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Originally Posted by MrsJoseph
1. That the community doesn't have any right to say if a book for school children that they pay for offends them
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No, the "task force" report as interpreted, decided and dictated by the school board probably has little relation to the community as a whole. We're dealing with 4,500 students and hence thousands of family units. School taxes are paid by thousands of families, not by the school board members alone.
Quote:
Originally Posted by MrsJoseph
2. That the school board has no right to re-visit the books that they teach at particular ages
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No, the books were removed from the library and made inaccessible to all students of all ages. I don't recall that these books were being "taught" but merely made available as part of a well-rounded collection of literature in the library for optional check-out.
Quote:
Originally Posted by MrsJoseph
3. That the school board members - who says that they did not look at more than what they consider age appropriateness - are lying
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No. We have no idea what they looked at, merely what they stated was the main consideration. My concern is that they did not take
all students and student abilities, maturity and "age appropriateness" into account and rather made a blanket decision that 'dumbed down' the level of literary appropriateness to fit their own definition and understanding of "standards" that they then applied to the entire school.
I have no quarrel with their perceived "right" or even their legal right to pick and choose their library contents. I'm simply saying that I believe that the literary interests of 4,500 students, of which perhaps 1/3 were high school age, were not being fairly considered by censorship. As I stated above in a previous post, I hope the specific titles were broadly and universally made available to parents in the interests of seeking them at alternate sources. There are 4 copies of
Slaughterhouse 5 in my little public library. Perhaps I should picket my library, paid for with my property taxes, to destroy those books because adolescent patrons have potential access to them, because I don't think they are age-appropriate to all patrons ...