I tell the kids to see me after school, I don't care how many, what type
(mine are all age appropriate), nor how long they keep them, just that
they read them and bring them back! Sounds like the parent is asking
her to be the bad guy and take the heat instead of setting up parameters
and consequences for checking out a book they don't want them to have!
Colette D. Eason, Librarian
Marsalis ES
5640 S. Marsalis Ave.
Dallas, TX 75241
Box 317, TEA #183
Dallas ISD
ceason@dallasisd.org
972-749-3508
FAX 972-749-3501
http://library.dallasisd.org
You see, I don't believe libraries should be drab places where people
sit in silence, and that's been the main reason for our policy of
employing wild animals as librarians. ~~Monty Python
>>> Barbara Braxton <barbara.288@BIGPOND.COM> 12/4/2008 1:07 PM >>>
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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