anotherview Loc: California

No brainer: "having a voice [for]what is best for our kids."

May I suggest a curriculum for the elementary school grades: reading, writing, and arithmetic, with some basic history.

Biology 101 should follow later with the facts of life. This teaching might include normative sexuality with the variance from it.

Let us agree that no matter what adults may wish to convey about sexuality and its variation, youngsters will continue to inform themselves about this subject via the Internet.

Better that the schools teach this subject in a context of balance and objectivity.

btbg

But, that's not what schools are doing. That's what schools used to do. Today in many cases they are pushing an LGBTQ agenda in what they teach. That should not happen.

btbg

Nobody on the right wants to ban any books. We just don't want them in school libraries. That is not the same as banning them. We want individual families to make decisions as to what their children will or will not read rather than having books that we do not want our children seeing readily available at school.

Frank T Loc: New York, NY

That's a cop-out. In some areas, if a book is not available at school, it's simply not available.
In what can only be described as ludicrous, Fahrenheit 452 has been banned in some states.
Think about that.

LDB415 Loc: Houston south suburb

No big deal. It was a really poor sequel to Fahrenheit 451 anyway.

anotherview Loc: California

Censorship by any other name. Youngsters will circumvent the restriction, anyhow, via the Internet. Adults may bang a drum, but to no avail.

LinksUp

Good one!

Frank T Loc: New York, NY

Ooh the Typo Police are watching.

btbg

Frank, I have a serious question for you. Should Hustler Magazine be allowed at school libraries? The reason I ask, is that unless you say it should be then you agree that some things should not be allowed in school libraries.

It is not a cop out to expect schools to maintain some level of morality, and some books and magazines are simply not appropriate for youth.

btbg

Elementary school students are not going to go on the internet and look for books about transgender individuals unless someone gives them a reason to look. If some books are not in the library and not available unless someone brings the subject up in an enticing way kids are not going to go looking for it.

You don't seem to recognize that the battle over keeping some books out of school is primarily being fought in elementary and middle schools.

And, preventing youth from seeing some material is not censorship. There are a lot of books that clearly are not intended for young kids to read, and others which might be intended for youth, but that are not appropriate. Some things should not be allowed in the public square and one of those things is pornography, which is the single biggest thing that individuals are attempting to keep out of public school libraries.

I'm sure that even you believe that some things should not be in school libraries. For example, should a book with a recipe for cooking your own meth be in school libraries? Should a book encouraging middle school students engaging in oral sex be in the school library? Some things just don't belong in that sphere.

anotherview Loc: California

As I recall, the U.S. Supreme Court could not adequately define pornography. I believe the Court left the matter to the community to decide this business for itself.

I side with those concerned citizens who seek "age-appropriate" reading and viewing material for youngsters.

At the same time, I recognize that youngsters may learn most all they wish to learn about sexuality via the Internet.

btbg

You have made the point I was trying to make. The Supreme Court left the decision up to the community to decide for itself. That is exactly what the right wants.

It is the left that is equating that with banning books, which no one on the right is advocating for.

anotherview Loc: California

Ray Bradbury wrote the novel "Fahrenheit 451" in the Fifties. The title refers to the temperature at which paper burns. The state carried out rampant censorship of written materials by burning books. The fumes from the bonfires back then appear to have drifted our way, to intoxicate the agents of censorship.

wilpharm Loc: Oklahoma

that went over francines head..whoosh

Frank T Loc: New York, NY

That's a strawman that you're setting up. We have never had Hustler Magazine in school libraries, but we've had many in the backpacks of young boys.