#won't know a hummingbird if you've only ever heard of finches

[elijasz]

There is one thing about this that's important to note. As teachers or educators, we are in positions of power to choose literature for those we are by law obligated to take care of and protect. Thus we HAVE TO be aware that we don't know what certain topics might do to people. I personally recently got subjected to a 1,5 hour long conversation about child sexual assault, described in graphic detail and discussed exclusively by men because ALL women felt uncomfortable. I dissociated for the rest of the day and felt fucking awful after sitting through that. So I asked the professor to please include content warnings. Next time the topic of child sa came up more than half of the course wasn't present (including myself) because we've been exposed to enough of that ourselves. We instead chose to read the rest of the book we were talking about and avoided these parts until we were ready to read them.

It's important to recognize that some people aren't able to handle these topics when we throw them at them. Because in education we choose the time and setting they get confronted with it. Not them. And that isn't okay. They should get to choose when they are ready for it on their own and it simply shouldn't be mandatory to read out certain things, or just read certain books, in class.

Give your student a list of chapter specific content warning and if there is a topic noone wants to talk about because its not something they are ready for, skip it. Or even better: Include them in your decision process on literature. Offer them the books you want to talk about and alternatives and FULL content warning lists, and then have them choose. And if your group is very split on the topic, maybe find an alternative or organise split classes. As in one week one group works on the book and the other reads their book during class time and one week its the other way around.

If we really keep all texts available (and I understand the premise but I'm still critical of the topic, even though I agree with it) we have to include safety measures so those in positions if power cannot easily dictate what others read/consume. We don't get to decide that on our own. That's the student's choice as much as ours.

“Authors should not be ALLOWED to write about–” you are an anti-intellectual and functionally a conservative

“This book should be taken off of shelves for featuring–” you are an anti-intellectual and functionally a conservative

“Schools shouldn’t teach this book in class because–” you are an anti-intellectual and functionally a conservative

“Nobody actually likes or wants to read classics because they’re–” you are an anti-intellectual and an idiot

“I only read YA fantasy books because every classic novel or work of literary fiction is problematic and features–” you are an anti-intellectual and you are robbing yourself of the full richness of the human experience.