On October 18, Chino Valley Unified School District informed teachers of regional schools of a new policy that will enforce strict and unchecked book bans upon any request. That following Thursday, a board meeting commenced with an overwhelming turnout of parents, students, and teachers came to contend about this issue. The next scheduled meeting takes place on November 16, where there will be a potential sentence for this policy. 

The new policy suggests there will be an immediate removal of a novel, poem, or any literary work, so long as any member of the local community submits a complaint. This policy seemingly protects the well-being of students on campus but can quickly become an infringement on the student’s rights. Not only this, the policy endangers diversity, as the books that are often seen as controversial include themes of racial tensions or homosexuality. 

From the perspective of a student who has grown to love learning about English language and literature through school and my teachers, the book ban policy is a direct threat against students who share my sentiment. Through the extensive four years of high school I’ve now lived through, I’ve made many realizations that I would not have been able to without the nurture of my amazing teachers and literature that is now accused of being “trash”. 

Board member James Na, in reference to a “vulgar” book’s contents, said, “This is not a book banning. This is trash, it’s not a book. It does not belong on a shelf, it belongs in a trash can.” 

I had so many personal issues with this statement; how can someone at the top of the ladder in education be so against studying literature? We can acknowledge that there is a level of protection the board members are trying to maintain for students, but this is next level hateful language. I want to point out, there is a fine line that separates protection and control. What the board is currently trying to do falls deeper into control. The world is an ugly place, and the way students learn and understand this is through understanding literature and the significance of language or communication. To call the parts that are not pretty as “trash” is too ignorant a statement. We need to collectively understand that learning about “trash” is to better understand the difficult parts of life and to critically think about what it means to be human. 

English and Language Arts are important subjects that teach compassion, empathy, and growth beyond technical analysis skills. This is an aspect of reading that the CVUSD board members have seemingly forgotten. An emphasis on humanity within liberal arts is so important in creating a well-rounded person, which is exactly why throughout our lives we are drilled with English/literature classes. AP Literature teacher, Mrs. Laura Grissom, testifies her own belief when it comes to teaching English. 

“[With reading], you’re able to step outside of yourself and be somebody else for the duration of that book. We’re never going to know [exactly] what it’s like to be in somebody else’s shoes, but it’s the closest we can get,” Grissom said. 

Without the development that English classes offer, I would not have been able to reach the level of awareness that I have today. What is the most prominent problem every parent faces when they’re raising their children? The worry that their child might grow up without proper decency. And this is exactly what we are seeing today within teenagers and preteens. There is a disconnect between reality and compassion and I largely blame this on the extensive touch of social media. But this is exactly why now more than ever teaching children about empathy and compassion is so important. The best way to do so is to put them into the shoes of another through literature. 

Additionally, English department chair and freshman teacher Mrs. Jessica Mensen said, “One of my favorite things is getting students to love to learn how to read, and critically think.”

A major lesson our English teachers today focus on is understanding the nuance behind a poem, book, or other literary work. The importance of this understanding is that it transcends into life. Our lives are nuanced and complicated. There is no straightforward way to describe the struggle, want, and selfishness of human beings. As students, our ultimate goal before moving onto higher education or the real world is to grasp this idea that everyone’s experience is nuanced. Literature is the way to learn this.

The catalyst for this controversy comes from this idea that books being used as teaching material containing vulgar content, are highlighted with racial tensions, or have mentions of homosexuality. To many members of our local community, this is a fair justification as it’s still the school’s responsibility to ensure that no students are put at risk of too extreme content. The issue I, and many others, have against this new policy is the fact that the policy is almost completely unchecked and allows censorship from any person that submits a complaint. 

On behalf of Ayala’s English department, Mrs. Mensen wrote a letter to the school board expressing disapproval for the new policy. 

She said, “I basically wrote the new policy wasn’t needed because we have an old policy that already [allows] parents, community members, [and] teachers to complain or have a grievance against a book that they feel is inappropriate.”

Her point confirms that the new policy is redundant and raises a question as to if it’s here to push an agenda. In the past year, the school board has already made right-winged attempts to overstep into basic human rights with the gender-revealing policy. As a student who experiences the reality within schools and understands the conflict these policies are going to cause, I strongly stand against both. 

From my perspective, the people who are willing to ban books are only looking at the surface of a book– quite literally judging the book by its cover. Every book, no matter how controversial or jarring its contents, is published with purpose and intention to deliver an important message. Senior Josephine Liu voices her own perspective, agreeing there is relativity when it comes to books. 

“I agree that every book we read in our lives can be put under some level of scrutiny, and to get rid of certain books because of their contents isn’t right,” Liu said.