on 2/1/02 11:10 AM, Maggi Rohde at maggi@INTRANET.ORG wrote:
> On Thu, 31 Jan 2002, Vaneesa Thompson wrote:
>> I really don't understand why all the discussion of this topic. As a
>> parent, I would hope that my request would be honored.
If a kid is old enough to read books, ze is old enough to be told what books
hir parents don't want hir to read. My question would be this: why does the
librarian then become the 'book police'? This seems to be quite a bit like
the argument from parents who don't want there to be certain themes in
movies/on television/available online *at all* because they don't want their
children exposed to them. I would say that the parents feel *so* strongly
about it, they should take responsibility for keeping track of books
borrowed, television watched, etc.
>>
>> And yes, I understand freedom of information. But has anyone decided at
>> what age that freedom starts. Is a child free to read what ever he or
>> she likes with or without their parents consent?
This may be a naive question, but: what would be the harm in that?
Books may hold challenging, difficult, or confusing ideas, but this - in my
opinion - is the intellectual process from which knowledge and understanding
grow. I encourage my boy, who is twelve, to read whatever he wants to and to
come to me, to my partner, or to one of his "aunts and uncles" (our family
friends) if he has questions, thoughts or concerns about what he reads. This
makes for great conversations about ideas, writing, fiction v. nonfiction,
politics, education, religion, morals, values, and all sorts of other things
that I believe are a far richer opportunity for me to teach him the values I
want for him to have than simply keeping him away from ideas that I don't
agree with or topics that I find difficult.
YMMV on that, of course, but that's my take on it.
Sharon
--
Sharon Bergman
FOODPLAY Productions
sharon@foodplay.com
[http://www.foodplay.com]
413.585.8400
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