Letter: Letting parents censor books is unreasonable

Letting parents censor books is unreasonable

After reading the letters to the editor on Feb. 5, I concluded that the writer of “Let parents make education decisions” has never been a teacher. Had she worked in our school systems now or in the past, she would be aware that her suggestions are neither reasonable nor appropriate for our public or private schools because it is an unmanageable task.

To install a control system such as she suggests would require every parent to read every book in the school’s library for that particular grade. Even with one child in the school, that is a monumental task. Every grade in every school would have to maintain a massive database of permitted books to ensure that a child does not choose a “forbidden” book.

Also, library reading is used in the classroom for teaching and testing purposes. How does the teacher evaluate a student who is not permitted to read a book that is “forbidden” by only one or two parents? Teachers would be forced to abandon teaching from or about a particular subject or author because one parent objected. That smacks of censorship.

Some educator will inevitably make a mistake and thus ignite another drama with school boards and lawyers and teachers’ associations involved, all at the expense of the teacher’s reputation and our tax dollars. We already have enough frivolous lawsuits bogging down our court dockets.

I think that the state Board of Education and school administrators do a good job of educating our children fairly and with an eye to individual student skills.

Jane Stafford.

Glen Allen.