Books OSDE want pulled from EPS contain no images, also available at private schools
OKLAHOMA CITY (KFOR) — Two books State Superintendent Ryan Walters called pornographic and the Oklahoma State Department of Education demanded be removed from Edmond school libraries are also available in numerous private, religious school libraries in Oklahoma. Educators argue the books aren’t anywhere close to pornographic, but instead contain valuable lessons.
The two books in question are ‘The Kite Runner,’ a 2003 book by Khaled Hosseini and ‘The Glass Castle,’ a 2006 book by Jeanette Walls.
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In January, the Oklahoma State Department of Education (OSDE) sent Edmond Public Schools (EPS) a letter demanding it remove the books from its high school libraries, claiming the OSDE’s Library Media Advisory Committee determined the books “qualified as sexualized content” under OSDE’s rule defining sexualized content.
The letter did not cite specific excerpts within the books it deemed as violating the rule, but claimed both books included descriptions of certain sexual encounters.
The letter said EPS had 14 days to request a hearing with the Oklahoma State School board to contest the ruling.
According to the OSDE’s rules, the district could have its accreditation lowered if the state school board finds it violated OSDE’s rules.
On Tuesday, Edmond Public Schools filed several lawsuits asking for the Oklahoma State Supreme Court to rule on whether or not the Oklahoma State Department of Education has the authority to decide which books public schools can have in their libraries, and punish districts for having them.
EPS officials argued law says the power to review books belongs to local school districts only.
EPS also petitioned the court for an injunction to stop the OSDE from taking any action against EPS until the court decides on the first challenge over OSDE’s jurisdiction.
After EPS took that legal action Tuesday, State Superintendent Ryan Walters released the following statement:
This is an ongoing subversion of accountability. Edmond Public Schools not only allows kids to access porn in schools, they are doubling down to keep pornography on the bookshelves. Parents and kids should have the confidence of going to schools to learn. Instead of focusing on education, EPS has chosen to peddle porn and is leading the charge to undermine parents in Oklahoma.
State Superintendent Ryan Walters
In a video Walters posted to social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter, on Tuesday, he said “this is incredible even for them to go this far” in reference to Edmond Public Schools.
But as News 4 found, Edmond Public Schools is far from the only school district that carries those books in its libraries.
According to online library catalogs, numerous private, religious schools in Oklahoma also carry The Kite Runner, The Glass Castle or both in their libraries.
Those schools include Bishop McGinnes High School in Oklahoma City, Casady School in Oklahoma City, Holland Hall in Tulsa and Bishop Kelley High School in Tulsa.
Because those schools are private, they are not governed by the OSDE.
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However, parents can receive tax credits from the State of Oklahoma for sending their children to those schools.
People familiar with the content in the books say there shouldn’t be an issue with them being available to kids anyway.
Nancy Yaffee recently retired after teaching English and reading in Moore Public Schools for 32 years. She said The Kite Runner was a staple of her classroom library, and many of her students read it.
“I never had any backlash from parents or anything that would cause alarm,” Yaffe said. “I did keep some books in my classroom that were a little bit more mature, but I always checked with parents. I checked I knew the kids well enough to know what their likes were, what they were into, and I would never give, I mean, I didn’t have anything inappropriate in my classroom, but I knew they were a little more than a Judy Blume book that somebody in fourth grade could read.”
News 4 picked up a copy of both books.
Neither book contains any sort of pictures or images. Both are entirely comprised of text.
The Glass Castle is written from the perspective of author Jeanette Walls as she grew up in a dysfunctional family.
It describes the real-life experiences she had while living with her parents who didn’t seem to care about her or how their decisions may affect her. It describes her father’s constant battle with alcoholism and its effects on her and her siblings.
It describes a nomadic life her parents forced her to live, often moving from city to city on very short notice.
One scene describes a time Walls witnessed an adult woman living in their family’s home attempt to inappropriately touch one of her male siblings. When Walls spoke up to her father about it, he didn’t believe her.
The book describes the confusion and pain she felt for not being believed.
Later in the same chapter, the book describes a time when one of her father’s drunken friends attempted to remove Walls’ clothes and sexually assault her, only for her to push back against his advances.
The book describes how she felt afraid to confide in her father about that experience, because he did not believe her previously, and the inner struggle that she continued to have over it.
The Kite Runner focuses on two boys growing up in Afghanistan during wartime in the early 2000s.
A scene in the book describes a time one of the boys witnessed his friend get knocked unconscious and sexually assaulted by two other boys.
The book talks about the guilt the boy felt after witnessing the assault, and his inner struggle to address what he saw.
In both books, the scenes are only minor parts of the book’s overall plot.
“I think restricting people from reading something that they might enjoy, they might learn something from, I think that’s just it’s just sad,” Yaffe said.
Yaffe says—while the stories told in the books may not always be pretty—it’s important for students to know, life is not always pretty.
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In the case of the books in question, Yaffe said she saw firsthand how they changed her students’ lives for the better.
“I’ve had students in the past that have had traumatic situations in their lives,” she said. “And it’s hard on me or as an adult to have to have to listen to some of those stories that they had to go through with a parent situation or boyfriend living with the mother or this and that. And so to be able to relate to somebody else that has that same situation might be helpful to them and know, okay, well, I’m not the only one. It wasn’t my fault. You know, that might be a saving grace for some kids.”
Author Khaled Hosseini, who wrote the Kite Runner, told News 4 he is beyond upset to see the state calling to have his book removed from libraries.
He sent News 4 the following statement:
Inside a drawer in my office desk sits a stash of manilla envelopes. Inside each are some of the letters I have collected over a span of nearly twenty years – and that I continue to. They have come to me from high school students from all across the U.S. In these writings, the students share with me often quite poignantly what impact reading The Kite Runner has had on their lives. For some, the book is a clarion call to stand up to bullies, to defy intolerance. Others hear familiar echoes in Amir’s strained bond with his father, in his struggles to measure up. Yet others -perhaps inspired by the book’s de facto tagline, there is a way to be good again- speak of the desire to volunteer, learn more, be more tolerant of others, mend broken ties, muster the courage to do the right and just thing, no matter how difficult.
For many students, those who write me as well as the many I have met at high schools across the country, The Kite Runner is their first window into Afghan culture. Most openly admit to once knowing little about the country outside its media depiction as a violent, unhappy land perpetually wracked by war and misery. But because they find in the story of Amir and Hassan resonant parallels to their own lives -around friendship, family, love, courage, cowardice- Afghanistan becomes a real place. They gain a more nuanced and compassionate perspective on the country and its people, and they express gratitude for it.
Perhaps the most recurring word I hear from students is ‘empathy’. It isn’t surprising. Studies have shown that reading fiction improves the ability to intuit and understand the feelings of other human beings. Books remain our most powerful teachers of empathy. They remind us of our immutable connections as a species sharing this planet. They open the world to us. They help us feel less alone and find solace in one another. Their gift is immeasurable. Stripping students of this gift is a tragic mistake.
Hearing from high school students in their own words, in person and in letter, has convinced me that they are more than sophisticated and mature enough to digest and contextualize the themes raised by The Kite Runner. They are appropriately and constructively challenged by the book. And they are more than up to the task, learning valuable lessons about injustice, discrimination, tyranny, the perils of religious extremism, etc.
I am a parent myself. I understand the parental impulse to safeguard our children from harm. But banning books like The Kite Runner doesn’t ‘protect’ the students at all. It betrays them instead. It robs them of the chance that we as parents and instructors owe them, the chance to broaden their human community, to let them walk the world in another’s shoes for a while, to foster empathy for others, to be challenged by the experience and perhaps take a small step toward becoming fuller, richer versions of themselves.
‘The Kite Runner’ author Khaled Hosseini
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