With new laws restricting education on race, history, and gender identity coming into force in more than a dozen states, students are starting to see changes in the classroom, and more likely to happen in the coming months. There is a nature.
“For teachers and students, this is an escalating censorship campaign — a dramatically increased chilling effect that leads to all sorts of negative consequences within the classroom,” said Jeremy, Senior Manager of Free Speech and Education at PEN. Young says. America has tracked censorship in the US classroom.
According to Young, these laws have so far affected classrooms in a number of ways. This led to teachers not bringing up potentially controversial topics to avoid trouble, changes in curricula and school policies, and books banned from schools.
In Texas, on the other hand, recent book removals are broadly related to ongoing efforts by community members rather than a direct response to legal change.
ACLU, Texas attorney Kate Huddleston said there has been a worrying trend in recent months for school districts to remove books from shelves.
With the support of conservative legislators, the state’s “Critical Racial Theory” law went into effect in December, authorizing teachers to discuss “widely debated and currently controversial public policy or social issues.” Huddleston said that policies to enforce state laws are not well implemented, but some schools are taking action to determine what books and reading materials students have access to.
Many of these actions are book bans and generally target history of racism, racial inclusion, gender identity and LGBTQ+ inclusion, she added.
Huddleston said, “School districts target books based on the ideas they contain, and keeping those books off the shelf violates the First Amendment and encourages students to come up with different ideas.” violates the right to access,” school officials said, including an analysis of how the Texas ACLU is not complying with federal law.
The book, which includes all versions of the Bible and a graphic novel version of Anne Frank’s Diary, was challenged last year by parents and community members, but is now subject to a series of new standards recently approved by the district’s board of directors. I should have reviewed it again below, said the trustee, a school official.
The Keller ISD is also an example of how hotly contested school board meetings are developing in some areas.
The Keller ISD and several other school districts recently drafted and passed policies to give parents and administrative committees more oversight of what students read, and introduced a rigorous vetting process for selecting library books. introduced. PEN America senior manager Young said in the past few weeks he has made it easier for nearly a dozen school districts to change policies to ban books based on their content.
Other school districts continue to remove books by conservative community members, including books on LGBTQ topics about sexuality and gender identity.
Teachers, parents and school librarians are against
Frustration with new restrictive laws, continued complaints by conservative residents, and even alleged harassment are prompting teachers, parents, and school librarians to take action.
When teachers at Norman Public Schools were asked to review books that might “draw challenges” related to the new state law, teacher Summer Boyzmier labeled them “books the state doesn’t want.” and decided to cover those books. Write “read” and paste the QR code.
Boimier said she took time off, which the school district denied.
“It’s my desire and my biggest goal as an educator to make the classroom as inclusive as possible,” she told CNN last month.
The Louisiana School Librarians Association urges members to stand up against censorship without resistance. Amanda Jones, a representative of the organization and a middle school librarian for Livingston Parish, said members wanted to inform community members about public policies regarding school libraries and educate them about their work because of the turmoil. .
“These fringe groups take advantage of the general public’s lack of knowledge and use rhetoric such as pornography and erotica to criticize books, particularly those on LGBTQ+ themes and sexuality written by experts such as the American Psychological Association. I’m explaining a book about health,” Jones told CNN. “They are not interested in the truth.”
According to Jones, school librarians can speak at school board meetings and write letters to city and state legislators, but “you can be attacked and completely made up about you.” Because they may be talked about,” and “Personal safety must be considered.”
“We don’t want to use the same hateful rhetoric that these people use against us,” Jones said. It is a positive move for the library.”
Meanwhile, in Texas, Glanbury parent and Hood County Democratic chairman Adrian Martin told CNN that the same group of non-parents to children attending the district’s schools were complaining at a conference. Look, he said he recently started speaking at a board meeting. .
“Therefore, being a taxpayer does not confer special privileges on students, staff, and parents. We don’t want random people with no experience making decisions,” Martin said at the last board meeting.
“Just because I can get up and rant at every meeting doesn’t give me authority over my child’s education,” she added.
In response to book bans and censorship, many groups, including the American Library Association, have launched online tools and initiatives to help students. Last week, the ACLU of Texas launched a resource hub to help students, educators, and advocates learn how to defend their rights.
“It is critical now that people across the country, not just the ACLU, stand up for the right of all students to learn and access a wide range of ideas, especially those related to historically oppressed communities.” Huddleston said.
Source: www.cnn.com
