The article discusses growing concerns around censorship in schools, particularly under the Trump administration in the US, which has emboldened book-banning movements. It highlights a troubling incident in the UK where a Catholic school faced pressure to cancel a talk by a gay author due to protests from anti-LGBT activists. Following this, surveys revealed that many school librarians in both the US and UK have encountered requests to censor materials, prompting a deeper investigation into how they handle these challenges and the implications for educational environments that prioritize diverse perspectives.
For all its talk of free speech, the Trump administration seems remarkably comfortable with censorship.
It erupted in the spring of 2022, when a Catholic school in Croydon invited Simon James Green, a prominent gay children's author, to give a talk.
A survey conducted later that year found 26% of librarians had occasionally been asked to censor materials.
I decided to do my own study. I interviewed 10 school librarians across the UK about the challenges they had faced.
Collection
[
|
...
]