I am posting to the list, not just the original sender because I am baffled about
TEACHERS thinking
they have the right to determine what a child should read.
Yes, at school, we are "in loco parentis" (in place of the parent) but my
understanding is that
means we have a responsibility to step in if a child is doing something that a
parent would not
allow and it's usually a safety issue. In the original request, Jennie was right
to step in because
the request came from the parent - who should be made aware of the consequences of
the decision
because the child's response was extreme and there are clearly other issues at
play.
But Kristina's message that TEACHERS can ban books in their classroom based on
their personal
preference is censorship, not 'in loco parentis". Only parents can make that
decision and only for
their own child. Teachers have no right to do this, unless it is something brought
from outside that
is entirely inappropriate. (I can remember a classmate bring in a copy of Playboy
and showing the
pictures to a selected few..The teacher handled it by saying we could bring
whatever books and
sweets we wanted to class provided we were prepared to share with everyone,
including her. Never
saw Playboy there again.) So to ban "Captain Underpants" or any other titles in a
class is, in my
opinion, way out of line. Just because I personally don't like Goosebumps, does
not mean I had the
right to stop the kids in my care reading them - if I had, many boys would not be
readers now!
Neither did I have the right to tell kids that they had to have a book of a certain
length, or
topic, or reading level - their leisure reading was their choice. (I was in the
classroom for 25
years before I was a teacher librarian.)
The role of the teacher librarian is to select materials that are appropriate to
the students and
the ethos of the school. I know some schools banned Harry Potter because its these
conflicted with
their overall philosophy and one would assume that parents sending their children
to that school
support that philosophy. If you, as the professional and the agent of the school
appointed to make
those selection decisions, decide that a title is appropriate for your clientele
and purchase that
book for your collection, then only a parent can decide that their child cannot
access it, and we
have a responsibility to support that. If a teacher has a problem, then point them
to your
challenged materials policy.
However, I acknowledge that US teachers may live under a different set of rules to
those I have
known since childhood in New Zealand and Australia. And what I believe to be
morally and ethically
wrong, may be legally right in your country.
Barbara
Barbara Braxton
Teacher Librarian
COOMA NSW 2630
AUSTRALIA
E. barbara.288@bigpond.com
Together we learn from each other
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