Tennessee law on banning books is forcing teachers to avoid teaching classics out of fear

The 2022 Tennessee Public School Libraries Act, Amending Tennessee Code Annotated, Title 49, Chapter 6, requires traditional public and charter school teachers to scan the title page of every publication in their classrooms.

This places an extraordinary burden on public school teachers, one that many Tennesseans are not aware of, and it also has an adverse impact on the goal of fostering an educated citizenry in ways that should raise concern for all Tennesseans.

This law affects teachers (and students) in several problematic ways. Many of the best teachers, from kindergarten through high school, have an extensive collection of books in their classrooms.

Scanning the title page of each of these books is a tedious and very time consuming undertaking. This August, it took many teachers many hours otherwise spent in preparation for the year.

Alternatively, teachers who did not have the time, or who felt too intimidated by the idea of handing this over to the public eye, instead decided to box up their books and intellectually sterilize their classrooms.

More opinion: Banned Books Week means parents must speak up against censorship and suppression

Public school educators are thinking twice about teaching classic novels

Is Tennessee headed down a dystopian path? A perennial favorite of middle school and high school students is Ray Bradbury’s "Fahrenheit 451," a futuristic novel published in the midst of the Red Scare in 1953 depicting a society in which books are deemed broadly to be such a threat to the state that they are burned.

It is both sad and chilling to know that teachers in public high schools or middle schools would think twice before assigning certain books such as "Fahrenheit 451" or even having such controversial books in their classrooms.

It is also unsettling that books such as "Fahrenheit 451," or books touching on contemporary issues such as sexuality or gun policy, might be considered dangerous or subversive to many state legislators.

An educated citizenry should have access to a broad range of books

In closing, one must wonder about the origins and intent of this legislation and the motives of those who drafted it. What books, memos from think tanks, and other materials are in the taxpayer-funded offices and computers of this bill’s sponsors or other legislators who supported this law?

Do they not adhere to the essential American principle that fostering a well-educated citizenry exposed to an array of ideas and perspectives is essential to the health of our representative government?

Are they seeking to intimidate teachers who pursue this principle and who encourage intellectually curious students to read more? We, the citizens of Tennessee should wonder and should stand up for teachers and democracy when they come under threat. .

Clay Bailey is the History Department chair at Montgomery Bell Academy in Nashville.

This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Tennessee law suppressing books keeps important lessons from students