On Friday, 3/22, this letter of mine was published by the Des Moines Register, Iowa's largest newspaper:

Safeguard children by keeping school materials age-appropriate  

Though not a parent, I have been a child. That qualifies me to speak on this.

A March 17 story reported that the Des Moines Register/Mediacom poll had found majority support for student access to sexually graphic books. 

Throughout the piece, the writers freely used the sensational phrase "book ban," despite its not being applicable in this case. The books in question can be written, published, marketed, and stocked in public libraries. 

The writers did note that. But they sat on the inconvenient truth until their article's penultimate paragraph, and only portrayed the reality as merely child-protection advocates' partisan contention.

A question unaddressed in the story is this: Given that school computers are (presumably) set to prevent student access to XXX pornography, why should children have access to such imagery in school library books? 

Will those who today push for school libraries to stock graphically salacious books soon challenge school internet prohibitions of sexual depictions, as well?

The 'progressive' ambition of establishing youngsters as autonomous agents free from parental regulation and subject to state manipulation is apparent in disdain of parents' proper roles as education arbiters. (The identical desire to wrest control of minors from parents animates school personnel 'transitioning' children in secret.)

I take a backseat to no man in opposing censorship of materials available to adults like myself, whether it be books, records, movies, online sites, or some communication vehicle not yet invented.  

As a Marshalltown resident in the 1980s, I publicly opposed a pro-censorship pressure group there that called for the shuttering of an adults-only bookstore. My activism included an essay in the local newspaper.

But minors are another matter. The concept of "age appropriateness" is a legitimate one that should guide this discussion. 

Among adult responsibilities is the safeguarding of children. Those who would throw wide the inappropriate-material door for youths (who are definitionally underdeveloped in mind and temperament) are failing that moral obligation.

DC Larson, Waterloo