School book wars aren’t about ‘censorship.’ The fight is over whose values will prevail

It looks like the subject of book content in public school libraries is not going away any time soon.

In the Keller and Granbury school districts, parents have been petitioning administrators or board members to toss sexually explicit books out of school libraries.

Schools will always be ideological battlefields, and that’s actually a good thing. It’s proof of America’s diversity.

But there is a difference between censorship and selection: When conservative Texas parents clamor to toss “Gender Queer” from school libraries or liberal California parents stop “To Kill a Mockingbird” from being available in a certain district, it gets labeled a “ban,” but neither is really a ban or censorship.

True censorship would make the novels in question unavailable, out of print. Now, when a book is tossed from a school library, it skyrockets to the top of the Amazon bestseller list. It happened when a Tennessee school district removed “Maus,” a graphic novel, and sparked much national hand-wringing.

If the book is available elsewhere, that is not censorship or even really book banning. The heart of the issueis: Who gets to tell kids what to learn? Librarians? Teachers? Parents?

Many public school administrators and teachers believe that they know better than parents — sometimes they’ll even admit it.

Public school administrators, board members and staff shouldn’t pretend to be daft: When parents speak up about library or syllabus content, they aren’t suggesting they know a thing about senior-level chemistry. But they do care about the ethical or moral nature of the content to which their child is exposed.

Public schools are taxpayer-subsidized, and 91 percent of America’s kids go to public schools. Of course parents should have a voice in what their children learn.

The American Library Association argues that “the selector has faith in the intelligence of the reader; the censor has faith only in his own.” Parents lobby school districts about books because when they see books with explicit content or worse available to their children it seems like schools have faith only in themselves.

My last column on the topic prompted a variety of feedback from former teachers and current librarians. Many stressed that in their experience, at least at the school library, a child is never forced to read a book with sexually explicit content. True as that may be, by that logic, why not include old issues of “Playboy” in the school library? By that logic, why have filters on school computers and kids’ phones banning PornHub?

Of course, that’s too far. But what is barely over the line of discretion for some is miles past it for others. This is why, although a child is not being forced to read said content, parents don’t want it available to them.

The list of books Keller ISD has removed from libraries or is pending review shows extreme ideological differences. Parents submitted a list of 33 books they didn’t like, including the Bible, a graphic novel adaptation of Anne Frank’s diary and “Gender Queer,” by Maia Kobabe, which was removed in October.

There’s a lesson for conservatives and liberals alike: If you don’t want books like “Gender Queer” available, be prepared for someone else to lobby for the removal of the Bible, and vice versa. I’d argue the Bible has far more literary, historical, and theological value than “Gender Queer,” but my kids aren’t in that district, either.

Granbury’s latest book battle presents a larger issue than parent-school struggles: political overreach. Granbury ISD formed a library committee to review questionable books and removed three. Rep. Matt Krause and 20 other GOP lawmakers applauded superintendent Jeremy Glenn for removing the books. As chairman of the House General Investigating Committee, Krause had requested information from school districts and the Texas Education Association on 849 books in October.

As well-meaning as this is, Krause’s legislative footprint could last a lot longer than a parental complaint that results in a book being removed for a season.

It’s all well and good when parents agree with the party in power and support their gag order, but what about when the other side scratches books you want kids to learn about or read?

Editor’s note: A version of this column originally appeared in our conservative opinion newsletter, Right Turns. It’s delivered every Saturday with a fresh take on the news and a roundup of our best center-right opinion content. Sign up here.