Thursday, August 04, 2011

Book Banning Still Goes On

What part of "public" education don't they get?

Public education applies to the public, no? Meaning everyone, no matter the color, the gender, the sexual orientation, the religious, or non-religious beliefs. Am I right, or does public education mean the education of the public by the will of the few.

See, that what seems to be happening in a place called, of all things, Republic, Missouri, where the school board voted 4-0 recently to ban Slaughterhouse-Five and another book, Sarah Ockler’s Twenty Boy Summer, after a local resident complained that the books teach ideas contrary to the Bible.

Ideas contrary to the Bible being taught in "public" schools.

Wesley Scroggins
That local crackpot resident religious wingnut, one Wesley Scroggins, originally wanted three three books banned, but the school board voted to keep Laurie Halse Anderson’s Speak on the shelves. After the vote, which takes the books out of school curriculum and removes them from the school library, Scroggins crowed: "I congratulate them for doing what’s right and removing the two books. It’s unfortunate they chose to keep the other book.”

A public school succumbed to the religious rantings of one resident. One resident who believes public schools, that are paid for by all residents tax dollars, should not have any book on the shelf that contradicts or questions the Bible. Even if some of those public school students don't read the Bible, but read other religious texts, or read no religious books. Muslims students. Jewish students. Agnostic and atheist students must bow to the will of people like Wesley Scroggins.

People who don't seem to understand that this country is built on a Separation of Church and State. If you want to educate your children in the ways of the Bible, go to church. But don't force your religion down the throats of everyone, Wesley Scroggins. See, maybe one day, there will be another narrow-mined bigot like Wesley Scroggins who gets the school board to ban books about black people, gay people, Muslims, women, Socialists, Marxists, Communist. How can we every understand the world, and learn about the world, if we teach and read and learn only one thing?

Hopefully, as happened way back in 1982, the Supreme Court will strike down the ruling by the school board.  Back then, a school board in New York voted to ban eight books, including Slaughterhouse-Five, after a right-wingnut group started a campaign against them. Board members agreed, calling the books “anti-American, anti-Christian, anti-Semitic, and just plain filthy.”

But Justice William Brennan led a court plurality in striking down the censorship scheme: “In brief, we hold that local school boards may not remove books from school library shelves simply because they dislike the ideas contained in those books and seek by their removal to ‘prescribe what shall be orthodox in politics, nationalism, religion, or other matters of opinion.’ Such purposes stand inescapably condemned by our precedents.”

And in 1993, a school board in Olathe, Kansas, ordered the removal of the book Annie on My Mind from a school library because it deals with homosexuality. Parents who supported the novel sued and won. A federal court ruled that public schools may not ban books “based on their personal social, political and moral views.”

Which is what Wesley Scroggins asked the Republic school board to do, and its exactly what they did.

It's time people understood that there are all sorts of people in the world, some who share our views, and some who don't But how are we to understand those people who are different if we ban books about them, and make the learning of anything other than one way, illegal?

If we don't understand one another, we'll never get along. Something many so-called Christians, like Wesley Scroggins, don't seem to understand. Maybe they ought to read a good book, and open their minds.

source

6 comments:

  1. Well, Mr. Scroggins never got over the last name Scroggins.

    In 1973 my gay AP English teacher took a bunch of us to the big city to watch the movie of Slaughterhouse-Five after we had read the book. Somehow I turned out okay. I am entrusted to teach children.

    That doesn't even take into account our parents allowed us to go to a party at his house. We met his two, young male roommates. They had a duck. In a pond. I was enthralled. :-) Probably why I have a pond today. That duck corrupted me.

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  2. They are getting too ridic over this

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  3. Anonymous7:36 PM

    If Scroggins ever saw the books I read in high school he'd probably burst a blood vessel.

    Mind you, this was at a CATHOLIC high school. Books like "Black Like Me", "Slaughterhouse-Five", "Brave New World", "Lord of the Flies" etc.

    Not to mention the Greek tragedies, the Canterbury Tales, etc.

    Yes, we read an awful lot. And I LOVED it. In fact the above is a short sampler.

    Friend of mine is well read also but he's always shocked when he'll mention some classic piece of lit and I'll be like "Read it in high school!"

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  4. Anonymous9:34 PM

    There are two inventions by humanity that simply run against each other The Wheel V.s. Religion.
    While the wheel moves humanity forward, religion simply pulls it backwards. Sadly only one human's activity brings both together: WAR
    I am seriously considering becoming a marxist.
    Carlos

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  5. I can't believe this idiocy continues. I'd argue that I read "Slaughterhouse Five" and turned out alright. But, I "turned out" to be a homosexual, non-Christian. So that might just give Scroggins fuel for his book-burning fire. Will the US never separate church and state? What a waste of court time and taxpayer money.

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  6. During the years I ran the community library in a tiny-teeny village, population 400, I had several irate parents complain about "immoral" books in our library. Some of the titles didn't surprise me, like Harry Potter, but others just confused me. Mostly those in the confusing pile, consisted of books where the child(ren) didn't obey their parents, without any dire consequences occurring.

    My response to these worried parents, who wanted me to police their child's reading? "that's not my job, it's yours. If you don't like what they are bringing home, come to the library with them, and guide their reading.". I never did have a parent show up with their kid by the way. I think they just wanted to toss their weight about. Sound important. Look lime a caring, upstanding, christian parent.

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