Joan Bertin, Taking Up the Fight for the First Amendment

Taylor doesn't just advocate for parental control. She wants schools and libraries to make certain judgments about content and she wants to force parental involvement. 1) By tagging certain books and topics as "inappropriate" for minors, she's urging schools to engage in viewpoint discrimination against certain kinds of information and ideas. This is the chief evil the First Amendment targets. 2) By requiring parents to be involved in their children's reading choices, whether they want to or not, she's restricting, not expanding, parental control. Benign neglect - the preference of many thoughtful parents - is no longer an option. 
 
Obviously, any parent who wants to supervise their minor children's library activities is, and always has been, free to accompany them to the library. There's no need to involve the school in "helping" parents fulfill their parental duties, as Taylor conceives of them. 
 
Joan E. Bertin, Executive Director 
National Coalition Against Censorship 

Please read this open letter to Dr. Bobby New, Superintendent of Schools in Fayetteville, from the NCAC, NCTE and others. It is in response to Taylor's efforts, but applies to school districts and libraries everywhere: 
http://www.ncac.org/issues/Fayetteville.htm 
 
The National Coalition Against Censorship (NCAC) is an alliance of 50 national non-profit organizations, including religious, educational, professional, artistic, labor, and civil rights groups, committed to defending freedom of thought, inquiry, and expression. For more 
information about NCAC, visit us on-line at www.ncac.org.