If the community, administration, teachers, or librarians are censoring what information students have access to whether it be on the book shelves or on the internet, then we are limiting our students from being able to fully work with the skills that are necessary for them to be successful in the 21st century global world.
By using the ISTE (International Society of Technology in Education) standards for school technology, we as librarians can teach students about digital citizenship and why it is so very important. Just as Adams mentioned, once students start to comprehend digital citizenship and their right to information, then they will have more freedom to take pieces of information to engage with in the AASL standards. There is no doubt there will be censorship on the school internet networks, but that does not mean we need to censor what is in our library collection. Students need to have access to different cultures, viewpoints, and people to help them grow.
Adams, H. R. (2016). 65 years and counting AASL and school librarians — Still champions of intellectual freedom. Knowledge Quest, 45(1), 34-41.
Hi Monica!
ReplyDeleteThe 65 Years and Counting article also made me think about censorship and intellectual freedom as well. I know this can sometimes be a tricky subject in school libraries because people want to protect their children from anything that they think can harm them. However, they have to remember that just because they want to restrict what their child has access to in the library does not mean that they should restrict other children. Yet, many people do not understand this. I really feel as if this topic was focused on much more in the AASL standards than in the ISTE standards.
I fully agree with your stance on students needing to have access to different cultures, viewpoints, etc., and how we have a responsibility to not censor the library collection. When I was reading the Factors of Engagement article, there was a part that stood out to me and I think it relates to the topic of censorship. The article stated, "these standards help define common ground in terms of sets of skills and dispositions, for use in preparing students to function as learners in an increasingly digital environment." Censorship impedes the student's opportunity to become a learner. If schools or parents continuously censor, how are we helping that child to "function as a learner"?
ReplyDeleteI agree that students need to have access to different cultures and ideas, but as someone looking into being an elementary library I have to also wonder where the line is between censorship and protection? I don't believe all topics are appropriate for elementary children. It sounds obvious we shouldn't keep a copy of the Kama Sutra in an elementary school, but isn't that censorship to a degree? Isn't someone always going to think we're being too strict or too lenient? How much sex is ok in a book for an elementary library, if any? This seems to be a drastic example, but I am guessing sex is a topic that gets heated pretty quickly when it comes to school literature.
ReplyDeleteWhat I took from the article was being guardians of the information of what students are searching for, and looking up and not giving out that information in much the same way we safeguard student information in accord with FERPA. That being said, I believe there needs to be an awareness of what is within our collection and what is being accessed. I would say that we need to make sure what we house in our collections is developmentally appropriate to the age of our students (referencing Lady M4ck's comment) about sex, and that includes "censoring" some information as Melissa Zahler stated in her remark. Allowing an elementary or primary age student access to the world wide web without filters, and type in the word "Mommy" and see what images come up as a result. Think of the information access as scaffolding your collection until a students' maturity builds up to accept and decimate information- just like we would in a classroom.
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