I think your Huck Finn example is flawed. For one thing, 10 year olds are a lot smarter than you are apparently giving them credit for. For another, a controversial book shouldn’t be kept out of a classroom. A controversial book should be used to prompt discussion between teachers and students, teachers and parents, and parents and students. When are children going to learn about the sort of lessons books like Huck Finn can teach if we never even give them the chance to read it? Fifth grade? sixth grade? Should the little darlings learn about this country’s legacy of racism and the cultural baggage of “nigger” when they’re in high school?
I don’t really care about the ALA’s politics or what they do as an organization. I just think your example has several problems. Should books be considered for age appropriate content? Sure. But typically books are assigned as part of a state-wide curriculum that has already been approved to meet certain required standards.
I don’t know. Maybe parents should do something radical and actually talk to their children about the books they read instead of shielding them from the books completely? It’s insane. I know.
I don’t have kids, so I doubt I’d be screaming bloody murder over anything a teacher does. A school district, perhaps. Or if a school chose to do something directly Unconstitutional, but I won’t lose sleep over books a teacher assigns. And you’re acting like teachers get to set their own curriculum and you have no control. They don’t and you do. You, as parents, elect officials at a state level and a district level, who then create certain objectives for each grade at a state level.
But I suppose it’s much easier for your example to create an out-of-control teacher who has completely usurped your power over your children, leaving you floundering and helpless in the face of an outrageous barrage of western literary canon.