The Challenges of Challenges: Understanding and Being Prepared (Part 1)

One of my favorite quotes from John Dewey is "What the best and wisest parent wants for his own child; that should the community want for all of its children. Any other ideal for our schools is narrow and unlovely; acted upon, it destroys our democracy" (1905). I use that quote often when talking about library media center budgeting because that is the time that the members of the school board have the responsibility to act as the best and wisest parents. What they want for their own children they should also want, expect, and demand for all of the children in the school district. It's their job.

When talking about intellectual freedom, however, that quote loses some of its altruistic flavor. The best and wisest parents now become parents who want all copies of Harry Potter removed from the school or see any mention of homosexuality as promoting an immoral lifestyle. Those parents (most likely a she) may earnestly believe that they are the best and wisest parents and as Dewey suggests—they earnestly want for every child in the school exactly what they want for their own children. Others, however, see their actions as narrow and unloving, and even as destroying democracy—exactly the opposite of Dewey's intent.

When a challenge gets difficult, it's hard to believe that people challenge instructional materials because they care. It's even harder to remember that educators want the general public, legislators, taxpayers, and parents to care about education. If we made a list of things that parents fear for their children, it would be a long one. If we made another list of the general life stressors on parents (e.g., financial, job, world affairs, etc.), it also would be a long one. Looking through the lens of stress we all share as adults and at the fears that all parents share about their children, we can understand challenges a bit better. The challenger may think, as a parent, I can't stop the war or improve the economy, but maybe I can take this one book out of my child's hand, and maybe even take a stand for all of the children in the school. I can't create a dike to dam the flood of popular music or popular culture, but maybe I can raise my thumb to stop just this one drop of unclean water from hitting my child.

Library media specialists and administrators have the same lens of stress that all adults have, along with the additional stresses of jobs in the education arena. It may help school personnel to continually strive to understand the concern of the challenger, but the challenge still creates a great deal of stress. Tempers flare, and regardless of the responsible efforts to manage budget, the choices made for well-selected collections, headlines trumpet with accusations that claim smut has been deliberately placed in the hands of children.

Library media specialists are the information resource experts in the school. They are the only ones trained to use the selection principles and criteria. Each library media specialist's role in the challenged materials process is to act as informed counsel for the district in the matter of selection, to gather data about the resource, and most importantly, to defend the use of established policy and procedures.

How It Got There in the First Place

In general, library media specialists don't do a very good job of explaining the profession to others. Therefore, one of the most important areas of the job, the selection of materials, is often misunderstood. If the library media specialist asked even the closest colleagues how materials are selected, they may reply that materials are purchased because it is perceived that people need them, or it is what the library media specialist likes, or it is what is on sale—as if the process involves watching sale ads at discount stores for selections to add to the reference collection. This lack of shared knowledge about selection comes back to haunt library media specialists when there are challenges to instructional materials.

Parents, fellow teachers, and maybe even administrators need to be informed that school board policies govern the selection of instructional materials, and that responsibility to purchase these materials is delegated through the superintendent to the teaching faculty. In the case of library materials, the person responsible is the library media specialist. The selection policy, however, applies to all instructional materials in the school whether they are part of the library collection or housed as instructional materials in classrooms. The selection policy applies to materials in all formats and covers materials used in instruction whether purchased through taxpayer funds or through gifts to the school.

Even though library media specialists are the only ones trained in selection processes, the hallowed principles of selection, i.e., accuracy, authority, literary merit, appropriateness, reputation of author, relevance to curriculum, all apply equally. The selection principles are the reason that library media specialists are involved in challenges to instructional materials, whether the challenge is in the classroom or the library media center. Library media specialists are the information resource experts in the school.

The same procedure applies even if the resource was purchased by a predecessor long forgotten, should have been weeded, or was from the awards list in the past year. Library media specialists know the interests and information needs of their community within and without the school. They also select materials by reading reviews from authoritative sources written by those trained in selection, by consulting awards and recommended lists, and by seeking suggestions from teachers and students. Resources are not purchased because the library media specialist likes it, or because it looks pretty in a catalog, or because it is a personal hobby of the library media specialist or someone on the teaching staff.

This means that when a resource is challenged, the library media specialist's role will be to guide the application of the selection principles to the resource in question. Statements of fact are always preferable to opinion so statements from published reviews are helpful. Even fiction resources can be judged as accurately representing the genre or, in the case of historical or science fiction, containing facts that are important curricular concepts. Fiction resources are also relevant specifically in those curriculum standards that focus on encouraging students to read for pleasure.

The word "appropriate" always causes some concern. It is used at times as a catchall phrase that could mean anything from language to pictures to behaviors. When discussing challenged resources, all parties involved should make sure that they know specifically what the issues are. The following definitions of "appropriate" may help:

• Reading level. Is the resource appropriate as defined by reading level? Usually, the answer to this is yes, although there are times when materials are deliberately purchased that are far above or far below the majority of student reading levels in a school. The current focus on adding picture books to middle and high schools or on ensuring that high-level readers in upper elementary schools have books on their reading level addresses this concern. Schools with K-8 student populations have an especially difficult time selecting materials at all reading levels.
• Interest level. Is the resource appropriate as defined by interest level? Of course, this is one of several elements, but it could be argued that students are very interested in language, pictures, or behaviors of which adults disapprove. In reality, students may be more interested in NASCAR racing, the current NFL season, or the latest American Idol television update than they are in fiction set in middle school or high school.
• Intellectual level. Is the resource appropriate as defined by intellectual level? In other words, can the students for whom this resource is intended understand the content and context? This is different from reading level. One application of intellectual level may be whether or not the content can be applied to the state curriculum standards.
• Emotional level. Is the resource appropriate as defined by emotional level or maturity of the students? This particular definition of appropriateness will be the one that causes the most discussion, and there are times when all a committee can do is decide that for some students, this is emotionally appropriate, and for others, it may be emotionally inappropriate. Some students may be traumatized by nightmares after reading stories about ghosts and goblins. Some students may not be ready to read stories or facts that directly contest what their parents or church members believe.

Regardless of the answer to each of the above, they can be used to push the discussion of appropriateness from vagueness into proscribed categories so that each person around the table understands what specific points are under discussion.

Library media specialists select materials for the school community. It would be nice if the collection were as appropriate for each person in the school community as it is for the average student, but money, time, energy, and lack of available resources precludes any hope of doing this. The selection process should value each child and each parent equally. No one should receive more consideration because he or she may or may not object to a particular resource. No one receives less consideration because he or she may or may not speak the dominant language of the school. The goal is to stretch the collection to meet the needs and interest of each child. It's not easy, and it's no wonder that at times parents or other citizens are concerned over materials that do not match the needs and interests of their children.

References

Angelou, Maya. I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings. Random House, 1970.

Asheim, Lester. "Not Censorship but Selection." Wilson Library Bulletin 28, no. 1 (1953): 63-67.

Board of Education, Island Trees Union Free School District no. 26 v. Pico, 73 L.Ed.2d 435 (457 U.S. 853, 102 S.Ct. 2799 1982).

Case v. Unified School District no. 233, 908 F.Supp. 864 (D. Kan. 1995 1995).

Dewey, John. The School and Society. McClure, Phillips, and Company, 1905.

Tinker v. Des Moines Independent Community School District, 21 L.Ed.2d 731 (393 U.S. 503, 89 S.Ct. 733 1969).

See Use This Page!: "A Guide to Handling Challenges"

View part two of the article here