Technolandy

Day 43 (of SOL 2025) which parents have rights? @huffpost Article via @mollywadzeck

Lots of chatter around book bans being more than about books- which this article by  Molly Wadzeck summarizes nicely https://apple.news/A2tSDFeoHQqaE_eD6RVgqJw – https://www.huffpost.com/entry/religious-freedom-in-schools_l_68920c92e4b06ab338945353 – which parents have the right to have their rights imposed on all – in particular when #SOGI and #bipoc books (authors and characters) are targeted… my question: which parents deserve the right – the ones who wish to exclude inclusion or the ones willing to include the excluders? 

Silent erasure may be bigger in the states, but we can’t pretend that doesn’t influence Canada – both via publication and parental protests… I even support some silent bans by not putting books like Mein Kampf on library book shelves… but a number of books on the banned lists (like GenderQueer) are fine on the shelf indicated for mature readers… like comic books, even though something looks colourful and ‘fun’ it may not be seeking an “all ages” audience… just like almost all books, a conversation can be helpful to determine ‘readiness’ and ‘appropriateness’ much more than any list generated by someone triggered by a word/image out of context. 

As a librarian/teacher/principal and parent I always hoped/knew that my kids would access reading material that I should be unfamiliar with (admittedly less likely because of my role always having a tie to libraries and books over the decades…) and ideally even uncomfortable with (within reason – there is a reason why we have librarians – though a recent rant of mine wishes there were more so that we could authentically positively influence our lagging literacy rates: https://technolandy.com/2025/07/31/day-31-of-sol-2025-literacy-scores-libraries-and-a-long-overdue-apology-for-the-learning-commons-mis-promotion/ ) this was modelled to me by my own father who had a ‘chat’ with me when he gave me a copy of Huckleberry Finn… it is great when parents have an influence and give directions on where readers could go (how I was introduced to Stephen King and Michael Crichton!) knowing that I would also explore a variety of ‘other’ books which has led me to have quite an eclectic reading inventory – almost all of the “Top 100 books of the 20th century” lists that came out back in the day… though admittedly in recent years my ‘most read genre’ has definitely been ‘education’ topics… But I happily continued the trend of having a range of books like Smile and Phantom Tollbooth available for the kids to peruse – interesting that all three kids definitely gravitated towards comics…sorry, for the sake of legitimacy: graphic novels. Which are highly targeted because apparently a picture is worth more than 1000 words since some very ‘spicy’ books do not make the banned list as quickly as a naked picture (don’t go to art galleries…)

I know we have families part of our school that are not happy we have our SOGI flag on display (heck some have given negative looks and comments to the flag of our Tla’amin Nation…) let alone SOGI, BIPOC, and Indigenous authors in our comic book library… but through conversations some have shared they’ve become more… accepting…

But who should control how much, and what type, of ideologies are followed?

In Texas it is becoming more clear that there is only one acceptable religion (in schools) with its ten commandments being posted in rooms (I would be the one that would be doing some pushing on this – such as having it in it’s original language… and unedited… having a variety of alternative religious declarations on display (assuming there is agreement that the god worshiped by christianity, judaism, and islam is the same one… though does sharing shiva conflict with the first commandment of having ‘no other gods before me’ <— or, like flags, does ‘order of display’ matter? And I guess students have an ‘out’ for the archaic practice of weekend homework (still a big fan of doing learning at home…) since no work should be done on Sundays…

Extended thoughts:

There is a challenge around being truly ‘inclusive’ as a school… it means everyone is welcome, even those who wish ‘those kids’ (and learning about them… and other topics that are much more uncomfortable…) were not part of the program… but this is not William Goldman’s Princess Bride (aka ‘the good parts version – not the boring S Morgenstern edition) version of history and society… But justice, equity, diversity, inclusion and accessibility is valuable hard work… and needs to be seen as what it is – a silent erasure where ‘pressure’ makes it ‘easier’ to ignore and avoid certain authors/topics/genres to not enter conversations – or see students kept home during some lessons (which I never fully understood since so often in my classroom, teachable moments came up without a full plan to present to parents (or even my principal) in advance… some were, but definitely not all! And the uproar over key books is not spontaneous nor a grassroots movement, but coordinated in their efforts (and even in their complaint form letters). 

Once again, if we want to see an increase in literacy and connecting more students with ‘right fit’ books… we need more librarians than parent-activist-groups. I have long made accommodations for religious reasons (and am always conflicted in December with a certain red suited commercial creation coming into conflict with some religious practitioners… I don’t feel any better when parents ‘opt their children out’ of some aspects and it can be even more so when the school culture is to do things like make birthday announcements when again, some members of the community do not observe that annual event in the same way… when we do some of these things we reiterate systemic discrimination and continue to have it hide in plain sight… the only thing that makes me nervous is when we actually hide some titles away from plain sight… as an example – GenderQueer is a great book and an important read for some students but not necessarily all (and I take the same stance with Lord of the Flies – the archaic pop language does not hold up well while the theme and plot is fabulous) but like most books by Mark Twain, should come with a bit of a conversation (thus why every school should have a full time librarian in the library and a second who continues to provide prep support/library skills based on an FTE model). 

So which parents deserve their “rights” more – the ones who wish to exclude inclusion or the ones willing to include the excluders?