that he has real reason to be more worried about adult/sexual/violent/"political" content in works not by dead white men. When I was in high school I had the experience of a book by a black woman* being removed from the curriculum due to a parent complaint, and replaced by one by a dead white man that was, if anything, worse. There's still the ongoing problem in our society that, for example, portraying a woman's sexuality is widely considered more explicit than portraying a man's. At least some of this is probably on him, for seeing these things as more explicit if written by a woman - but if I was an public school English teacher, I might hesitate at using a book by a black woman with the same level of explicit content as a "canonical" one by a dead white guy. Because it is more likely to be censored or complained about.
THAT SAID, this guy also sounds like a total misogynist who should not be teaching high school English.
But I would say: The first thing you need to do is speak to your daughter about this. Also the second, third, and fourth thing. She will have bad teachers and misogynist bosses later in her life, too. This is where you teach her to recognize it, and to get what she can out of the experience without letting their viewpoint damage her. Tell her what he said, and then ask her if that sounds right to her, and then listen to her, and let her response shape your response. If she really, really doesn't want you making a fuss, then don't, but also spend the rest of the semester helping her interrogate what she learns in that class. If she does think you should do something, let her guide your strategy. Making a formal complaint that your daughter will side against you on is not going to help anything.
(Best possible outcome of this: he ends up with a passel of teenage girls who won't stop asking him in every class why he thinks women can't write real literature, the girls have amazing experience of practicing strategies for dealing with misogynist asshats, he learns what he should *actually* be afraid of, i.e., angry teenage girls, quits teaching.)
Also, talk to other parents. Definitely find the one who asked the question if you can, and if she wants to act, back her up, but also - every single time he comes up in conversation, no matter the context, you say "it still bugs me that he said he couldn't find a single book written by a woman or POC that was appropriate for a high school English class. That doesn't seem right." Make it so the entire PTA's involuntary impression of him is "he's the one who thinks women can't write." And keep asking him that question every time it comes up, too, so it's clear to him he doesn't get to coast on it.
Okay that maybe sounds vindictive, but it will let you test the waters to see what your chances are of a complaint actually doing anything, and it means that if you do end up making it formal, you won't be going up against the star teacher everyone loves, you'll be going up against that dude who thinks women can't write.
Unless your daughter asks you, I would probably keep the formal complaint on hold until/unless a) you see another semester or more with no women on the curriculum or b) there's evidence it's affecting his grading. You're not going to get him fired over it at this point, and a complaint can't force him to change his attitude for the better (but might change it for the worse.)
*Also, the reason this book was on the curriculum in the first place is the teacher had a policy of no books by dead white men in upper level lit, not for anti-diversity reasons, but because kids tend to score higher on standardized tests/scholarship essays/etc. if they can write about books that are definitely classics but aren't in the "canon". At least that was his excuse. The people reading the essays are less likely to have seen them twenty times already today, and will perk up and be kinder. So you can bring that up too if you want!
no subject
THAT SAID, this guy also sounds like a total misogynist who should not be teaching high school English.
But I would say: The first thing you need to do is speak to your daughter about this. Also the second, third, and fourth thing. She will have bad teachers and misogynist bosses later in her life, too. This is where you teach her to recognize it, and to get what she can out of the experience without letting their viewpoint damage her. Tell her what he said, and then ask her if that sounds right to her, and then listen to her, and let her response shape your response. If she really, really doesn't want you making a fuss, then don't, but also spend the rest of the semester helping her interrogate what she learns in that class. If she does think you should do something, let her guide your strategy. Making a formal complaint that your daughter will side against you on is not going to help anything.
(Best possible outcome of this: he ends up with a passel of teenage girls who won't stop asking him in every class why he thinks women can't write real literature, the girls have amazing experience of practicing strategies for dealing with misogynist asshats, he learns what he should *actually* be afraid of, i.e., angry teenage girls, quits teaching.)
Also, talk to other parents. Definitely find the one who asked the question if you can, and if she wants to act, back her up, but also - every single time he comes up in conversation, no matter the context, you say "it still bugs me that he said he couldn't find a single book written by a woman or POC that was appropriate for a high school English class. That doesn't seem right." Make it so the entire PTA's involuntary impression of him is "he's the one who thinks women can't write." And keep asking him that question every time it comes up, too, so it's clear to him he doesn't get to coast on it.
Okay that maybe sounds vindictive, but it will let you test the waters to see what your chances are of a complaint actually doing anything, and it means that if you do end up making it formal, you won't be going up against the star teacher everyone loves, you'll be going up against that dude who thinks women can't write.
Unless your daughter asks you, I would probably keep the formal complaint on hold until/unless a) you see another semester or more with no women on the curriculum or b) there's evidence it's affecting his grading. You're not going to get him fired over it at this point, and a complaint can't force him to change his attitude for the better (but might change it for the worse.)
*Also, the reason this book was on the curriculum in the first place is the teacher had a policy of no books by dead white men in upper level lit, not for anti-diversity reasons, but because kids tend to score higher on standardized tests/scholarship essays/etc. if they can write about books that are definitely classics but aren't in the "canon". At least that was his excuse. The people reading the essays are less likely to have seen them twenty times already today, and will perk up and be kinder. So you can bring that up too if you want!