Banned Books Quest

by

Goehrig Orr

Jonnie Wallis

Introduction

The recently elected Centerville School Board feels strongly about the need to protect its students from exposure and access to controversial materials. Therefore, the School Board is proposing to ban the following books from the school system:

Daddy's Roommate by Michael Willhoite

This means removing these books from all of the Centerville School Media Centers, prohibiting their use in the curriculum, and prohibiting students and teachers from having the books on school property.  The Centerville School Board will conduct a public hearing on this important issue at its next meeting. The Centerville High School Student Council has decided it will attend the hearing and respond to the School Board's proposal.

The idea of banning books is not a new concept. For hundreds of years, people have sought to protect the community from controversial ideas by burning books. At the same time world leaders, like Winston Churchill, have sought to advocate the free flow of ideas.

Task

In order to present a unified statement at the public hearing, the Centerville High School Student Council has formed a six member committee to research the pertinent issues. The committee has decided the best way to prepare for the public hearing is to learn about a variety of viewpoints on book banning.  They will take and support a position on the School Board's proposal.

Roles and Perspectives

To learn about a variety of viewpoints, the committee members will each assume the role of one of the following:

You and the other committee members will each choose a role. Each member will explore the background information and move on to their specific role area. From this research, you will draft a role position statement based on information gleaned from the relevant sites. Each of you will bring your written position statement to the committee for discussion.  The Committee will formulate a unified Centerville High School Student Council recommendation to the School Board. This written recommendation needs to be supported with the arguments researched and the committee discussion.

Since your committee is representing the Centerville High School Student Council, it will be necessary to present the recommendation to the Council. This can be a power point presentation or posted to the Student Council's Webpage.

The central task of the High School Student Council Committee will be to answer the questions:

  1. What action should the Centerville School Board take upon the proposal to ban Daddy's Roommate by Michael Willhoite, Heather Has Two Mommies by Leslea Newman, Understanding Sexual Identity by Janice Rench, and Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain from its schools?

      2. Why?

Goals

As your committee answers these questions, you are striving to achieve the following goals:

To develop an understanding of alternative viewpoints regarding book banning.

The Process

Begin exploring the resources listed below. You will find sites for background information as well as sites proposing a particular point of view.  Weigh the evidence carefully.  As you investigate the issue, make notes to support your role position. You will need these for the committee session.  Meet with your group.  Discuss the various role positions.  Working as a group, develop a committee position paper to be presented to the Student Council (the class).

Information Resources

Background Information:

Library Bill of Rights

Role Information

As a concerned citizen, you are interested in how controversial materials affect today's youth. You are concerned about a healthy learning environment for the youth of Centerville.

Decency Standards in Public School Literature

As a school library media specialist, you select library materials based on the curriculum and reading interests of the students you serve.  Librarians have the responsibility to be inclusive not exclusive in collection development. Media Specialists follow professional guidelines and standards from several organizations.  Explore these sites.

The Library Bill Of Rights: an interpretation

As a lawyer, you are concerned about how the students' civil liberties would be affected by the School Board 's proposal to ban books. Explore these sites.

Texas School Boards Remove Books from School Shelves

As a public librarian, you select materials based on what the youth of the community like to read and need for homework assignments. Librarians have the responsibility to be inclusive not exclusive in collection development. Your professional organizations offer guidelines and standards to help you answer challenges to materials.

Code of ethics

Conclusion

After completing this WebQuest, the members of your group will have:

An understanding of the issue of banned books.