Why are any schools allowing this in their libraries?

[tabbycatstripy]

There was a mini scandal over a Catholic school in Southwark last month, with complaints to the Archbishop from a Tory MP (Eliot Colburn), after an invitation to a writer to come and promote his books and talk to the kids was withdrawn because his books were judged by the diocese to be ‘outside what is permissible in a Catholic school’. Complaints were made to Ofsted, the governors were dismissed by the diocese, and apparently the HT, who wanted the visit to go ahead, was at odds with the church.

So far so normal.

Twitter then went crazy in support of this writer, saying the books were lovely, fun, inclusive, with hardly any sexual content, and it was all so homophobic.

Anyway, I just saw an extract from the book:

twitter.com/dolphinmaria/status/1503490597931339785?s=21&t=0ZURhjXM1Ln6esoraw6Ilw

Why does a Tory MP (or any adult) think this content is suitable for adolescents?

Why is any librarian placing books in KS3 collections that talk this explicitly about (and trivialise) anal sex, oral sex, and porn?

So, what material would you think is appropriate for a senior school library?

There are thousands of books in school libraries and nearly all are fine.

Have you read them and are you sure? This is the thing, unless you're involved in selection and have read the books you don't know. This book has only come to your attention via an extract on Twitter. It could be on the shelves in your school library.

This is just semantics. Working in schools for many years, I am confident most libraries are full of suitable books. I’m sure there are some questionable ones.

What is the point of the question?

I agree.
I have a young acting 11 year old and this would be extremely inappropriate for her.Why normalise this language and push it on kids? I’m sure the rest of the really good anti-homophobic content would be useful for her age range. Her best friend has received a lot of homophobic bullying for not confirming to gender norms and I am absolutely certain that no one has ever said anything remotely that sexualised to him. It should be KS4 and above. Parents can buy it if they think their child is mature enough but mine isn’t.

WeRTheOnesWeHaveBeenWaitingFor

My cousin is really young in the head. Doesn’t swear. Doesn’t get risqué jokes. Loves reading.

There’s just no benefit to this. Write the book, get the message across, but why does it have to include such explicit stuff?

And same here. I’ve never come across an incident of homophobic bullying in 11-13 year olds that used language like this. “Gay boy” or “f*t (and worse - I won’t repeat) are common in kids of this age, but not this.

It's not semantics, it's real life and central to libraries and librarian's ethics.

There needs to be some degree of trust in the person ultimately making the decisions. Question choices, but understand that not all decisions will come out the way you want them to. You have to accept that at some point the decisions are made well, are evidence based and have been made based on agreed principles that you may have agreed if you have shown interest.

There will be books on the shelf that you disagree should be there but unless you are the one who's job it is to select those books or be someone who reads all the books that come into the library, you won't know.

I trust teachers to look after my children but keep an eye on what's going on just in case because I can't be in the classroom all the time. You need to trust the school librarian to stock the library responsibly but keep an eye on what's being bought just in case, because you can't read every book.

No, Rhubarb, I don’t. If the school librarian shows poor judgment I need to be concerned. If the HT and governors show poor judgment I need to be more concerned, until people pay proper attention to their statutory responsibilities.

Because unfortunately, this is how kids end up being groomed. Adults trusting each other, people letting stuff go by them, people thinking a policy is a replacement for a good policy. And so on.

I’m not ashamed to say I would challenge a colleague’s judgment and keep challenging it until the issue was resolved. That’s my job as an educator. If I’m wrong they can sack me.

FGS!! DEGREES of trust. Keep an eye on things! Don't blindly follow but have some trust otherwise you need to read every book. Raise concerns if you need to. Question but accept that not every outcome is going to be to your liking.

I think you're now being deliberately obtuse or just refusing to properly read what I'm writing. For the most part, I'm actually agreeing with you. You DO need to be mindful of the books being put in front on children but this must be done in a balanced way.

‘You DO need to be mindful of the books being put in front on children but this must be done in a balanced way.’

I don’t think the passage above meets that recommendation at all. As I’ve said I’m happy for books to contain passing references to sex in a graduated way as kids get older.

That passage is inappropriate for children and no, I don’t need to balance that opinion. We have safeguarding laws for a reason.

I return to my view that you want to censor what people can read (suppression of material that do not conform to your word view) and will not accept compromise (no debate).

And I return to my view that yes, I want to censor what children can read, and I am debating.

My school library had a range of Virginia Andrews novels - I remember reading a lot about incest and rape in year 7.

I read stuff like that too. Not at school.

Going back to the title of the thread - I don't know why this wound in a secondary school library.

I'd have a serious problem if I knew my children were accessing text like this at school. It's not ok at all.

There's a lot of posters on here that need to talk to their kids schools about the material in the libraries! And the public library - they're even worse!

Bluebells - agree.

‘Write a scene where a character is experiencing homophobic bullying from their school mates, what kind of things might they be saying?’

Surely if a teacher thinks this is a good idea, they are just opening the way for children in the class to practice/wind up other pupils by making out "it's a scene in my story" when in fact it's just what they want to say?

Sounds like a recipe for direct bullying.

As a PP said, would you suggest a teacher ask children to write a racist character's bullying script, or one where a boy writes the words that an imaginary boy uses to sexually harass a girl??

Do people really think that just because kids use offensive language, that schools should validate and endorse it?

Presumably you also think that we shouldn't bother with age ratings on films and computer games either?

I don't think the content quoted by the OP is at all suitable for year 7s and 8s, regardless of whether some of them use that kind of language. I know a lot of year 7s who certainly don't talk like that and would be pretty horrified and upset by it (as they are horrified and upset by some of their classmates on a regular basis). I don't think they should be made to think that those feelings put them in a minority and that school aligns more with the kids for whom offensive slurs are the norm.

‘i know a lot of year 7s who certainly don't talk like that and would be pretty horrified and upset by it (as they are horrified and upset by some of their classmates on a regular basis). I don't think they should be made to think that those feelings put them in a minority and that school aligns more with the kids for whom offensive slurs are the norm.’

Thank you. I expect staff to be role models, not distribute sexualised materials because some badly let down kids have been over-exposed to inappropriate vocabulary.

Agree with you 100% here, OP.

It is completely possible to discuss bigotry, racism, homophobia, bullying, and taking personal responsibility for actions without the explicit language of the book.

Do people really think that just because kids use offensive language, that schools should validate and endorse it?

If you think that the passage in the tweet is validating or endorsing the insults you really are not reading it properly

Should children learn about the Holocaust?

Yes, around age 14 it is developmentally appropriate to learn about the Holocaust.

Before that, no.

It's too easy for younger children to identify only with the victims and to believe themselves completely incapable of ever perpetrating evil. At age 14 they are capable of grappling with the idea that they too might have cheerfully joined the Hitler Youth and gone on to the SS.

The whole point of Holocaust education is to remind society that it was perpetrated by ordinary people who appeared out of all walks of life and in far too many cases disappeared back into society.

The Holocaust serves to remind us that we could all have been the camp guards and to beware of getting swept up into evil. It is supposed to teach us how to recognise the evil, to stop ourselves from being seduced by slogans, by exceptionalism, by the lie that there are superior and inferior beings.

mathanxiety

I’m so glad. You teach, don’t you?