By Meghan Proctor ‘16

A bill recently approved by Virginia’s Senate would require schools to send notifications to parents when the class will read a book that contains sexually explicit content. Parents would then have the opportunity to opt their children out of reading that book. While this bill is not as bad as outright banning books for all students, there are too many problems with this bill to work properly. One important concern is that “sexually explicit content” is a broad and subjective term, making it unclear to schools when to notify parents. Some schools may even actively avoid teaching controversial books, including those commonly taught at Sherwood, such as “Catcher in the Rye” and “Invisible Man” to avoid the notification process.

Another problem is that this bill undermines the books’ educational value to their inappropriate content. Some parents may choose to ignore the benefits to reading a certain book simply because of one or two inappropriate scenes. Books are meant to make people think about controversial topics, not turn away when discussions get awkward. It’s understandable that parents may want a say in what their children read, but forcing schools to ask for permission encourages censorship and prevents students from broadening their minds when controversial topics arise.