(no subject)
I forgot how much of a circle jerk classrooms can be. And to make matters worse, it's all online, so I don't even have the benefit of nonverbal communication to show that I'm not being a dick. Since my classes are online, we're required to post at least three times a week: an initial post and two posts commenting on other people's posts. That's usually no problem, but sometimes, people have really stupid opinions.
Take, for example, my collections development class. I asked what they would do if faced with two specific things related to censorship. The first was censoring something like To Kill a Mockingbird or be forbidden to teach it and the second was what if a fifth grader (or so) came in requesting 50 Shades of Grey. The people who responded said stuff like "Who do they think they are censoring a book" and "The ALA is against any kind of censorship." Which are technically answers to the first one, but the question was specifically what do you do when you live in a very conservative part of the country and books about gay kids aren't even considered? I don't think the people who answered have ever really lived in a conservative part of the country.
I grew up in Michigan's Bible belt and I cannot remember a single book about gay youth at my library. There wasn't a copy of Madonna's Sex either and the Kama Sutra had no pictures. There wasn't even erotica. The librarians didn't censor any of the words in any controversial book, but they didn't order anything with too much sex in it either. There was one copy of The Story of O in a co-op of thirty or so libraries and comics rated mature were very difficult to come by. No one even answered my question about kids asking for sexy sexy books, which came from an incident at work where a couple preteens or young teens came in looking for that book. One of my coworkers was horrified and ranting about corrupting youth or some such. He wasn't too happy when I pointed out that I was that age when I discovered explicit fanfiction and if they had the internet, chances are they had too.
Someone else pondered what the harm was allowing kids to read books far below their reading levels with the implication being that as long as they're reading, right? I fucking hate that attitude. Just because someone is reading a book doesn't make it a Good Thing. I could eat candy all day long every day, but I'll eventually starve to death even though there is technically food in my belly. If all you're reading is fluff, then you're just killing your brain. I'm not saying everyone should go out and read Dostoevsky or Faulkner or Miller all the time (oh, god, especially not the last one), but everyone should challenge themselves. I love sci-fi and fantasy, but I still read general fiction on a fairly regular basis. I try to find non-fiction topics that are different or that I know nothing about just to expand my thinking.
And who knows. Maybe if you encourage kids to read outside of their comfort zone in their free time (because, let's be honest, assigned reading isn't a great way to encourage kids to read), they'll find something they like that isn't Eragon or Twilight. I was very lucky. I have a father who would say things like, "What? You haven't read Theodore Sturgeon? Go to the library and get something by him. You'll like him" and "Have you read Cat's Cradle? You have to read Cat's Cradle. You'll love it." Sometimes he was wrong, but I was challenged to read all the time and I can't think of a single negative thing about that.
Take, for example, my collections development class. I asked what they would do if faced with two specific things related to censorship. The first was censoring something like To Kill a Mockingbird or be forbidden to teach it and the second was what if a fifth grader (or so) came in requesting 50 Shades of Grey. The people who responded said stuff like "Who do they think they are censoring a book" and "The ALA is against any kind of censorship." Which are technically answers to the first one, but the question was specifically what do you do when you live in a very conservative part of the country and books about gay kids aren't even considered? I don't think the people who answered have ever really lived in a conservative part of the country.
I grew up in Michigan's Bible belt and I cannot remember a single book about gay youth at my library. There wasn't a copy of Madonna's Sex either and the Kama Sutra had no pictures. There wasn't even erotica. The librarians didn't censor any of the words in any controversial book, but they didn't order anything with too much sex in it either. There was one copy of The Story of O in a co-op of thirty or so libraries and comics rated mature were very difficult to come by. No one even answered my question about kids asking for sexy sexy books, which came from an incident at work where a couple preteens or young teens came in looking for that book. One of my coworkers was horrified and ranting about corrupting youth or some such. He wasn't too happy when I pointed out that I was that age when I discovered explicit fanfiction and if they had the internet, chances are they had too.
Someone else pondered what the harm was allowing kids to read books far below their reading levels with the implication being that as long as they're reading, right? I fucking hate that attitude. Just because someone is reading a book doesn't make it a Good Thing. I could eat candy all day long every day, but I'll eventually starve to death even though there is technically food in my belly. If all you're reading is fluff, then you're just killing your brain. I'm not saying everyone should go out and read Dostoevsky or Faulkner or Miller all the time (oh, god, especially not the last one), but everyone should challenge themselves. I love sci-fi and fantasy, but I still read general fiction on a fairly regular basis. I try to find non-fiction topics that are different or that I know nothing about just to expand my thinking.
And who knows. Maybe if you encourage kids to read outside of their comfort zone in their free time (because, let's be honest, assigned reading isn't a great way to encourage kids to read), they'll find something they like that isn't Eragon or Twilight. I was very lucky. I have a father who would say things like, "What? You haven't read Theodore Sturgeon? Go to the library and get something by him. You'll like him" and "Have you read Cat's Cradle? You have to read Cat's Cradle. You'll love it." Sometimes he was wrong, but I was challenged to read all the time and I can't think of a single negative thing about that.