Using discretion isn't the same as "book banning"

Even the most permissive parents wouldn’t want their children’s school library to subscribe to Hustler or carry Mein Kampf. That doesn’t make them “book banners.”

Originally published in the Moultrie News.

Do you support book banning?

“Book banning” is an ongoing battlefront in the American culture war. Both sides have periodically supported the practice depending on which way the winds are blowing. As with all things educational, I conscientiously object to joining political factions, choosing to rely on my own judgment.

So if you mean “book banning” in its time-tested usage, I don’t support it. “Banning” usually means prohibiting something from any public consumption. The Prohibition Amendment banned alcohol. But if you simply support disallowing alcohol in school, does that mean you favor “alcohol banning?” Not to me.

Now, if you use “book banning” as an overstatement for “disallowing certain books in school libraries,” then I do support it. This doesn’t, however, make me a “book banner” any more than prohibiting profanity in my classroom makes me anti-free speech. It’s merely discretion, a quality that adults must exercise in deciding what to offer children.

Most people agree. Even the most permissive parents wouldn’t want their children’s school library to subscribe to Hustler or carry Mein Kampf. That doesn’t make them “book banners.”

To take a clearer example, consider school-issued laptops. My district utilizes content blockers so kids can’t access violent, pornographic, or other inappropriate websites.

Surely the case for labeling objectors to inappropriate books as “book banners” equally applies to the “content blockers.” They’re both about what parents want their kids to have. If the school gave my child a laptop that could access everything on the internet, I would give it back.

Most parents endorse schools providing content blockers on laptops. Who wants kids to have unfettered school-delivered access to Pornhub or Stormfront? This isn’t very different from “content blocking” explicit books in the school library, if at all.

So let’s be honest. The problem isn’t whether we disallow certain books. It’s what criteria we use to do so: one person’s sexually explicit comic book is another person’s true-to-life graphic novel. I don’t know how best to decide that, but here’s one criterion I use in my own classroom: if I wouldn’t let performers come into the room and act out what’s on the page, I generally don’t provide it for my kids to read.

By this standard, context matters. Some violent and offensive scenarios might be permitted if the purpose is to show that violence and offensiveness have negative outcomes.

Maybe I’m a prude, but I would not let individuals perform sex acts. Sex might be alluded to in certain contexts, but I wouldn’t show it. I doubt I’m alone in that judgment.

A student once asked me to approve a sexually explicit novel for his book report. I rejected it. His parent wanted to know why I wouldn’t let him read it. Didn’t I believe in freedom?

Yes, I believe in freedom. If the child wants to read the book on his own, he still can. I don’t support banning it. But with great power comes great responsibility: I’m responsible for my class, and I use my discretion to encourage more age-appropriate books.

That’s something we’re forgetting. There are millions of books available for children to read, and most of them focus on the good in life, encouraging kids to be stronger, kinder, and smarter. If we decide that one book is a bit too explicit, that’s not the end of the world: there are 1,000 other good books that aren’t.

Finally, remember what I said about the laptop: if the school won’t block inappropriate content, I’ll block it myself by not allowing my child to have it. Something similar will happen to libraries if we don’t exercise discretion. Parents will lose trust in schools’ ability to protect their children’s innocence. They’ll tell their kids, “Don’t go into the library anymore.”

That’s the opposite of what we need. We need more readers. We need more good books in the hands of more children. Twenty years ago, the school library was abuzz with kids checking out books. Today, despite the best efforts of our outstanding librarians, technology has turned the stacks into ghost towns.

So even if you advocate unrestricted school access to every book, consider that saying no to a few controversial titles would be worth it to ensure that reading doesn’t become a culture war casualty.

Read original column here.