Students Start Petition Drive To Fight Book Censorship
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DALLAS (CBSDFW.COM) - A group of Highland Park students believes books shouldn't be censored in their community and have started a petition drive to ban the practice of banning books.
Over the past two months, the school district has been at the heart of a divide over selected titles for a high school reading list.
The battle was started by parents, with one group objecting to certain books saying they are not age appropriate. Other parents fought back. Now, students are trying to add their voice, which is where the petition drive comes in.
Teenagers lined up for more than an hour to sign the petition, including student Wyatt Spicer.
"The parents aren't the ones teaching the class. The teacher should have the say," argued Spicer.
Highland Park is evaluating parent input on reading selections for high schoolers. One book is under review, now based on a parent objection. There are six other books on a list where parents must give approval before their child is allowed to read them.
"Ultimately, I believe it's the teachers, it's their discretion whether these books should be read or not ," said student Anagha Kikkeri.
But not all students agree.
"They're not trying to get it removed from every kid, or out of library. They're trying to get it so those who don't want to read the book do not have to," said 17-year-old student Armstrong Sims.
CBS 11 has learned that school board is planning to discuss this further at its December meeting.
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