Ediorial: Banning books and imposing ignorance

So, we’re in the business of banning books now?

Out of all the problems this country currently faces during what will forever be considered a vital crossroads in American history, the actions of a very vocal minority actively seeking to shelter students from anything thought provoking might be the No. 1 danger.

In the latest edition of the Tucson Weekly, reporter Hank Stephenson illustrated how the students at Empire High School in Vail fell victim to the spirit of “Banned Books Week” a little too literally.

The students in a senior level Advanced Placement literature class began the school year reading James Baldwin’s “Another Country,” a highly influential 1962 novel detailing the lifestyles of a group of avant-garde Greenwich Village artists just before the major cultural shift of the 1960s.

As with any high-minded novel that would deal with this subject matter, it ventures into some taboo territory. One parent, Danielle Schneider, felt the material was too taboo, so she pressured the school to remove the material.

Prior to the school year, parents were sent a syllabus which listed the required text. If a parent found any of the books unacceptable, their children could read alternate material. Parents signed the syllabus and that was that.

Schneider told the Weekly that she felt like Baldwin’s novel was “written pornography,” but admitted to not reading the entire novel to put those “titillating” scenes into any context.

Instead of allowing the students to finish “Another Country” — a book that was taught in full last year — the school elected to pull it from the curriculum.

Let’s make one thing perfectly clear. Baldwin isn’t Larry Flynt. He is one of America’s greatest literary figures. From his thoughts on Richard Wright’s “Native Son” to his wonderful second novel “Giovanni’s Room” to his landmark essay “The Fire Next Time” — the piece that landed him on the cover of Time magazine — few writers can hold a candle to Baldwin’s impressive body of work. Beyond that, he was an influential figure in the Civil Rights movement and one of American culture’s most respected voices.

Two of the students — class vice president Brennan Smith and his friend, Mark Jacobson — took the issue to the district governing board meeting one day after the book was pulled. According to the Weekly, they “described how the literary merits of ‘Another Country’ far outweighed the drug and sex references, and pointed out how the book is on the Advanced Placement reading list and could be on the nationally administered exam in May.”

Look, it’s one thing to want to protect high school kids from the dangerous outside world, but it’s quite another to impose ignorance.

A high-level AP literature class is supposed to foster intelligent debate and high-minded critique. The Vail School District isn’t doing anyone any favors by responding to knee-jerk reactions from parents who don’t even read the material in full.

Our nation’s youth deserves better.