Cancel culture wars in school libraries

Parents Forum Parent Cafe
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I wanted to interject here and ask whether their concern about banning books is an absolute. How would people feel about banning a book because they have a racial slur within them. In 2019, there were Two New Jersey legislators who introduced a resolution calling on school districts in the state to ban ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’ novel from their curricula in the whole state.

“The novel’s use of a racial slur and its depictions of racist attitudes can cause students to feel upset, marginalized or humiliated and can create an uncomfortable atmosphere in the classroom,’ is what the resolution said. It was written by Rep. Verlina Reynolds-Jackson and Jamel Holley. School districts in Pennsylvania, Virginia, Minnesota and Mississippi have removed the book from their curricula. In California, parents complained about the use of racist epithets in To Kill a Mockingbird ; Adventures of Huckleberry Finn ; The Cay ; Of Mice and Men ; and Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry , the Burbank (CA) Unified School District superintendent banned the books from the libraries in the whole district. He said “This is not about censorship, this is about righting the wrongs of the past.”

I am actually deeply interested in the topic of banning books and I want to ask: are you all primarily against banning books with graphic sex? And think kids should have access to sex so they can learn about it? Or are you against banning books, full stop-- and therefore, also against banning the books for the reasons I’ve pointed out here. I would say that despite the huge media coverage over Maus, there has been an equal amount of banning because of making students uncomfortable.

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You misspelled “parents.”

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Definitely true in the case of the two New Jersey lawmakers and Burbank, the parents aren’t comfortable. But - their stated reasons is that it makes students uncomfortable.

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I’m not ok with book banning. Even racial slurs can open the door to meaningful conversation about the time period and context books were written.

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I’m progressive and am against censorship in all forms. I live in MA and both my kids read To Kill a Mockingbird and The Cay as part of their middle school curriculum - I certainly wouldn’t support banning these books or the others you mention above. I’m not aware of any book banning in my area (thankfully) although I’m sure there are parents who’d like to ban certain material. Having “access to sex” is very different than having access to material that might include sexual content. I’ve never censored what my kids read and am unconcerned about them reading about sexual matters in a book - that pales compared to what they could access on the internet. Just reading about sex isn’t going to make you go out and do it - likewise, reading about LBGTQ+ matters isn’t going to affect your child’s gender or sexual identity.

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Sheepishly raising my hand to admit that I had a book removed…from the elementary school library! In the book, the school children became “bored” while visiting a natural history museum and Curious George entertained them by jumping all over the dinosaur skeleton. S was in kindergarten.

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This thread has had numerous flags. I am closing temporarily while I review it.

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I will reopen the thread. Please refrain from dissecting the actions of Jesus, and resist the opportunity to inject politics into the conversation.

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I think you are confusing banning with taking out of the curriculum. There is a huge difference. Over the years I think there has been a move away from curriculum dominated by male authors. Let’s face it, male authors were just published more back in the day so there was more to choose from! There are so many more authors out there and I think the idea is that curriculum should be updated to include more contemporary authors and authors who aren’t male and white. One of my daughters was in IB- so reading authors from other countries was a part of the curriculum as was different genres. So instead of reading 5 Shakespeare plays- she only read 2, but also read authors from other countries, The Kite Runner, Things Fall Apart, Never Let Me Go. She also read 1984, The Handmaids Tale and The Great Gatsby. These books have been on banned lists for years.

I think people would be surprised if they saw how many books caused a big stir when they came out. Years later, they became required reading. Fahrenheit 451 is one of the most banned books and I had to read it in high school.

I do think there should be a balance- how many times do you need to read about women being treated poorly before it gets to be too much. Same thing for race- it’s important to expose these things, but I also don’t think you need to have every book be about that. My younger daughter who just graduated high school was given some leeway with books she chose- I think this is going to be the direction things go in.

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First these kids can see whatever they want on their phones anytime they want…better to have a library book and in school where there is an actual adult around and real discussion. Second, any banned book in my day meant it was a must read! The forbidden fruit. Am sure these kids are making sure they read the banned titles. Utter stupidity.

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It makes me chuckle that I read “Stranger in a Strange Land” when I was a pre teen but I wasn’t allowed to go to PG movies.

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I think these parents are completely ignoring that kids have a whole other “educational” source called the internet and social media. If you don’t want schools teaching real sex ed, the kids will go look for it online and they will find it. The problem is, it’s not vetted or accurate.

One of the books on the ban list- I can’t remember which, was made up from actual questions from teens. So teens are very explicit when they talk about sex. I’m surprised at how open my girl’s friends are about talking about sex with me. No topic is taboo. Poor DH gets an earful- he’s surrounded by women.

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I get the argument that the kids will ‘find it elsewhere or on the internet’. But the real question I think is are there limits to graphic sexuality portrayed in books kids can find in library at school? There are for instance some books that were banned in Texas from the library – “Gender Queer” that has illustrations of graphic gay sex. It’s easily findable on the internet. Whether it’s gay or hetero sex, I do feel like most people dont think that needs to be in the school library – regardless of whether it shows heterosexual couples or gay couples having sex. If there are any that think it SHOULD be in the school library I would like to understand why.

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In the forward of my grandmother’s published memoir she wrote the following (excerpted)…“Caitlin in particular was incensed by my use of politically incorrect allusions. Sorry, Caitlin, and anyone else I may offend - that’s the way we thought and spoke in the Thirties. In order to keep my memoir true to the time, I used the exact words and phrases accepted in my part of the world.” (she continues, but I won’t, she really explained what and why certain words were/weren’t used, and I am exceptionally proud that she did; and no, I’m not Caitlin) - her book was published in 2000.

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Many of these books wouldn’t have even been found, much less read, by most kids at a school. Libraries and library books aren’t exactly “in” with most students, and those who do go there have oodles of different interests they’re looking for.

Now that people are shouting about banning them, the kids are looking wherever they need to in order to see what all the fuss is about. It’s pure human nature.

What they’re doing is having the opposite effect than what their goal probably was.

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I sure hope so.

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I just went back and reread an article about Gender Queer- my county’s public library took it off the shelf- yikes. It’s a slippery slope.

Maybe a book like Gender Queer should have parental permission before the student is 18??? I need to get a hold of this book so I can see for myself. Again the age of consent in my state is 16- so I guess they are old enough to do it, just not read about it??? These books were not shoved into kids hands, they have to seek them out. If your child is looking at these books perhaps there is a reason why. Many of the books on the list just had gay characters or sexual encounters that weren’t explicit. The parents take it too far.

I think all of this is driven by fear. Kids today don’t really care about conforming to gender norms and it freaks parents out. Even I am not sure that I would handle it well if my kids decided they weren’t the gender they were born. On the other hand, if I had a kid who was questioning, I would be very thankful for memoirs or other literature to help me and my kids understand, even if I wasn’t happy about it.

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When I was pretty young, my next door neighbor (a professor at the university in our city) wrote a fiction novel. My mother had it on her bedside table, and I, a prolific reader (as much as you can be at that age), wanted to read it. I knew the author!

My mother said “You are absolutely NOT to read this book!” Subsequently, it disappeared.

Now I REALLY wanted to read that book. One day, my mom left for grocery shopping (I have 5 sibs, so it was usually a very long expedition). Boy, I started tearing up the house looking for that book.

I FINALLY found it, began reading, and came upon the beginning of a very graphic sex scene. However, I had just barely gotten into it when I heard my Mom come into the kitchen far earlier than expected. I hastily put the book back into its hiding place and went into the kitchen, ostensibly to help Mom unload groceries and see if there were any goodies I could dive into.

Casually, I asked, “Mom, what is public hair”? “PUBLIC hair?” she responded. I didn’t like the look on her face. “Umm, yeah, what’s public hair?”

“WHAT HAVE YOU BEEN READING?” “Oh, nothing…I heard it on TV.” “Which show?” “Umm, the Brady Bunch, I think.”

Lol, you get the drift. Book disappeared again, but eventually I found it and read the whole thing. This was years later, and I understood why my Mom didn’t want me reading it at that age.

So the point about making something really forbidden is well taken.

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