Of course it’s a zero-sum game when people only have limited bandwidth and their personal agendas. How many times over the past four years did SB meetings drone on well after 10 or 11 PM because members were pushing their silly “equity resolutions” or projects, only for academic matters to either get ignored completely or dealt with in a hasty manner as it got close to midnight? |
Thanks to this thread, I read Lawn Boy over the weekend. I actually mean the "thank you" because I really liked it. A lot. This book is absolutely not, at all, in any definition of the word, pornographic. It is a pretty gentle and ultimately uplifting coming-of-age story that is more about class issues than sexuality - though obviously (SPOILER) the "coming out" part at the end is a big deal.
I had to come back to this thread to try to decipher what ban-worthy aspect people might be referring to. The flashback with his childhood friend? Really?! What's especially hard to believe about identifying that scene as the big problem is that there is a similar level of explicit, also very short but *straight* flashback a couple of chapters later. There must be thousands of more sexually explicit books in the libraries! Should I start naming classics?! If those asking for Lawn Boy to be banned from HS libraries want all sexually explicit books to be banned, then I respect your position. I also respectfully disagree. I hate graphic novels, but I'll read Gender Queer next. This is an anonymous forum and you all don't know me, but for the record. I am not an activist. I have kids at FCPS including high schoolers who have gone all the way through. I don't like the way my daughter wants to dress and all the other fuddy-duddy things of my generation and, still, Lawn Boy is not pornographic. It does portray a world in which, for the characters the reader likes and identifies with, it is ok to be gay. In any case, now that I have read it, I can't help but assume that anyone who wants to ban it either a) has not read it or b) doesn't want books where it is ok to be gay. |
Please give examples of these academic matters that were ignored completely at these meetings. Just because you assert this has happened doesn’t mean it actually happened. |
+10000. Thanks PP. It’s nice to see actual readers here. |
+1 Amazing what happens when people actually read the books! |
A library in Canada that doesn’t want to support anti-LGBTQ bigots? Ok… |
Declining SAT scores - never addressed. The pros and cons of AAP centers vs. LLIV - never addressed. The suitability of IB for schools with large concentrations of ESOL/FARMS kids - never addressed. Severe overcrowding at schools like Chantilly - very rarely addressed. |
So these items were on the agenda and the board didn’t get to them because too much time was spend on transgender issues? Because that’s what you’ve asserted above. Or are you now moving the goal posts? |
Stop trying to focus on facts. PP needs a good narrative regardless of whatever actually happened. |
You must have lack reading comprehension skills. The library does support the book. Activists with your attitude want to ban it from that library, removed it from Amazon and Target in the past, and will continue to do anything not to see it in our libraries in FCPS. |
Yes, parents should watch a few school board meetings so they can see exactly what that poster is talking about. The school board could significantly shorten ther meeting times if they stopped focusing on social issues and got back to focusing on academics and facilities. It would probably make the principals' jobs a lot easier too. |
Oh. So the books aren’t actually banned then? The book is not data-based. It’s an opinion piece by an anti-trans activist. |
So did the board get to the topics listed or not? |
It’s just as offensive that some of these items never make it to an agenda as the fact that, when they do, they end up getting discussed in a perfunctory manner in the wee hours. If you want to accuse me of “moving the goal posts,” I’d suggest that, when you find yourself digging yourself into a hole, the best thing to do is stop digging. |
Yes, I agree with this wholeheartedly. |