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Was Anne Frank bisexual? Graphic novel -- with breasts! -- is out of school library
The Diary of Anne Frank remains in the Vero Beach High School library, but the Florida school has removed a retelling of the story, Anne...

Joanne Jacobs
Apr 13, 20232 min read


Conservative teachers are quiet
Teachers who are on the political right "speak in whispers behind closed doors," says Daniel Buck in an interview with Rick Hess....

Joanne Jacobs
Mar 22, 20232 min read


Against self-reliance
Hard work pays off. Even those born in poverty can build a better life. Self-reliance is better than dependence. Not so, argues Alissa...

Joanne Jacobs
Mar 18, 20232 min read


Why was Rosa Parks told to move to the back of the bus?
Florida is approving new "anti-woke" social studies textbooks, reports Sarah Mervosh in the New York Times. Some publishers think the...

Joanne Jacobs
Mar 17, 20232 min read


Why even kids who like to read hate English class
English teachers are teaching kids to hate reading, writes Pamela Paul, a New York Times op-ed columnist, in response to Nathan Heller's...

Joanne Jacobs
Mar 14, 20232 min read


Digital danger: Screen time is stealing childhood
Screen time is very bad for kids, argues Michel Desmurget, a French neuroscientist, in Screen Damage: The Dangers of Digital Media for...

Joanne Jacobs
Mar 12, 20232 min read


Rewriting Roald Dahl: Nobody's 'fat' or 'female'
Characters can be "enormous" and "beastly," but not "fat" or "ugly," in the new sensitivity-edited versions of Roald Dahl's children's...

Joanne Jacobs
Feb 21, 20232 min read


Learning is hard
Learning is hard, Dan Willingham tells Laura McKenna. It takes effort. But motivated students can learn effective learning and study...

Joanne Jacobs
Feb 19, 20232 min read


Youth sports are supposed to be fun
Sports should be fun for kids, writes Linda Flanagan. Instead, young athletes give up their childhood to compete for college scholarships...

Joanne Jacobs
Feb 5, 20232 min read


Classroom libraries aren't a crime in Florida
The "great Florida classroom library freak-out of 2023" is based on faulty reporting, confusing directives from local school officials...

Joanne Jacobs
Feb 2, 20231 min read


Grandin: Educate the visual thinkers too
Our society and our schools aren't designed for "visual thinkers, which so many of us neurodivergent folks are," writes Temple Grandin, a...

Joanne Jacobs
Jan 14, 20231 min read


Sneetches are racist! No, they're anti-racist! Or maybe ...
Dr. Seuss's Sneetches learn that outward differences don't matter. There's no need to pay to get a star added or removed from their...

Joanne Jacobs
Jan 13, 20232 min read


It's just kiddie sex, not pedophilia, so no worries
Jonathan Evison's Lawn Boy, doesn't belong in school libraries, say angry parents, because the graphic novel depicts an adult man having...

Joanne Jacobs
Dec 27, 20222 min read


'Protect our kids from graphic porn' in the school library
Parents who object to sexually explicit books in school libraries have been labeled "book banners," writes Max Eden, a research fellow at...

Joanne Jacobs
Oct 20, 20222 min read


Who decides what books belong in the school library? Can we talk about it?
You probably can't find Hustler in the school library -- or Donald Trump's The Art of the Deal, write Jay Greene and Robert Pondiscio in...

Joanne Jacobs
Sep 29, 20223 min read


Reading 'Anne Frank' in Kabul
A secret book club for teen-age girls in Kabul, Afghanistan is reading The Diary of Anne Frank, reports Diaa Hadid for NPR. "Banned from...

Joanne Jacobs
Sep 18, 20221 min read


Kids, you’re not ‘stamped’
Moshe K. Levy considers himself “pro-human” rather than “anti-racist,” he writes on FAIR’s site. So he’s not a fan of Ibram X. Kendi’s...

Joanne Jacobs
Jun 10, 20222 min read


What’s ‘age appropriate’ for young students?
Parents and teachers want lessons to be “age appropriate,” but disagree on when children are ready for painful topics, writes Marta W....

Joanne Jacobs
May 9, 20222 min read


School librarians: Dump ‘Mockingbird,’ ‘Gatsby’ …
— Summer Reading Survey School librarians want to drop To Kill a Mockingbird, The Great Gatsby and Huckleberry Finn from summer reading...

Joanne Jacobs
Apr 25, 20222 min read
A More Inclusive Literature Curriculum?
Canon, that which transfers our cultural heritage to the next generation, is out. Giving everyone’s feelings a voice is in: Most English...

Joanne Jacobs
Jan 7, 20202 min read
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