Book challenge report

[telophase]

This is the ACLU's Book Challenge Report (PDF) for Texas K-12 schools this year.


My most WTF?! moment came when I read that Drug Related Diseases by Barbara Hughes was challenged. The description is "Discusses a number of drugs, including alcohol, cocaine,heroin, and amphetamines, and the health problems that may result from their use or abuse." Yeah, banning the book that explains how these things can be bad for you makes total sense. (The report says the result was "Use Restricted," with no explanation for how it was restricted.)

Comments

[yhlee]

WTF?

Not a school library, but when I frequented Belle Sherman Kendall Branch Library in Houston, one of the things I read--there was a series of juvenile nonfiction books on drugs. Amphetamines, heroin, cocaine, glue-sniffing, alcohol, the works. Each drug had its own book, told in a mildly stern, dry tone, and complete with photos and warnings about the pretty icky things that taking these drugs could do to you. I read every. single. one. of these books. They resulted in my decision not to ever, ever, EVER go near recreational drugs (I later relented and decided cooking-amounts of alcohol was okay, only to be foiled by being put on medications that Don't Like Alcohol). Yeah.

[telophase]

I just don't get the line of reasoning that goes "If we make sure our kids don't know these things exist, they won't do them." Newsflash: they already know! And what they know about them is weirdly twisted info that comes from what is essentially playing a giant game of Telephone from kid to kid.

[yhlee]

Illusion of control, maybe? I don't know. But it's like the line of reasoning that shows up about sex ed from its opponents. *sigh* I wish my sex ed class had told us about more stuff, not less. Although maybe more is too much to expect from a traumatized room full of adolescents who totally wish they were somewhere else. (Teacher: "So why do people have sex?" Traumatized room full of students: *stony silence* Teacher: "Because it feels good!" Traumatized room full of students: *cringe* In all fairness, I liked the teacher; he had a sense of humor and he was pretty down to earth. But still.)

[telophase]

My Biology class (gender-separated for this particular item) got to see the Nova special on childbirth that showed, in graphic detail, a woman giving birth. All of us girls walked out of there swearing never, ever, ever to have children. I think it was an effective deterrent. XD

[yhlee]

Yeah, no kidding! I forced Joe to come hold my hand when I gave birth (he sure as hell wasn't going to volunteer) and he looked pretty green. (There was some kind of screen so that I couldn't see what was going on, which is probably just as well.) I've never watched a birth (video or otherwise) in full but just the photos of animal births (horses, cats, whatever) make it look pretty gross.

[telophase]

I took a medical anthropology course my freshman year of college and the prof's particular area of study was birth. One of the films we watched was the classic Birth in the Squatting Position, which was nothing but birth after birth after birth after birth after birth, all in, you guessed it, the squatting position.

[ebony14.livejournal.com]

Remember, we live in a state where they believe that if they don't teach evolution, they won't have to deal with it. You have to wonder how they get anything done at the Texas Board of Education, with all those ostriches standing around with their heads in the sand.

[longshot14.livejournal.com]

Countdown to apt comparison to abstinence-only education in 3...2...1...