Editorial Disagrees with Wausau School Board Action

Link to April 19 Wausau Daily Herald editorial, "Our View: Not all books appropriate for all students".

Excerpt: It is true that no parent can control 100 percent of what his or her child sees, hears or learns about the world -- nor should parents try. But adults are entitled to set some common-sense limits on the messages their kids receive and the role models they learnto emulate.

That's why we disagree with the decision by the Wausau School Board last week to keep the young adult novel "ttyl," which contains some awfully graphic sexual language, on the shelves in the John Muir Middle School library.

It may very well be the case that "ttyl" has literary value as a young adult novel. At the least, crafting an epistolary novel composed entirely of Internet instant messages is something of a literary feat. (For the uninitiated, "ttyl" stands for "talk to you later" in online chats or text messages.)

Readers' responses to editorial found here.