Book Banning/Destruction...

[RightIsWrong]

Originally posted by: nakedfrog
I'd probably call a few local news stations.

I'd probably follow this route if, after speaking to them and getting confirmation that they were deliberately taken out.

 

[cKGunslinger]

I'm a huge opponent of censorship, but what kind of school are we talking about there? High School? Elementary School?

If "The Color Purple," "Of Mice and Men," and "Lord of the Flies" were to be made unavailable to the Kindergarten - 2nd Grade students, I would have no objections.

My children will read all these books, but when I decide they can. I do not want them, at that age, to have unsupervised access to mature material that I have no control over.

So really, it's a matter of degrees.

 

[mugs]

Originally posted by: BigJ

Originally posted by: mugs
I would do nothing. The principal and/or librarian are not obligated to offer those books at the library.

Banning books not uncommon either

This goes back to the Pico case (which I admit, I just started reading 5 minutes ago) and I found this interesting point:

http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/cgi-bin/getcase.pl?court=US&vol=457&invol=853

JUSTICE BLACKMUN concluded that a proper balance between the limited constitutional restriction imposed on school officials by the First Amendment and the broad state authority to regulate education, would be struck by holding that school officials may not remove books from school libraries for the purpose of restricting access to the political ideas or social perspectives discussed in the books, when that action is motivated simply by the officials' disapproval of the ideas involved. Pp. 879-882.

Also, I believe it is up to the state to decide which books are offered in school libraries, with the school board deciding which ones are actually kept in the school, and which also has the ability to ban books. Not the principal or librarian though.

Alright, it sounds like he is overstepping his bounds. I still don't think it's something to get all up in arms about.

 

[MrPickins]

Originally posted by: mugs

Originally posted by: BigJ

Originally posted by: mugs
I would do nothing. The principal and/or librarian are not obligated to offer those books at the library.

Banning books not uncommon either

This goes back to the Pico case (which I admit, I just started reading 5 minutes ago) and I found this interesting point:

http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/cgi-bin/getcase.pl?court=US&vol=457&invol=853

JUSTICE BLACKMUN concluded that a proper balance between the limited constitutional restriction imposed on school officials by the First Amendment and the broad state authority to regulate education, would be struck by holding that school officials may not remove books from school libraries for the purpose of restricting access to the political ideas or social perspectives discussed in the books, when that action is motivated simply by the officials' disapproval of the ideas involved. Pp. 879-882.

Also, I believe it is up to the state to decide which books are offered in school libraries, with the school board deciding which ones are actually kept in the school, and which also has the ability to ban books. Not the principal or librarian though.

Alright, it sounds like he is overstepping his bounds. I still don't think it's something to get all up in arms about.

Censorship is one of the things our founding fathers really "got up in arms" about.

 

[NogginBoink]

I'd ensure the school board is aware of the situation.

If the person is actually destroying state-owned property, I'd ensure the local district attorney's office knew about it.

And yeah, calling a few news stations or the local newspaper's consumer advocate's office might be a good idea too.

 

[GasX]

Originally posted by: mugsAlright, it sounds like he is overstepping his bounds. I still don't think it's something to get all up in arms about.

You think a religous nut with an agenda is going to make wise decisions as to what books your children should read in order to grow up to be intelligent, educated and well adjusted human beings with the breadth of knowledge that will allow them to look at both sides of an issue and make informed decisions?

 

[ShotgunSteven]

Originally posted by: cKGunslinger
I'm a huge opponent of censorship, but what kind of school are we talking about there? High School? Elementary School?

If "The Color Purple," "Of Mice and Men," and "Lord of the Flies" were to be made unavailable to the Kindergarten - 2nd Grade students, I would have no objections.

My children will read all these books, but when I decide they can. I do not want them, at that age, to have unsupervised access to mature material that I have no control over.

So really, it's a matter of degrees.

It seems they had a subsection of books limited to older age groups, but got rid of the subsection and put most of the books back in general circulation.

I would be amazed if you found a Kindergartener through second grader that actually had the reading comprehension skills to handle the books you mentioned, assuming they weren't bored out of their skulls by them.

 

[CrazyShiz]

Originally posted by: deepred98

Originally posted by: dmcowen674

Originally posted by: ShotgunSteven
Question for all of you. What would you do if you found out that the principal of a local school was taking books out of that school's library and hiding them (with the knowledge of the librarian) so that students couldn't read them or check them out, their reasons being that the books clash (in their mind) with their personal religious beliefs?

What if in some cases it was going beyond that, where the person "accidentally" destroyed new books as they came in so that they were thrown out rather than placed on the shelves?

Move to a Blue State.

yes because 'blue' states are on such a higher intellectual, physical, spiritual, etc. level than 'red' states :disgust:

What, we're not?







I keed, I keed

 

[PrinceofWands]

First steps would be legal. I'd tell the media, get pictures and proof, file a complaint, file a lawsuit, stage protests, etc. If it continued unchecked I'd beat the sorry son-of-a-zealotous-bastard until he died and stopped polluting my planet.

 

[ShotgunSteven]

Originally posted by: PrinceofWands
First steps would be legal. I'd tell the media, get pictures and proof, file a complaint, file a lawsuit, stage protests, etc. If it continued unchecked I'd beat the sorry son-of-a-zealotous-bastard until he died and stopped polluting my planet.

It seems one of the books that may have found its way off of the shelves is Matilda, by Roald Dahl. That would be somewhat ironic, as the book is about a bright young girl that loves to read, and one of the major antagonists in the book is a tyrannical school headmistress named Trunchbull.

 

[everman]

Originally posted by: dmcowen674

Originally posted by: ShotgunSteven
Question for all of you. What would you do if you found out that the principal of a local school was taking books out of that school's library and hiding them (with the knowledge of the librarian) so that students couldn't read them or check them out, their reasons being that the books clash (in their mind) with their personal religious beliefs?

What if in some cases it was going beyond that, where the person "accidentally" destroyed new books as they came in so that they were thrown out rather than placed on the shelves?

Move to a Blue State.

Just don't make it California, they're supposed to be one of the worst in public edu outside of universities. The truth is, a great deal of the pub edu system in the U.S. is terrible compared to other countries. But I probably don't need to really say it because most of us know it.

 

[ViRGE]

Originally posted by: mugs
I would do nothing. The principal and/or librarian are not obligated to offer those books at the library.

Banning books not uncommon either

It's 2006, who the ****** is still banning Huck Finn?!

 

[jagec]

Originally posted by: ViRGE

Originally posted by: mugs
I would do nothing. The principal and/or librarian are not obligated to offer those books at the library.

Banning books not uncommon either

It's 2006, who the ****** is still banning Huck Finn?!

It's because they use the "n" word:Q

No joke.

 

[J Heartless Slick]

Originally posted by: ShotgunSteven
Question for all of you. What would you do if you found out that the principal of a local school was taking books out of that school's library and hiding them (with the knowledge of the librarian) so that students couldn't read them or check them out, their reasons being that the books clash (in their mind) with their personal religious beliefs?

What if in some cases it was going beyond that, where the person "accidentally" destroyed new books as they came in so that they were thrown out rather than placed on the shelves?

Call CNN and get them on the case.

 

[imported_Zeke]

Originally posted by: ShotgunSteven

Originally posted by: cKGunslinger
I'm a huge opponent of censorship, but what kind of school are we talking about there? High School? Elementary School?

If "The Color Purple," "Of Mice and Men," and "Lord of the Flies" were to be made unavailable to the Kindergarten - 2nd Grade students, I would have no objections.

My children will read all these books, but when I decide they can. I do not want them, at that age, to have unsupervised access to mature material that I have no control over.

So really, it's a matter of degrees.

It seems they had a subsection of books limited to older age groups, but got rid of the subsection and put most of the books back in general circulation.

I would be amazed if you found a Kindergartener through second grader that actually had the reading comprehension skills to handle the books you mentioned, assuming they weren't bored out of their skulls by them.

My playground WAS lord of the flies. One teacher, 140 odd kids.

 

[sao123]

Originally posted by: ShotgunSteven
Question for all of you. What would you do if you found out that the principal of a local school was taking books out of that school's library and hiding them (with the knowledge of the librarian) so that students couldn't read them or check them out, their reasons being that the books clash (in their mind) with their personal religious beliefs?

What if in some cases it was going beyond that, where the person "accidentally" destroyed new books as they came in so that they were thrown out rather than placed on the shelves?

So is this like a question about Giles burning down the entire english library so he can steal a few books about the hellmouth?

 

[cKGunslinger]

Originally posted by: ViRGE

Originally posted by: mugs
I would do nothing. The principal and/or librarian are not obligated to offer those books at the library.

Banning books not uncommon either

It's 2006, who the ****** is still banning Huck Finn?!

I think Huck Finn only recently started to become banned, due to the PC movement.

 

[imported_Zeke]

Originally posted by: cKGunslinger

Originally posted by: ViRGE

Originally posted by: mugs
I would do nothing. The principal and/or librarian are not obligated to offer those books at the library.

Banning books not uncommon either

It's 2006, who the ****** is still banning Huck Finn?!

I think Huck Finn only recently started to become banned, due to the PC movement.

Huck Finn has been beaten with the ban stick for a long time.

 

[cKGunslinger]

Originally posted by: Zeke

Originally posted by: cKGunslinger

Originally posted by: ViRGE

Originally posted by: mugs
I would do nothing. The principal and/or librarian are not obligated to offer those books at the library.

Banning books not uncommon either

It's 2006, who the ****** is still banning Huck Finn?!

I think Huck Finn only recently started to become banned, due to the PC movement.

Huck Finn has been beaten with the ban stick for a long time.

Well, yes, it was always been controversial, but the reasoning has slightly changed over the years.

 

[FoBoT]

i would use the magic 8 ball to determine my course of action

 

[MercenaryForHire]

Originally posted by: jagec

Originally posted by: ViRGE

Originally posted by: mugs
I would do nothing. The principal and/or librarian are not obligated to offer those books at the library.

Banning books not uncommon either

It's 2006, who the ****** is still banning Huck Finn?!

It's because they use the "n" word:Q

No joke.

:roll:

The kids, they listen to the rap music. It rots their brain, with the hippin' and the hoppin' and the bippin' and the boppin'. They don't know what the jazz is about!

lol, censorship

- M4H

 

[DaShen]

Originally posted by: BigJ
I'd want the principal's ass on a silver platter.

If anything, it would be the PTA to censor books (or a similar organization). On top of that, the principal is destroying property funded by taxpayers.

QFT... That is pretty screwed up. :| Regardless of personal beliefs, freedom of speech is key to a democratic society.

 

[cKGunslinger]

Originally posted by: FoBoT
i would use the magic 8 ball to determine my course of action

Witchcraft! Burn him!

 

[zendari]

Rather odd...my high school seemed to make it a point to assign books on that list to read, close to half the books we were made to read are in that 100.

 

[phisrow]

The principal and librarian would both have to be(at least) sacked. Some sort of punishment for misuse of school property would be in order as well. Not to mention gross dereliction of his office.