Book ban eviscerates parents' rights

Gov. Kim Reynolds has eviscerated my rights as a parent.

Sixteen years ago my wife and I made an active decision to raise our children in the state of Iowa largely for its long history of best in the nation education. We trusted Iowa teachers and local school boards to act in the best interest of our children and our community. There have certainly been times when school boards acted against my wishes, but I had the opportunity to talk to them about those situations, and I believe it helped all of us make better future decisions.

Four years ago I made the decision to switch careers from the financial industry to education, because I wanted to be involved in helping future generations learn how to think, how to reason, and how to express themselves. One of the most important parts of becoming an independent thinker is experiencing new ideas, particularly ideas with which you disagree, and working to understand them. I want my children to become independent thinkers.

I want my children to read and be taught from a wide variety of texts. I want my children to read “Slaughterhouse Five” by Kurt Vonnegut. I want my children to read “The Handmaid’s Tale” by Margaret Atwood. I want my children to read “Beloved” by Toni Morrison. I want my children to read “Howl” by Allen Ginsberg. I want my children to read “The Perks of Being a Wallflower” by Stephen Chbosky. I want my children to read “Speak” by Laurie Halse Anderson.

But even more importantly, I want my children to read these books under the guidance of a master educator. Someone who is trained to help students think through the difficult subjects these books raise. Someone who understands how adolescents develop their reasoning skills and knows when to push and when to let be. Someone who can help my children put their thoughts into words so they can express how these books make them feel. Kim Reynolds has taken that right away from me.

I cannot opt my children into reading these books under the tutelage of the master educators in their school district. I have no power as a parent to appear at the local school board and ask that these books be taught. With Senate File 496 Reynolds has prohibited teaching of these books. I, a parent, should have the right to have my children taught the great books of literature.

Further, I believe my children should be taught from books I disagree with. That is how they figure out how to express their own beliefs. That is how they discover the depth and breadth of human existence. That is how they discover the world does not always agree with what I taught them and they will ultimately have to choose what they will believe. That’s how they will become independent thinking adults.

Kim Reynolds has taken away my right as a parent to decide what books my children are taught in school. I want my rights back.

Matthew Clendineng of Riverside is an Eastern Iowa educator, former economics adjunct instructor at Iowa Wesleyan University and the father of three teenagers.