Meet the Pensacola English teacher waging war on books

State and local governments, school boards, etc. Representatives of "the people." For a long time, the way things have been done in this country, those who whine or make a fuss get accommodated and those who mind their own business get neglected. It's time conservative parents started making some noise.

No, I think it's the role of elementary schools to teach basic truths and subjects to children, not inculcate values, whether secular or religious.

 

So only hetero marriage is a “truth”? Banning mention of gay marriage is not “inculcating values”? You are posting contradictions in the same post.

You are all over the map here. Just making it up as you go. Zero logic to any of it.

 

Who opposes heterosexual marriage?

Presenting gay relationships as normal to children is inculcating values on children. I've already discussed this at length, just read the thread.

 

So we can only expose children to concepts that 100% of the population is ok with. You say we shouldn’t inculcate religious values but then suggest criteria defining normalcy based on primarily religious values.

 

You seem to make a habit of imputing arguments on me that I never made in bad faith.

We can talk circles like that all day, but I have better things to do with my time.

 

No question and we agree. (Im not one for just censoring reality out of the public sphere).

But it was stated in this thread that admin should decide what books are in public libraries with no say from parents presumably.

I am trying to say that certain content should be up for discussion with PARENTS and should not even be there to stumble across if the parents (majority perhaps) have serious concerns.

I agree the content of these books isn't really stated, but the one quote in the article seems pretty explicit and out of bounds for 5th grade.

 

Yeah. Thats a dumb position for the parent.

If I want some books removed but am unwilling to do some work than I have no reason to complain.

I agree

 

This very point is why you refuse to tell me where exactly you draw the line as far which books should be removed. As long as you don't answer that question, I'm not addressing this point because you favor the exact same thing I do, you just draw the line in different places. I've already said if it's discriminatory, remove books depicting heterosexual couples as well from children's libraries.

I am not in favor of children exploring the world in some absolute vacuum without guidance, which is apparently what you want a children's library to be.

I favor your apparent standard for adults and "the real world." I don't favor your standard for malleable and easily influenced children.

 

Parents want a more lenient standard? Go to a public library for adults and check out a book for your kid.

No, but you didn't have access to ALL sorts of books as a child. And children shouldn't have access to ALL sorts of books, some things aren't age appropriate. It's the same reason you probably shouldn't have your 5-7 year old watching cable news. There's no profanity or pornography there, per se, it's just not age appropriate.

 

OPINION: Most Americans don’t believe young kids should read or learn LGBTQ themes

"In a recent national survey I co-direct, we found that fewer than half of Americans support elementary school children even having access in schools to books about most LGBT issues, let alone being assigned to read them."

The link goes to a Washington Post article behind a paywall.

Yeah, it's a Hell of a lot closer to 50% than 10%. According to the survey, a MAJORITY oppose ACCESS to books for children regarding most LGBTQ issues. Maybe you're the crazy one here.

I'm not imputing an argument on you that you never made, I'm clarifying and providing context to what children's libraries offer and the situation regarding removing books from children's libraries using a comparison to cable news as an example.

 

Who said that no parents should involved in the vetting process? Not me.

I’m leery of one quote that may have been taken out of context. Hard to tell when there is no mention of the specific books. Could be a legit complaint/concern or more Moms for Liberty nonsense.

 

So in a nutshell, you've made the following arguments:
1. Banning LGBTQ books but not heterosexual books are discriminatory.
A: Okay, in that case, ban both.
2. It's bad policy because you're making life more difficult for 90% of Americans.
A: Actually it's closer to 50/50 for elementary schools, which suggest it's not a fringe issue, it's a mainstream genuine policy issue.
3. It's not about removing non-age appropriate books, it's about suppressing ideas.
A: Well, actually it's almost a sliding scale as to what students should have access to these books based on age based on the poll we just discussed. It turns out I'm not alone in thinking as students get older, the more of these kinds of books they should have access to. I'd say that they should for the most part have access to all of them at the high school level.

Did I leave any arguments out?

 

Glamorizing was not my term. In the Berenstein bears, there was a mama and a papa bear. I don’t remember anything remotely sexual in their relationship. If they had a friend whose two moms gave a group of kids milk and cookies at their kitchen table. There is no sex there is no glorification. There are just parents doing parent things. This is the type of thing I don’t think should be banned.

 

Any kid with a smartphone, tablet or laptop can type in the word “porn” and he will enter a world of unlimited pornography, I think. I have never tried it myself. Thank God, however, the kid won’t find the penguin book.

 

I inhaled books as a child. I would read hundreds if not thousands of books every year. The public library was full of books. I read shelves and shelves of books when something interested me. My dad read mens fiction. I am talking about stuff by Ian Fleming and poorer quality books in the same genre. I don’t think reading adult books when I was 8 or 9 impacted my development one way or another.