Scholastic Allows Censorship Amongst Book Fairs In Schools
Scholastic has provided books to students, throughout the years. However, it has banned a lot of books from the company because they do not want students to educate themselves further regarding to specific topics, like gender, race, and sexuality, racism, etc. In fact, this year they want to separate books that contain information about the topics previously mentioned from the more “appropriate” books section.
Which with this, their plan was to allow school districts to include or exclude the list of these books. They were going to allow schools to choose if they wanted to include and display. It also allowed them to separate the diversity of books or to not show them at all. However, this plan did not result like expected.
The Decision Impact of the Children’s Largest Book Publisher “Scholastic”
Many school librarians who have hosted the book fair events, have taken this issue to social media and talked about it. They have mentioned that, “Scholastic is allowing schools to opt out of providing diverse books at Scholastic book fairs.” A lot of them do not agree with this decisions because the point, and whole idea of book fairs, is to expose kids to a variety of books that they might now have access to from other sources.
This issue is very controversial because there are still a lot of families that do not want for their children to have access to a diversity of books. Furthermore, a lot of families have fear that their children acquired more knowledge, and be aware in terms of very conflicting social topics.
On the other side, a lot of families and school teachers/librarians want for their students to learn and be aware of social issues. In order to further develop their critical thinking skills. Also for them to form their own ideas as they grow, knowing that they formed their ideas with the information that they learned from potentially these books.
Caving Into Political Pressure Accusations
According to USA Today, several librarians and best-selling authors condemned Scholastic on social media, accusing them of caving to political pressure with the “opt-out.” There has also been a school librarian in Louisiana that threatened to cancel the annual book fair because of this dilemma.
Not to mention, that even the company’s own employees are criticizing this decision. Employee Olivia Wolfgang-Smith called her employer’s decision, “cowardly, demoralizing, and harmful.”
This demonstrates that many are against this idea and plan that the company has for this year’s book fair. With the company establishing this option, that are are creating a boundary between children and the information that they have to learn about real social issues.
Scholastic’s Defense
Nonetheless, despite all of this controversy that Scholastic has created with their plan, they still back up their opt-out option. They have defended their decision by stating that there are state laws that might put restrictions on certain books, especially for young readers. Also that there are some states that have passed laws prohibiting sexually explicit books and the teaching of Critical Race Theory to young children in public school. The company said state laws create an “impossible dilemma” for publishers.
They emphasize a lot their opt-out option, because children are still underage and they need their parents consent, when diving into these social topics. The reason being that ultimately, book fairs are where books can be purchased by children themselves. Which if a diversity of books is displayed without any advise it can make teachers, librarians and volunteers vulnerable to being fired, sued, or prosecuted because of the state laws established. Consequently, Scholastic can also encounter legal complications due to being the publishing and delivering book company for underage children.
Written by Jeanette Sanchez
Sources:
The Guardian: Scholastic to separate books on race, gender, and sexuality for book fairs
USA Today: For children’s books on LGTBQ, race, Scholastic had a solution. Librarians weren’t happy
Fox News: Scholastic fires back after backlash to diversity “opt out” at book fairs: An “almost impossible dilemma”
Richmond Times-Dispatch: Williams: Scholastic, a children’s book publisher, is enabling censorship
The Mary Sue: Scholastic Under Fire for Allowing Schools to Opt Out of “Diverse Books” for Book Fairs
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