Book-burners want to control what children read
The temperature at which books burn is 451 degrees Fahrenheit; "Fahrenheit 451" is the title of the famous (banned) book about a society that turns book-burning into a goal and destroys itself in the process. Fiction? Not so much: in Michigan’s nearby Jamestown Township, the Patmos library may have to close because some people disapproved of a book!
Why should anyone care what books you pick up from the shelves of your local library any more than they should care if you prefer Froot Loops to Corn Flakes from your grocery?
Why should a few people decide what readings a well-trained, thoughtful professional educator assigns her students? When students read "The Odyssey," the class is not being taught to believe in Zeus or that it’s OK to sneak off with another man’s wife and start a war. If an elementary class reads about the Star-Belly Sneeches, kids are learning what fun language can be but are not likely to tattoo stars on their tummies.
A recent CBS News/YouGov poll showed “…a sweeping majority of Americans don’t think books that discuss race, depict slavery, criticize U.S. history, or represent political ideas they disagree with should be banned from schools.”
American schools are public schools, and not all our students are Christian; not all our families are two-parent straight; not all children are certain about their identities; not all students are white; many are challenged in a variety of ways. If you homeschooled during the pandemic, you surely were happy to return your kids to the capable and hard-working dedication of their classroom teachers. You saw first-hand how difficult teaching can be. Trusting professionals with decisions about education should not be hard. They have trained through more years of college than many other professionals and continue training beyond their degrees. Many have been in classrooms more years than the book-banners have been adults. Teachers do more than pass out papers; teachers actually know stuff! They are experts in their fields, and they understand age-appropriate learning. They have chosen hard work and low pay because they believe in children — all children — and not just the ones who look like ours or behave like ours or believe like ours.
We see the Taliban denying education to girls and are shocked. Those are definitely not public schools. But in American society there are areas where the public good outweighs a small group’s beliefs. Traffic laws and food safety laws come to mind. If our schools are truly “public,” then equality of respect for values and equality of expectations should guide teachers and parents who value them. Libraries serve everyone; they too are a public good. But some intolerant groups here want to dictate what other people’s children can learn, what books everyone reads. What will that teach children — when they see the adult world hiding truths from them?
I believe in this young generation. Their teachers and their parents have done their jobs well. Today’s teens and young adults are more tolerant, more inclusive, more concerned about the environment, more willing to learn and grow, more mature than the adults trying to stifle their education. I have seen young active adults on both sides of the political divide: for Roe and for choice, for Black lives and LGBTQ+ rights, for religious beliefs, for the environment, for better gun laws. They read banned books.
Today’s young adults will both respect their parents’ values and forge their own. We should learn to trust youngsters, not cocoon them in bubble-wrap. Adults underestimate this generation if they choose to spoon-feed them some prettied-up version of our history or shelter them from otherness. These strong young people are ready and able to deal with the facts; they understand we all must move forward together, forearmed with knowledge and looking for wisdom.
Sharon Kourous is a member of Stronger Together Huddle, a group engaged in supporting the common good of all. She is a retired teacher who lives in Monroe. She can be reached at mcneil@icloud.com.
This article originally appeared on The Monroe News: Sharon Kourous: Book-burners want to control what children read
