Critically Thinking about Children's Books — What's in Your School? (Part 2)
A Very Disturbing Issue in K-12 Public Schools
By John Droz, Jr., Nov 25, 2024
This is a continuation of my prior commentary (Part 1),
which lets readers know about the deplorable situation in many US K-12
libraries. It was also a plug for the NC organization: Pavement Education Project (PEP): please peruse their website.
A logical question is: who is behind all this subversive K-12 reading material — literally manyhundreds of books? The most apparent answer is the American Library Association (ALA). Here is a good podcast/article discussing their role. Note that it states that the head of the ALA is a self-avowed Marxist…
Age Appropriateness -
Arguably the greatest concern about what books are in school libraries is their age-appropriateness. It follows that the fundamental issue with the ALA is that they have zero recognition of age-appropriateness! Read what their official position is:
Access to Library Resources and Services for Minors: “Library
policies and procedures that effectively deny minors equal and
equitable access to all library resources available to other users
violate the Library Bill of Rights. The American
Library Association opposes all attempts to restrict access to library
services, materials, and facilities based on the age of library users.”
It
is a non-sensical — and indefensible — position to say that a book
appropriate to be read by 25-year-old adults, is also suitable for a
5-year-old. However, that is literally the position of the ALA!
Fortunately, in 2023 a new organization was created to be an alternative choice to the ALA: the World Library Association (WLA).
This
offers States and schools a real choice. Instead of banning books, the
State (or school district and their librarians) should resign from the
ALA and become a WLA member. Books in school libraries would be those
approved by WLA, which does utilize age-appropriateness in their
criteria.
Arguments From the Left -
When
it comes to promoting or defending their ideology, the Left is very
good at messaging and terminology. In this case, progressives routinely
dismiss all such questioning of books in K-12 school libraries as
either: 1) a violation of the First Amendment (freedom of speech), and/or2) that the goal is to “ban books” (which purposefully makes it sound unreasonable, undemocratic, arbitrary, etc.).
My brief answers to these are:
1 -
No one’s “freedom of speech” is being taken away, so this is a false
flag. If writers choose to write smut for children, they are free to do
so. However, there is no obligation to spend taxpayer dollars to buy such material for public school libraries. Clearly, no school has the funds to buy ALL the books written for K-12 students — so some criteria are already in place to make choices!
Public schools should make such decisions on: what is in the best interest of students! There is zero scientific research that such materials are a net benefit to children. Regarding benefits, in my prior commentary I listed fifteen (15) possible very serious negatives. What are the scientifically proven offsetting positives?
Lastly, if a parent believes there is a net benefit for their child to read such material, they are free to buy it for their offspring.
2 - Yes, the goal IS to ban books: those that are not age-appropriate for school children! Schools already have age-appropriate bans on other matters, so this should not be a problem.
For example, alcohol is banned from school cafeterias. Why?
Because children are not mature enough to handle alcohol. Because
alcohol would adversely affect children’s academic learning. Because
alcohol would undermine children’s participation in extracurricular
activities. Because alcohol would lead to multiple safety issues. Etc. (Note
that these are very similar to the fifteen-point list of negatives that
inappropriate reading material can cause, listed in my prior commentary.) In other words, alcohol is not an age-appropriate drink for K-12 children to consume.
As yet another example, North Carolina state law
requires all public schools to have a written policy prohibiting the
use of tobacco products, including e-cigarettes, on campus and at
school-related events.
The reasoning for this is that tobacco products compromise the smoking student’s health and the health of students experiencing secondhand smoke. Put succinctly, tobacco is banned in K-12 schools as it is not an age-appropriate activity! (Note: several NC school districts successfully sued JUUL and won large monetary settlements.)
Lastly, in most states, children must be 18 to donate blood, get a tattoo, buy a gun, sign a contract, vote, etc., etc.
The reasoning behind all of these is that children under 18 do not have the maturity and experience to be able to properly deal with alcohol, cigarettes, guns, etc. The exact same thinking applies to them reading about violence, sex, drugs, etc.
What
books are in school libraries is only one part of this major problem.
Additionally there are: a) things like pornography found on school
issues electronic devices (e.g., here), b) counter-productive school messaging (e.g., like SEL), and c) corrupted academic content that undermines students’ critical thinking (e.g., like NGSS).
Some Fundamental Questions -
#1 is: What is the literary value of these books?
Shouldn't
that be the primary criteria for all books available to children? There
are thousands of children’s books with classic literary value (e.g., here and here). Who has determined that UBC high-rated books are a superior option for our children?
#2 is: What is the age-appropriateness of these books?
Even
if a book has redeeming literary value, that does not mean that it is
age-appropriate for children ages 5 through 17. To be available in a
school library, every book should meet both criteria.
#3 is: Why is a religion allowed to be communicated in public schools?
There
are standards — of morality — that are being conveyed in these books.
These standards are in contrast to (and in competition with)
Judeo-Christian standards. In other words, they are promoting a
religion. Why is that religion allowed?
#4 is: Are bad actions in books clearly shown to be wrong and have consequences?
In many of these higher-rated books, the answer is no.
For instance, when a teenage boy rapes a teenage girl, it’s made out
that it’s no big deal (e.g., everybody does it). Also, there is no
penalty spelled out for the guilty party. These are not the type of irresponsible messages that we want to embed in our children’s heads.
#5 is: Why is one person allowed to make such monumental decisions?
What books are in a school library comes down to the personal choices
made by one individual: the librarian. Considering the enormous
implications of these choices, as a minimum, there should be a parental
board overseeing them. As explained above, switching from ALA to WLA
would likely solve the problem.
#6 is: Why isn’t banning books just as sensible as banning alcohol or tobacco?
Why isn’t beer an option in K-12 school cafeterias? Because: a) it is not age-appropriate for 5 to 17-year-olds, b) it would diminish a K-12 student’s focus on their academic education, c) it would lead to class disruptions, etc. All of these consequences — and more — are also likely results of allowing such books.
This
is a historic clash between Right and Left, Good and Evil, Pro-America
and Anti-America. We cannot let them bully us into allowing them to
substitute their atheistic, relativist, Marxist standards for those that
were an integral part of the founding of America. In other words, this
is a hill worth dying on.
PS — Two upcoming commentaries will be about some amazingly perceptive insights of Eric Hoffer. Several of them apply to the people pushing these corrosive books!
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