Fahrenheit 451 all over again?

 OR...... justifiable measures to protect your young children's minds?

Texas governor orders investigation of ‘pornographic’ books in schools

Republican Governor Greg Abbott is calling for charges to be filed against any public school employee who has given books he considers pornographic to students.

In calling for no-porn-in-public-schools standards, Abbott mentioned two books: “Gender Queer: a Memoir” by Maia Kobabe, who identifies as nonbinary, and “In the Dream House” by Carmen Maria Machado, a lesbian.

Critics say Abbott is glomming on to the latest flashpoint in the nation’s culture wars, as Republicans seek to ban books discussing America’s history of institutional racism for fear it will make white children uncomfortable or give them feelings of guilt, and other topics they find distasteful.

In his role as chairman of the Texas House General Investigating Committee, state Representative Matt Krause, a Fort Worth Republican, recently sent a letter to Texas school districts, along with a list of 850 books, including Machado’s and Kobabe’s, and told them to identify how many copies of each they had and the amount of money they spent on them.

He also asked them to identify any other books that address human sexuality, sexually transmitted diseases, HIV or AIDs or “contain material that might make students feel discomfort, guilt, anguish, or any other form of psychological distress because of their race or sex or convey that a student, by virtue of their race or sex, is inherently racist, sexist, or oppressive, whether consciously or unconsciously.”

Parents’ rights to have a say in their children’s educations, including what books they are assigned or can check out in school libraries, was a key issue in Virginia’s Nov. 2 gubernatorial election. And it is set to be a topic of heated debate in Texas’ elections for governor and attorney general next year.

https://www.courthousenews.com/texas-governor-orders-investigation-of-pornographic-books-in-schools/

Personal note: I remember when we first started reading Catcher in the Rye, and Go Ask Alice, and the uproar at the time by many parents (late 60s, early 70s).

So while on the surface, this seems more of the same kind of rightwing outrage, there is still a question, wouldn't you as a parent want some say in what is allowed in terms of reading material in schools?

What think you all?



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