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OT?: Stand for good books, good parents, good selecting
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From: BudNotBuddy_at_aol.com <BudNotBuddy>
Date: Mon, 18 Jul 2005 14:25:55 EDT
Yes, but it's all about whether or not our children will be permitted to learn about and utilize those good tools that most of us believe should be available to them through their school libraries. In a 1978 school library censorship case, Federal District Court Judge Joseph Tauro said of the library: There a student can literally explore the unknown, and discover areas of interest and thought not covered by the prescribed curriculum. The student who discovers the magic of the library is on the way to a life-long experience of self?ucation and enrichment. That student learns that a library is a place to test or expand upon ideas presented to him, in or out of the classroom. Tauro also stated that: ???What is at stake here is the right to read and be exposed to controversial thoughts and language ??? a valuable right subject to First Amendment protection.??? In the 1982 landmark censorship case, Board of Education, Island Trees Union Free School Dist. v. Pico, Justice William Brennan noted in his opinion that there is a right ???to receive information and ideas.??? He states that the right is an inherent corollary of the rights of free speech and press that are explicitly guaranteed by the Constitution, in two senses. First, the right to receive ideas follows ineluctably from the sender???s First Amendment right to send them??? More importantly, the right to receive ideas is a necessary predicate to the recipient???s meaningful exercise of his own rights of speech, press, and political freedom. Brennan also wrote: A library is a vital institution in the continuing American struggle to create a society rich in freedom and variety of thought, broad in its understanding of diverse views and cultures and justifiably proud of its own democratic institutions. The life and utility of a library are severely impaired when works can be removed merely because they are offensive to the personal, political or social tastes of individual citizens, whether or not those citizens represent the majority of opinion in a community. Many in America believe that such sentiments are dangerous and/or not true. Others see these words as the First Amendment coming alive in their own lives. There is no doubt that this is but one facet of the war going on for control of America. Irregardless of whether or not the above sentiments are legally valid today under the latest court decisions (and pending a new, unknown swing Justice on the Supreme Court), you either embrace these sentiments or you believe that schools and school libraries should absolutely not provide materials beyond the orthodoxy and the curriculum. You either want to offer students opposing viewpoints and provide materials that make kids think, or you want to bury them. It is a time to mobilize on the local level to protect school libraries. The dangers facing them are not going away.
Richie Partington
_http://richiespicks.com_ (http://richiespicks.com/) BudNotBuddy at aol.com
Received on Mon 18 Jul 2005 01:25:55 PM CDT
Date: Mon, 18 Jul 2005 14:25:55 EDT
Yes, but it's all about whether or not our children will be permitted to learn about and utilize those good tools that most of us believe should be available to them through their school libraries. In a 1978 school library censorship case, Federal District Court Judge Joseph Tauro said of the library: There a student can literally explore the unknown, and discover areas of interest and thought not covered by the prescribed curriculum. The student who discovers the magic of the library is on the way to a life-long experience of self?ucation and enrichment. That student learns that a library is a place to test or expand upon ideas presented to him, in or out of the classroom. Tauro also stated that: ???What is at stake here is the right to read and be exposed to controversial thoughts and language ??? a valuable right subject to First Amendment protection.??? In the 1982 landmark censorship case, Board of Education, Island Trees Union Free School Dist. v. Pico, Justice William Brennan noted in his opinion that there is a right ???to receive information and ideas.??? He states that the right is an inherent corollary of the rights of free speech and press that are explicitly guaranteed by the Constitution, in two senses. First, the right to receive ideas follows ineluctably from the sender???s First Amendment right to send them??? More importantly, the right to receive ideas is a necessary predicate to the recipient???s meaningful exercise of his own rights of speech, press, and political freedom. Brennan also wrote: A library is a vital institution in the continuing American struggle to create a society rich in freedom and variety of thought, broad in its understanding of diverse views and cultures and justifiably proud of its own democratic institutions. The life and utility of a library are severely impaired when works can be removed merely because they are offensive to the personal, political or social tastes of individual citizens, whether or not those citizens represent the majority of opinion in a community. Many in America believe that such sentiments are dangerous and/or not true. Others see these words as the First Amendment coming alive in their own lives. There is no doubt that this is but one facet of the war going on for control of America. Irregardless of whether or not the above sentiments are legally valid today under the latest court decisions (and pending a new, unknown swing Justice on the Supreme Court), you either embrace these sentiments or you believe that schools and school libraries should absolutely not provide materials beyond the orthodoxy and the curriculum. You either want to offer students opposing viewpoints and provide materials that make kids think, or you want to bury them. It is a time to mobilize on the local level to protect school libraries. The dangers facing them are not going away.
Richie Partington
_http://richiespicks.com_ (http://richiespicks.com/) BudNotBuddy at aol.com
Received on Mon 18 Jul 2005 01:25:55 PM CDT
