Home | How It Works | Stats Login | Register         Case: Problematic Book Collection I got in trouble because of the books I have in my 2nd grade classroom library. I have been an elementary school teacher for 10 years. Recently, I completed my master's degree in education. In the master's program, I learned about the importance of teaching children about different people, different cultures, and different perspectives. Although I am not a big fan of gays and lesbians, I learned to accept them as another group of people in the society that need recognition as anyone else does. So, I decided to include in my classroom library books that included families with two moms or two dads. I have had books with single-parent families, interracial families, families with a mother and a father. So, I thought by including books depicting gay and lesbian families, I was being more inclusive and representing all family types in the society. I believe children should learn that there are families out there that are not like the families they have been seeing and children should learn to respect such families. However, I learned recently that not everyone agrees with me. I have been criticized openly by some of my colleagues. More recently, some parents sent angry letters to me and to the school principal describing their displeasure with my book collection. More specifically, they think I am trying to teach their children to become gays and lesbians. How am I going to handle all these pressures? What would you do? Solution: (Rates are posted for this solution!) I support your ideas and your attempt to incorporate the knowledge of same sex families into your classroom. However, I think that for second grade you may be trying to incorporate this knowledge too fast. I think before you included these books in your collection you could have sent home a letter of consent to the parents to ask if they wanted their children to be exposed to the material. Although it is something that every child needs to learn about eventually, second grade may be too soon. Even though you aren't trying to teach the children to be gays and lesbians, young children are going to most likely mock whatever they see in any book. So this is where the parents are thinking you are teaching their children to be gays and lesbians is probably coming from. I think that although it was a great idea the steps leading up to including the books into your collection were not taken correctly.                 Rating The suggested solution is respectful of the individual (student) Yes The suggested solution is relevant to the case Yes The suggested solution is reasonable (easy) for the teacher to implement Yes The suggested solution is likely to solve the problem/issue Yes The suggested solution is original Yes Comments: I agree with you- second grade students might be a bit too young to be introduced to these types of issues. However, I agree that books depicting same sex families need to be included to promote inclusion. They just need to be given to children at an appropriate age. A parental consent form is a good idea, so the parents will be fully aware of the content of the books. Rated On: October 14, 2014 7:38 pm Rated By: Megan Lee                 Rating The suggested solution is respectful of the individual (student) Yes The suggested solution is relevant to the case Yes The suggested solution is reasonable (easy) for the teacher to implement Yes The suggested solution is likely to solve the problem/issue Yes The suggested solution is original Yes Comments: great Rated On: November 3, 2015 8:30 pm Rated By: yDyjuB                 Rating The suggested solution is respectful of the individual (student) No The suggested solution is relevant to the case No The suggested solution is reasonable (easy) for the teacher to implement No The suggested solution is likely to solve the problem/issue No The suggested solution is original No Comments: I don't think it's every too early to teach children to be good people. Would you send home a letter asking parents if it were ok for you to have books featuring people of color? No. That's ridiculous. Why would it be any different for LGBT+ people? If you think students would mock people who are different from them in books, this is a sign that you should keep the books! This is a great opportunity to teach the children to be more accepting. They will not learn this when they are older unless someone teaches them. Rated On: October 3, 2016 5:11 pm Rated By: yVuRaR                 Rating The suggested solution is respectful of the individual (student) No The suggested solution is relevant to the case No The suggested solution is reasonable (easy) for the teacher to implement No The suggested solution is likely to solve the problem/issue No The suggested solution is original No Comments: I wholeheartedly disagree. Saying that 2nd grade is too early for books that represent everyone is a narrow line of thought and harmful. Sending a consent letter home implies that something is touchy or sensitive about this subject, which it should not be. Our classrooms should be a judgement free zone, where all are included, all are represented and all are treasured for the unique people they are. Rated On: March 5, 2017 11:28 pm Rated By: atugym