“Book Bans” are the teachers unions' latest manufactured outrage
Dear John,
You might be surprised to learn that under the California Education Code, school districts are allowed to burn books. Is California that far ahead on the road to totalitarianism? Not so fast.
Though it may sound like we’re living in Ray Bradbury’s “Fahrenheit 451,” the reason for the law is more mundane. Section 60530 in the Education Code describes the process of destroying obsolete books that cannot be donated or sold “by any economical means.” Matches are cheap and no doubt many districts have employed a bonfire for old books since the law was enacted in 1976.
And because mature adults can use discernment and context to realize the very harmless procedural nature of that statute, they should also be able to distinguish between book bans and decisions not to buy, use or facilitate books in school libraries or classrooms that have either no educational value or are inappropriate for minor children.
Yet, in an era of bumper sticker — or meme— politics, it’s easy for dystopian activists to claim that every time a library doesn’t carry controversial material more suitable for an adult bookstore than an elementary classroom, parents are attacking academia and trying to ban books they don’t like.
Activists who believe that all books (no matter how offensive) should be available to all children (no matter how young) seem like the obvious culprits inspiring this cultural moment. And they have a role to play. But teachers unions are also using the supposed “book banning” mantra to distract from their failure to increase academic rigor or improve student performance.
Just as woke progressives should not cancel works that offend them, as they recently have with Dr. Suess or Roald Dahl, schools should not ban books. There are also real reasons that “See Spot Run” is not on a high school literature syllabus and calculus textbooks are not in kindergarten classrooms. Recognizing that school districts have a limited budget and capacity for books in their classrooms means that school libraries are not the Library of Congress.
And just as the California legislature requires all manner of food products to be labeled so people can make informed choices about the food they consume, parents should know what is going into their children’s minds.
Addressing this issue last year, the Utah Legislature passed House Bill 374 which provides a process to rank books in schools so parents, board members, librarians and teachers can be better informed on the age-appropriateness of books per grade level. Such policies allow for thoughtful reviews of concerning books on crowdsourced sites like this one.
With more accurate information, schools can be better equipped to provide books that are relevant, accurate, thoughtful, educational and age-appropriate. Salacious or pornographic material that would not be read in front of our grandmothers or allowed on network television does not belong in the classroom. Yet there is a growing list of readily accessible books that are violent, graphic, sexually explicit or simply inappropriate for our kids in many school libraries across the state.
If school districts feel like it’s appropriate for kids to be exposed to raunchy, graphic, or explicit material, they should be prepared for concerned parents who show up at their school board meetings and protest. And when a parent reads an objectionable portion from the book the district has approved, the presiding officer needs to hear them out rather than shutting them down.
As more school boards take a closer look at which books their policies and budgets are putting into the classroom, it will focus accountability on teachers unions efforts for improving student achievement rather than raising a ruckus.
To be clear, our kids should read challenging books that help them explore new ideas and wrestle with difficult issues. Books like “Huckleberry Finn,” “To Kill a Mockingbird,” and “Of Mice and Men” were game-changers for my social and political views as a young man. I doubt any of these titles are on many public school bookshelves right now.
When you hear “book ban,” that’s your cue local teachers unions are drafting off of their progressive activist friends’ manufactured outrage and hard at work reframing their incompetencies by eliminating discernment in curriculum and decoupling teacher pay from student achievement.
So, let’s dial down the temperature and dispense with the narrative that schools are banning books because they don’t house every title from some activist wish list. If parents want to buy objectionable books for their kids, they are unlikely to encounter any firemen putting out bonfires at their local bookstore.
Read the full article in The Epoch Times by Lance Christen, CPC's Vice President of Education Policy & Government Affairs, here.
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Lance Christensen Adds New Dates to "Take Back California Education Tour"
Lance Christensen's "Take Back California Education Tour" continues and new dates and locations have been announced!
"There's a real sense of enthusiasm and hope at each of these sessions where people are coming together to share their ideas, expertise and passion for improving our education system," said Lance Christensen, CPC's Vice President of Education Policy and Government Affairs, after a tour stop in Sacramento this week. "There's so much momentum with the tour already and we're just getting started."
Don't miss a townhall coming soon to a community near you. Upcoming dates include:
- Palm Desert — April 10th, 11:00am-1:00pm
- Carlsbad — April 12th, 5:00pm-7:00pm
- Copperopolis — April 15th, 2:00-4:00pm
- Glendora — April 27th, 6:30-8:30pm
- Bakersfield — May 4th, 7:00-9:00pm
- San Francisco, May 9th, 5:30-7:30pm
You can register for each of these events and sign up for updates on additional locations here.
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Mari Barke, Director of CPC's California Local Elected Officials (CLEO), was a panelist on Pacific Research Institute's webinar last week.
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Webinar: The Importance of Having Good Board Counsel
Mari Barke, Director of CPC's California Local Elected Officials (CLEO), joined Pacific Research Institute (PRI) last week for a webinar on "The Importance of Having a Good Board Counsel." The event was part of PRI's School Board Member Training Program. Lance Izumi, Senior Director of PRI's Center for Education, moderated the webinar, which featured Barke, an Orange County Board of Education Trustee, along with Greg Rolen, Orange County Board of Education Counsel, and Chris Arend, former President of Paso Robles Joint Unified School District.
"As part of our CLEO training, I always tell new school board members that having excellent board counsel is critical to being an effective elected official," said Mari Barke. "PRI's webinar is another great resource for school board members wanting to learn more."
Don't miss CLEO's online Leadership Academy for school board members and local elected officials. The virtual training features 15 self-paced modules taught by elected officials, attorneys and public policy experts — including Lance Izumi and Greg Rolen — on everything from school choice to the Brown Act.
You can watch PRI's webinar here. Learn more about CLEO's Leadership Training at calelecteds.org.
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California schools named “Cesar Chavez” must do better — or drop the name. Representative Kevin Kiley (R - Placer County) leads the fight to keep Julie Su out of the federal Department of Labor’s top job. And David’s leading role in the fight to push back against financial firms unbanking people based on their politics or religion. Don't miss this week's podcast with CPC president Will Swaim and CPC board member David Bahnsen. Listen now.
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California's leaders are all in the grip of a mass delusion when it comes to achieving "net zero" and climate change. If it isn’t delusion inspiring the dismantling of conventional energy infrastructure with nothing remotely capable of replacing it, then it's corruption on a scale rarely seen and a stupefying indifference to the consequences of that corruption. Read the latest from CPC senior fellow Edward Ring.
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No, California is Not the World's Fourth Largest Economy
Boasting of his state’s robust economic growth, Gov. Newsom recently declared that “California’s values and entrepreneurial spirit have powered this ascent to becoming the 4th biggest economy in the world.” Not so fast. The Golden State hasn't overtaken Germany for the spot behind the US, China and Japan just yet. Marc Joffe explains how state leaders got ahead of the facts. Read the article.
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