If elementary students at the Bob Graham Education Center in Miami-Dade County, Florida want to read Amanda Gorman's poem “The Hill We Climb,” they're out of luck. The K-8 school recently restricted access to the poem for young students, based on a single complaint filed by the Daily Salinas, mother of two of Bob Graham's students.
Why did he file a complaint over the acclaimed poem read at President Joe Biden's inauguration in front of an all-ages crowd?
In her official complaint, submitted to Los Angeles Times, Salinas claimed that the poem is “not educational” and contains implicit “messages of hate”. In the same complaint, Salinas wrote that she believes the poem's function is to “confuse and indoctrinate students.” He also misattributed the poem to Oprah Winfrey, who wrote a foreword to the 2021 book edition of the poem.
But Salinas is far from the only parent to file complaints and get involved in what kids should and, more importantly, shouldn't learn.
In recent years, there has been a growing effort among parents – so-called parental rights movement–– have a more direct role in public education. But Shaunna Harringtonprofessor of teaching in Northeastern University's graduate program in teaching and education, says the movement's intent and political alignment is about more than the usual concerns of parents.
“The timing for these particular groups does align with COVID … but they actually come from a much larger right-wing movement, which has been about an attack on diversity, equality and inclusion, social justice, gay rights, history of African Americans and other people of color,” says Harrignton.
The distance education conditions of the COVID-19 era, when parents have to be more involved in their children's education, certainly played a role in mobilizing some parents. But Harrington says the movement has deep roots in far-right politics that have risen to the surface since the mid-2010s.
Politicians such as Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin have spoken out in the parental rights movement. campaigns and legislation. And some parent groups, such as Moms For Libertya nationwide network of conservative parents, receive direct funding from conservative think tanks like the Heritage Foundation.
The end result is a highly organized, politically aligned movement of parents who are having a real impact on public education.
Book bans have been a growing trend in recent years, reaching an all-time high in 2022, according to American Library Association. In its annual report, the ALA found that there were 1,269 attempts to ban books in 2022, making it the highest number on record since the ALA began collecting data more than 20 years ago.
In a Washington Post analysis Of the 1,065 complaints made in 2021 and 2022, the majority of book challenges, 61%, were based on the allegation that a book contained “sexual” content. 21% of the 499 self-identified people were parents, 15% participated in a parenting or resident group, and 14% participated in Moms for Liberty, a nationwide network of conservative parents.
Specifically, the Post found that 11 individuals were responsible for the majority of complaints, each of whom filed 10 or more challenges that accounted for 60% of all book challenges. It helps that due to new legislation in states like Florida, it's also never been easier for parents to file a complaint and not have access to the books.
Many of the parents who filed these complaints claim that they are doing so to protect the children. Michelle Teague filed 24 book challenges against her library in Catawba County, North Carolina, from titles such as “The Kite Runner” by Khaled Hosseini to “The Bluest Eye” by Toni Morrison. In her complaints, Teague made it clear that she wanted to prevent young readers from being “exposed to pedophiles [sic]sexual content' ('Lolita') and 'gay sex between men' and reference to 'rape' ('The Kite Runner').
But who––and what––is at issue in many of these complaints is remarkable. In 43% of the complaints analyzed by the Post, the challenges targeted books with LGBTQ+ characters and themes, and 36% targeted books that included people of color or dealt with issues of race and racism. Challenges for LGBTQ+ books have increased dramatically in the past two years, alongside a record of legislation aimed at the rights of LGBTQ+ people.
In a complaint filed in North Carolina, a challenger wrote that “Call Me Max,” which tells the story of a transgender boy, is intended to “confuse our children and make them wonder if they are a boy or a girl.” Another challenger in Georgia wrote that “Poet X,” which centers on a same-sex couple, “is where teenagers have the idea that they are [being gay] OKAY.”
We talk about the rights of parents, but I think we also need to talk about the rights of children: the rights of children to learn, the rights of children to be prepared to be part of a diverse society and to be members of a multiracial democracy.
Shaunna Harrington, professor in Northeastern University's graduate programs in teaching and education
In another complaint filed against “Black Brother, Black Brother,” a coming-of-age story that follows two brothers and their experiences with race in the U.S., a challenger wrote that the book would make students “begin to question whether the race plays a role in every interaction.”
“This is deeply, deeply harmful to kids in classrooms, particularly kids of color, gay and transgender kids, but it's bad for all kids,” Harrington says. “We talk about the rights of parents, but I think we should also talk about the rights of children: the rights of children to learn, the rights of children to be prepared to be part of a diverse society and to be members of a multiracial democracy.”
Eliminating diverse perspectives from the classroom will only hurt students, Harrington says, referring to Rudine Sims Bishop.windows, mirrors and sliding glass doors” concept.
“What students really need, especially in the English classroom, are opportunities to look at themselves and to look outside of themselves, and that's such an important part of building empathy and building multiple perspectives,” Harrington says. . “We know this is the foundation of a good community and a strong democracy.”
“Kids are very empathetic and have a very clear sense of right and wrong and fairness and justice,” says Jaci Urbani, associate professor of education and director of early childhood education at Mills College at Northeastern with decades of classroom experience. “Being able to engage with kids in these conversations is really important.”
As a teacher, Urbani says she welcomed discussions with parents. Listening to parents' concerns and explaining why a particular book or lesson is being used in the classroom is a fundamental task for any teacher, says Urbani. But seeing public schools overwhelmed by book challenges and school boards flooded death threats from parents, Urbani notes that some parents' concerns have become more personal and political.
“I like the idea of parents knowing what their kids are learning and then engaging in a conversation around whatever their family's values on that might be,” says Urbani. “Whatever happens at school, these conversations should continue at home. But just because there are conversations that parents don't want to happen at home doesn't mean they shouldn't happen at school.”
For teachers, school principals and school board members, the pressure is coming from all sides. It comes from parents, who submit book challenges to organized efforts, and, in some cases, from state governments like DeSantis who have created legal frameworks to the point of accuse teachers of felonies. Harrington says school districts and teachers have struggled to respond to the parental rights movement because it is fundamentally at odds with how public education in the US has historically operated.
Schools are at least theoretically considered “partisan-free zones,” he says, and school boards traditionally “are not terribly political groups.” But now both face an organized political movement that, in some ways, they are not designed to handle.
“You have a school board member who wants to say, 'Of course we want to take things seriously. We want to hear what your complaints are. The school system has to work for all of us,” says Harrington. “But they're talking to someone who's part of a political agenda and a political movement, so there's some misunderstanding.”
This does not mean that efforts are not being made by other parents, students and even legislators to combat this trend. Organizations such as Florida Freedom to Read Project connect parents and parent organizations across the state to protect student access to books. And one group of students and writers they even sued a Florida school district and the Florida Department of Education for banning the books.
Harrington says it's a reminder that parent activism has been central to American education for decades, often in positive ways.
“Special education probably wouldn't exist if it weren't for the parents who really fought and stood up for their kids and continue to fight and stand up for their kids,” says Harrington. “I don't think we should be afraid of parents, and I think we should recognize all the positive ways that parents have impacted our public schools and recognize this moment, this parents' rights group, for what it is a right movement”.
Cody Mello-Klein is a reporter for Northeastern Global News. Email him at c.mello-klein@northeastern.edu. Follow him on Twitter @Proelectioneer.
