Quote:
Originally Posted by mldavis2
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.
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.
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 ...
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In the states in which I have lived the entire community is invited to every single school board meeting. Every single one. If the community was so concerned about these books, someone would have showed up and made a case.
When I was a student in high school a parent tried to get sex ed cancelled due to religious reasons. The parents and other member of the community had the agenda shut down. Parents also tried to have the high school name changed at one time - and the community had the agenda shut down. I can't imagine that this community has less power than the bible belt town I grew up in.
These books were not burned. These books were not banned. No one will go to jail for reading them. The student needs parental permission. That is not a big deal. Reading this thread someone would think that the school board had secret meetings in a windowless basement that culminated in a book burning.