Hi, Karen. No, I don't see the folly in both assumptions. I see what looks like a double standard here, and that concerns me far more than a list of books. We have been reminded this afternoon that parents are ultimately responsible for what our children read and that parents who do not do so are unwilling to work with their children. Yet I also have read comments from several people here about how a child should be allowed to read freely, to explore every idea without restraint. It looks to me as if the second concept would negate the first concept which is that parents have the responsibility of monitoring and shaping what their children read. It seems to be a convenient argument that parents should be responsible so that school libraries can put anything they like on a shelf. Librarians routinely allow children to check out books that are above their grade level, so arranging them according to level doesn't help much if a child checks out a book from school without a parent present. In some states, a parent is not even allowed to see a child's library record if that child has his/her own library card. This state of affairs creates a system where we know we're responsible but don't have the tools or access to take on full responsibility. When parents object to our children accessing certain books, we are perceived as narrow-minded, hostile people who stand in the way of progress and free thinking. Because many school libraries do not allow parental involvement and do not set limits, parents are left with few good options other than to stir up the school board.
I see a simple solution to this issue, but librarians I've approached seem to oppose it. With my cable TV service, I can block content based on the rating, and I can block certain channels completely. Why can't parents set up their children's library cards to allow them to read books within certain grade levles or to prevent them from checking out adult books? Then the parent, who should know his/her own child best, would be able to help them access content that is uniquely appropriate for their skill level and could modify the profile as a child matures. Parents would still need to talk with their children about what they're reading just as I do now with what my daughter watches on TV. The parental controls would act as the yellow lines on roads do, allowing freedom with established boundaries. Those boundaries expand as a child grows and ultimately disappear when the child has become a young adult, around 17 or so.
Monica Willyard Karen Lewellen wrote:
To unsubscribe from this list, send a blank Email to bookshare-discuss-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxxMonica,I can respect your stance, but you are making two major assumptions here, sadly you are not alone. You are working from the idea that there is a uniformed homogenized group known as children, who can all only understand things at the same level, and who are all brought up in such similar environments that the result of putting a book in their hands would be exactly the same. the second assumption is that libraries do not for example make an effort to put books in a grouping such as grade level.I feel sure you see the folly in both assumptions.
Put the word 'unsubscribe' by itself in the Subject line. To get a list of available commands, put the word 'help' by itself in the subject line.
