Nov 17 2008
Controversial Book Goes Before Ankeny School Board
From the Register:
Cindy and James Dacus should know by early December the outcome of their months-long fight to restrict elementary students’ access to a book about two male penguins that raise a chick together.
Officials at Ankeny’s East Elementary School, where in late February the couple’s kindergartner found the book, “And Tango Makes Three,” denied the couple’s request to remove the book or move it to a parents-only section. The couple’s appeal to the school board is expected to be acted on next month.
“And Tango Makes Three” topped the American Library Association’s list of the 10 most challenged books in 2006 and 2007.
Point:
Nate Monson is project coordinator for Iowa Safe Schools, which promotes safe learning environments for all children, especially those who are gay, lesbian or transgender, as well as those whose parents are gay or lesbian couples.
Monson said putting a book such as “And Tango Makes Three” in a restricted area sends students the wrong message – that homosexuality is different and not OK. “Libraries are a place of diverse discussion, of all viewpoints,” he said. “That’s why we have libraries. It’s important to have literature such as this on the shelf.” [Emphasis added.]
It should go without saying that kindergarten is probably not the best place to have “diverse discussions,” but apparently it actually needs to be said. I’m not sure when Mr. Monson was last in a kindergarten classroom but he may be surprised to learn that these are not sophisticated houses of Socratic dialog. Kindergartners are more interested in construction paper and Elmer’s glue than the big social injustices of the day. And rightly so.
This, of course, is not an isolated incident. For many nervous observers, the public school system seems more interested in creating activists rather than creating knowledge. Its not difficult to find school policies that are explicitly hostile to traditional family values in the name of diversity.
Counterpoint:
Chuck Hurley, president of the Iowa Family Policy Center, which opposes gay marriage, said educators should heed parents’ concerns over what their children are exposed to in schools.
“If not, the parent needs to look for a school setting where the parents’ worldview will be respected,” he said.
“Thank God there’s some parents who have the care and love of their children to such a degree that they would stick their neck out in a PC world and ask that this agenda not be promoted in their child’s school,” he said.
