Officials in a school district near Fort Worth, Texas, have directed school staff and librarians to temporarily remove books that have been challenged through the district’s formal complaint process in the past school year, including the Bible and an illustrated adaptation of Anne Frank’s diary. New books are open to be challenged by the public for 30 days and then reviewed by faculty and librarians.
Don’t the faculty and librarians review what books are to be purchased already? I would assume books are not chosen randomly via some game of chance. Do you trust your neighbors to decide what books are available for your child to read? Most of us don’t trust our neighbor to make sure their dog doesn’t poop on our yard. Do you have the time to review every book a school library has on its shelves? If you do have the time, do we really want such an unproductive citizen to make literary decisions?
In my opinion this is just another example of our societies continue backslide in the quest to say every opinion is equal. No. No it isn’t. Are you a literary scholar? Are you an expert on child development? Are you a child psychologist? Do you read? Do you read books that challenge your beliefs? Do you just associate with people just like you?
I remember a day, boy do I sound old, where schools were a place of learning. Sometimes learning makes you uncomfortable. Sometimes it challenges you. Sometimes it opens up a whole new world to which you never would have known existed. Might this new knowledge fly in the face of your parent’s belief system. It is possible. Isn’t that what being a teen is all about. Challenging authority. Challenging your parents. Challenging the status quo. But what about if you are a parent of a child who now does not see the world the way you do? Brace yourself folks…you have a conversation with your child. You listen to them. You tell them why you disagree or maybe even you change your mind and you learn something. I know I know. Who wants to talk to their kid? Well dumb ass if you would have used a condom or closed your legs you wouldn’t have to talk to your spawn but now as a society we expect you to do the bear minimum and communicate with your child.
But what if your child comes home with a book that you find completely objectionable? Well, if it is mandatory reading then you have a conversation with the educator about why said book is inappropriate for your child. You try to reach a solution. If it is not mandatory reading then you do what parents have been doing forever. You forbid it. Absolutely not in your house! Then your kid will do what kids always do. They will find a way to get what you forbid. Next thing you know your kid is sneaking paragraphs in some dark alley somewhere. Turning tricks maybe for just one more chapter.
Let the schools buy the books. Can’t we have a happy medium between parents who pay no attention to their kid’s education and parental Karens who need to whistle blow every offense, real or otherwise? If you want to shield your own child from thoughts that aren’t in lock step with your own then that is your right as a DNA donor. However, what might not be ok for your kid might be the bees knees for someone else’s kid. Now I need you to lean in for this. A little closer. A little closer. Your opinion is not that important to the rest of us that are trying to raise human beings so kindly SHUT THE FUCK UP!!!!!
(This blog should probably be temporarily taken off the internet to be reviewed)
Join us on Tuesday at 6:30 PM Est where we (and you) can discuss this further.