GAY GEISER-SANDOVAL -- Educationally Speaking

As I sat through last week’s Newport-Mesa Unified School District

board meeting concerning approval of four books, including “Sociology and

You,” I came up with a plan. When the board revises its book policy,

perhaps they will adopt it. At one point in history, America had a drug

problem. The president decided to take drastic measures to immediately

eradicate the problem. He appointed a drug czar to get America back on

track and win the war on drugs.

What the district needs is a “values czar.” The values czar would

review all books used in every classroom. If the book contained even one

word that conflicted with certain values, then it would not be approved

(i.e. banned) from use by all students in the classroom. Because

approving such books would act as a message that the district gave such

words its stamp of approval, the czar would be justified in his or her

ban.

There are two methods the czar could use to decide which books would

not meet the approval list. One would be to poll all parents in the

district about their values and what they consider controversial. If any

book contains a subject that even one parent finds controversial or

against his or her values, then that book would not be approved. It would

not matter whether the book condemns or approves of the behavior or

value, the mere mention of such a subject would excise its use. This

method would cut way down on district expenses: We wouldn’t have any

books. Because there are parents who value Chinese or Arabic characters

over those used to write English, even alphabet books could not be

approved.

A more sensible approach is to choose one person’s values and judge

the approval of all books by that person. If books contained words about

a subject that didn’t agree with the czar’s values, they would not be

approved. The rest of the books would get the district’s stamp of

approval, and those values would be promoted at school. The passing of

values to children would be taken away from their parents and put in the

hands of the values czar.

After some thought about whose values I agree with the most and think

should be followed if there could only be one set of values for all

20,000 students, I pick mine. So, I volunteer to be the school district’s

first values czar. I am not in favor of violence. I think our schools and

society are way too violent. So any book that mentions assaults and

batteries is out. History books and novels that mention wars are out. Any

reference to a weapon in the book means it is banned. Books about contact

sports or that mention contact sports are out. Books where a friend

shoves a friend are out.

I favor racial equality, and if we keep our students in a bubble,

maybe they will value it too. So, any books that mention slavery,

imperialism or even suggest that black people are better than green

people won’t get my approval.

Let’s face it, would you rather have a member of the school board be

the values czar or me? Or, should we be imposing one parent’s values on

another person’s child? Are values the pivotal issue to determine what

books can be opened in a classroom?

* GAY GEISER-SANDOVAL is a Costa Mesa resident. Her column runs

Tuesdays. She may be reached by e-mail at [email protected].