Friday, October 09, 2009
Editorial: The perks of a being a censor
A parent's objection to a book has school board rethinking its policy.
From the RoundTable blog
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Roanoke County school officials yanked all copies of "The Perks of Being a Wallflower" off the library shelves at William Bryd High School, sent the book to its librarian review committee, decided to entertain the idea of revamping its process for accepting books into libraries and -- most troublesome -- disciplined a teacher for giving a student a school-approved book.
All this because one parent -- whose son was exposed to the book by another student -- objected to its contents.
Much of this seems overblown. We haven't read the coming-of-age story by Stephen Chbosky. We understand it is about a shy, intelligent kid named Charlie entering high school and navigating through the angst of adolescence and exposure to sex, drugs and a friend's suicide.
These are tough subjects, and we do not know how graphically they are handled or the context in which they are presented. As per the county's challenged material policy, three librarians will read the book and make a recommendation about whether it should be reshelved. That is a sensible response, and the school board would do well to trust their judgment and not let one parent's objection cloud their own.
Those who have not read the book or researched its contents -- for now that includes members of the editorial board -- do not have a legitimate voice, no matter how loudly they raise it, on whether it is generally appropriate for high school students.
At one point, though, school officials included the book in the library's circulation. That's why it is particularly troubling that the teacher who gave it to a student at the student's request would, in the words of school officials, undergo "appropriate personnel action." No action against the teacher seems appropriate.
