More power to Laurie Taylor of Fayetteville, Arkansas, who has the poobahs of “anything goes” in a snit over wanting impressionable minds to have limited access to certain books in the school district libraries. The National Coalition Against Censorship has written a letter to the superintendent of schools, the simple effect being to tell Laurie to take a hike. The Coalition doesn’t think individual parents should have a say in what their children read, claiming censorship.

First, the effort to ban certain books isn’t censorship. Censorship is when the government (read that politicians) prevents or forbids books or speeches, with which they don’t agree, to be published or given. The effort of Mrs. Taylor isn’t censorship by any stretch of imagination. She is practicing good parenting and because she is a taxpayer she has every right to demand that decency be part of the school experience.

At one time, books that promoted certain subjects (homosexual conduct, premarital sex, lesbianism, etc.) couldn’t be found in the school libraries. Now in some schools those types of books and more can be found while the Bible is banned. In case anyone cares to think about it, something is totally wrong with the thinking of educators, writers, and politicians. The editorial writer in the Sunday, July 24, 2005, Arkansas Democrat Gazette wrote that the Laurie Taylors misunderstand what education is all about. He said that the idea is ... “to open young minds so that they will grow into thinking adults, not robots.” Well and good as long as that which is being poured in is useful knowledge and not the perversion in the books under scrutiny.

An argument put forth by many, who think it is fine for young people to read filth in the name of education, is that they hear and see such things on the street and elsewhere. That is true, but it isn’t any excuse for such immorality to be made available in the taxpayer supported schools. Somewhere along the line in the maturation process the young must be taught the difference between what is acceptable to be a mentally healthy adult, and that which will cause life long misery and trouble for everyone. (Last time I checked that remains the job of the parents.) Allowing children unfettered access to filth isn’t acceptable education by anyone’s definition except by those who promote perversion or turn a blind eye to it. Baseness has become the norm for many rather than the pursuit of excellence and unfortunately, some parents don’t see anything wrong with exposing children to baseness and perversion, but that doesn’t mean that it should be part of the school experience

Over the years writers and artists have become bolder in pushing their works of perversion, claiming First Amendment freedom for what they do, and then when challenged, they scream censorship. They have a right to do what they wish, but they don’t have a right to force anyone to accept it nor to keep anyone from challenging them and their filth. Much of what appears in the works of the “enlightened” authors and artists is nothing short of pornography and would be looked upon as such if done by a back alley nobody. Unfortunately, educators seemingly can’t see the difference between filth and beauty in literary works when the author has some type of standing or when the subject is trendy and being pushed by those whose knowledge of God and his values is suspect. Maybe that reveals the educators’ system of values more than some might like to entertain.

There isn’t any excuse for access to filth to be part of any school experience. The poobahs of education, blunder headed politicians, and the purveyors of perversion by any name, need to understand that it is the concerned parents of the school system who are the real force behind an uplifting educational experience. Granted, not all parents care what is taught in the schools, and thankfully those who do care are shouldering the burden of insisting that decency be part of the educational process.

Kudos must be given to Mrs. Taylor for standing for right and decency and for taking the fight for decency to the poobahs. We need more concerned involved parents like her.

© 07-24 -2005 DEC