(Editor's Notes by Christina Myer - Photo Illustration - MetroCreativeConnection)

Elected buffoons who continue to try to keep children from learning as much about the real world as they can just keep proving they are more interested in control, exclusion and ignorance than they are in genuinely educating kids. An Oklahoma law passed last year is dressed up in all the pretense of stopping “discrimination” by essentially barring teachers from teaching about or giving kids access to books that discuss race and gender. But, as is the case with any such law, those politicians made it all too clear just which race, gender and outdated socio-cultural norms they were protecting; and how far they were willing to go to try to force children into a worldview that was antiquated even a century ago.

Now, an English teacher at Oklahoma’s Norman High School is stepping down after having balked at her district’s suggestion that teachers review the books in their classroom libraries to see which ones would “elicit challenges” related to the new law. Summer Boismier had more than 500 books in the classroom library she personally funded.

“I pay for those books. I put books on my shelves that I think not only would be appealing to students, but center stories that have traditionally been left out of official ELA (English Language Arts) curriculum,” Boismier told CNN.

But Boismier and other teachers were asked to box them up, turn books so the spines faced inward or cover the books that might be a concern, so the titles could not be seen. She chose to cover the books, but labeled them “Books the State Doesn’t Want You to Read,” and then placed a QR code that linked to the Brooklyn Public Library. She added the words “Definitely don’t scan!”

“I had seen other teachers online talking about this, that the library was offering all students ages 13 to 21 in the United States access to a free e-library card that would give them access to the library’s books unbanned program,” Boismier said.

Good for her.

Boismier probably did the right thing in stepping down because she did, indeed, run afoul of the school district’s policies on the matter. Fair enough.

It is a measure, however, of how desperate teachers are becoming to ensure politicians do not meddle in their ability to truly teach students that she felt it necessary to do so. Once again, some of those who claim to represent a party that seeks LESS government interference in individuals’ lives are instead interfering to the detriment of the very public they claim to represent.

No one benefits when we try to keep students in the dark about ALL of history or the diversity of humanity.

But students are smart; and we must hope they do seek out every single book they are being told they should not read. (It appears to have escaped the notice of some of these politicians who are living in the 19th Century that students do not need access to a physical book to read what troglodytes hope they will not.)

We shouldn’t ever be afraid children will learn or be exposed to more. We should welcome it. We should encourage them to ask questions and give them honest answers. And we must understand that in doing so, we give them and ourselves hope for a better future. We’re supposed to be moving away from ignorance and fear, not allowing ourselves to be pushed back into them.

Aren’t we?

Christina Myer is executive editor of The Parkersburg News and Sentinel. She can be reached via e-mail at cmyer@newsandsentinel.com

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More Online!

https://www.bklynlibrary.org/books-unbanned