My only objection to this tweet is that the situation is worse than that caption makes out. Neither Abbott nor Krause (the "state lawmaker") have "cracked down" on books in Texas schools. Krause has already announced he's running for DA in Tarrant County (maybe his stunt letter will help his bona fides there, I dunno), but his committee is taking no action on his letter. I doubt he even cares if a school responds to him; he's trying to duck that notoreity now.NEW: In most far-reaching response yet to Gov. Abbott and a state lawmaker's crackdown on books in schools, North East ISD has temporarily pulled over 400 titles. It says some were too explicit for even high schoolers.https://t.co/KY1tnCko4S #txlege @claireab320 @LibbySeline
— Taylor Goldenstein (@taygoldenstein) December 6, 2021
Abbott told TEA to investigate "pornography" in Texas school libraries, knowing full well TEA has no investigatory powers (and so no staff to run such a thing), and no law enforcement power (pornography would be illegal, but finding it, defining it, and prosecuting it, are not within the purview of the TEA. Maybe the Texas Rangers, or a local DA, but not the TEA.) If TEA does nothing and the subject comes up again, Abbott will blame them (TEA is a state agency whose members are directly elected, not appointed by the governor). If TEA does anything at all, Abbott will take credit for it.
But there is no "crackdown." Which means these schools are responding to parents and, more likely, community cranks (I know of school board meetings which have been accosted by "the public," who had to sign in to speak, giving an address and a name. Some weren't even from the school district. They were just mad as hell and they weren't gonna take it anymore.).
This, too, will pass. I learned early on to buy the books I wanted to read; the school libraries wouldn't have them. The ideal is that we have free and open access to appropriate books (there are limits). It's called "ideal" for a reason. We never get close to it, but we tell ourselves we have; or that we've protected the kids by making sure we haven't.
Honestly, you'd think these people had never heard of the internet. Or read “Tom Sawyer.”
One thing you know, any students who would pick up a book and look at what's in it now know what books to look for if they want stuff old people are trying to keep them from seeing in any such list. It's not like the old days when dirty books were hard to access. I doubt there is anything in any book that they couldn't access worse than in more explicit and arousing form in video or pictures. Anyone who thinks kids who want that would bother with reading words on a paper page instead of going to their phone doesn't know even as much about kids today as a childless old uncle does.
ReplyDeleteThey are doing a service to the spread of what they don't want spread. As long as its in pages in books in a library. I know for a fact it's not the kids who hang out at the library who are hooking up the most. Though I do know a library that in the early 70s was infamous for its use for anonymous sex, that was the architect's fault, not anything the librarian had a choice in. I don't remember how they discouraged that. But they did.