KidLit standards?

Noel McDermott (“The crisis in Nunavut schools,” Nunatsiaq News, Feb. 1, 2002) seems to imply that the dominant culture is the criterion for measuring the performance of Nunavut education and, perforce, Inuit culture, when he is quoted as saying, “Where is the Inuktitut Harry Potter? We’re not even at Chicken Licken yet.”

If one begins by measuring the difficulties of a project from that false standard, one will inevitably get discouraged and burned out soon. Is it not better to discover strengths and move from there? And if one does not see strengths in another culture, then one should not assume a leadership role within it.

Barry McGrory
Toronto
teka01@rogers.com