Conroe Independent School District Board of Trustees Meeting for January 17, 2023

Part 1 of a multipart series                                                                                                            Op Ed

1/18/2023

By Jonathan Davis                                                                                   Rated R for graphic content

The Board of Trustees for Conroe Independent School District (CISD) had their monthly meeting on January 17, 2023. Just like every other meeting, this one had a fairly standard agenda set up. What was different about this meeting was that there were a sizable number of concerned citizens who wanted to voice their opinion on a certain contentious subject. Specifically, it was the material presented within a specific book that troubled many of the participants.

The debate that the school board had to endure in front of them was about whether a book called “The Perks of Being a Wallflower” should be in the school district’s libraries and/or classrooms. Advocates will say that this book explores how young adults navigate through life and negotiate hard situations like substance abuse, mental health issues, and sexuality. They will further iterate on the main character’s youthful and idealistic adventure, giving praise to the development of not just the main character, but also the supporting characters.

All in all, there seemed to be a little over two dozen advocates for keeping the book within the CISD catalog. Demographically speaking, most of the advocates were those at the latter end of the millennial generation as well as, what is considered, the “generation Z” age group. This group could be easily identified by their speech to the board or their cheering as one of their own ended a monologue to the board. These individuals saw themselves as the “warriors against the book banners.”

There was one very indistinguishable problem, though. “The Perks of Being a Wallflower” has incredible lewd and vulgar language within its contents. There is no disputing the weight of the language. When a written piece of work contains “the explicit description or display of sexual organs or activity, intended to stimulate erotic rather than aesthetic or emotional feelings,” it is considered pornography, regardless of any other content within the material.

The crowd that wants to remove “The Perks of Being a Wallflower” from the CISD catalog is looking at this book as completely inappropriate for school children. If a movie depicted exactly what the book described, it would be rated X – completely unsuitable for children. Here is a short example of text:  

After a few minutes, the boy pushed the girl’s head down, and she started to kiss his p____. She was still crying. Finally, she stopped crying because he put his p____ in her mouth, and I don’t think you can cry in that position.

The advocates that want CISD to keep “The Perks of Being a Wallflower” available to the students state that this book is a work of great literature. One must wonder if they are reading the same book as everybody else. Is a book that discusses lewd sexual conduct considered deserving of superior or lasting artistic merit?

A common theme that those who want the book to stay in the classroom curriculum will state that they are supposedly supporting the parent-teacher-child relationship. In efforts to understanding this argument, imagine, if you will, the teacher providing a book to your son or daughter that describes a sexual abuse situation where a high school aged girl is made to perform fellatio on a boy, who is also a minor. Additionally, it talks about illegal drug usage and other inappropriate behaviors that children probably should not be exposed to. Over dinner one night, the child asks questions about one or several of the inappropriate behaviors presented in the book. The parents are, of course, caught off guard because they weren’t actually aware of or provided a detailed plan of the curriculum. The school has put the family in an unneeded precarious situation. Is this the Parent-Teacher- Student relationship they imagined?

The concern that many on the opposing side ask is why is a teacher discussing sex with a minor? Shouldn’t this discussion be between the parent and the child only? The idea that a schoolteacher is providing content that describes a child being sexually abused is appalling for this group.

One woman discussed how her 15-year-old daughter placed this very specific book on a wish list of must reads for her mother to purchase so she can read it. She complied with her daughter’s request from which her daughter became that much happier for reading this very specific book. The retort to such a comment is that nobody is preventing a parent from buying a book for their child. Nobody is preventing a parent from borrowing this very specific book from the public library. However, a book that describes sexual acts explicitly has no business being in a school where minors are taught. Even worse so is a book describing sexual abuse of a child.

Susan Scruggs, a well-known local leader who fights hard protecting children, discussed the harm and trauma that sexual content has on a young adult. Due to her medical background, she was able to provide details regarding the harm caused to children who may not be at the maturity level he or she needs to be to read such highly descriptive sexual content. She made her case of why books like these are more harmful than helpful to minors.

One of the arguments another commenter stated was that books for school districts are carefully chosen by a special set of professionals such as librarians that “carefully” curate and determine age-appropriate books. How does this commenter know? Where is the procedure or documentation that explains the process of accepting books into the CISD catalog? Where are the logs that list who approved a specific book, when it was accepted, and why?  What happens when a political ideologue is put into a position of approving books and allows incendiary material to be placed on a CISD library bookshelf? The biggest problem with this commenter’s position is that it does not allow for an audit process to occur later. In this person’s mind, based on her testimony, once a book is approved, it stays on the shelf indefinitely or until the book is marked as obsolete. In other words, parents should trust that the experts know what’s best for their kids.

The Wallflower saviors made the statement that “we cannot allow a few loud voices to steer decisions for all students.” However, judging on the room participation (how many people spoke and how many people cheered for each side), the Wallflower saviors were in the minority. Thus, by this person’s own logic, being that she was speaking for the minority, her words should not steer the board to keep the book on the shelf.

In conclusion, there is a clear divide in understanding what pornography is. The Wallflower saviors will do their best to keep a book, that if it were a movie that actually depicted exactly what the book detailed, would be X rated. Words, when read, excite neuron synapses sparking imagination. Why are these individuals wanting to expose children to sexual stimulus when there are so many other things, so many other subjects that children can be exposed to?