Quote:
Originally Posted by rcentros
If parents pay for public schools, they should be able to make decisions on what books they find acceptable for their children in those schools. It's not censorship (as these books are still available everywhere) it's setting standards about what books parents think are appropriate for their children. The article says these school bans "harm the authors," but in other articles we're told that "even more people buy the books because they're banned." So which is it?
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And how many parents does it take a have a book banned? One American friend of mine was complaining that their child's school had on and off banned several hundred books based on complaints by a single family. Of 326 complaints about inappropriate content, 283 were from one child's parents.
Their procedure is to ban and then review the ban, books were popping on and off library shelves with enthusiasm. Some of the prolific complaints were about books in which the US army was not automatically good guys in their conflicts with various Indian nations. One example being a book about the Trail of Tears which showed the Cherokee in a sympathetic view. Another complained about
My Daddies! since it encourages children to embrace homosexuality.
Oddly when several parents complained about the Bible being present in the school based on sex and violence, the parents who hold the complaints record were present to state that no one should be allowed to complain about their holy book.