That is just WRONG. Remove books or ban kids under 12? How about my cousin who is about to enter middle school? Does that mean that his school won’t have a library or he won’t be able to go into it (since he’ll be 11 in 6th grade)?
This is so absurd I had to read it twice to comprehend such stupidity!
If someone had banned me from going to the library ’till I was twelve, where the heck would I have spent all my wednesday afternoon, in front of the TV? Yay, I can see the improvement!
To have the baby books tested (you know the books for 2/4years old with funny images and stuff…) is smart, what they are doing is pure stupidity!
Children would be more interested in trying to eat their gameboy or whatever, it’s all shiny and beautiful…might want to ban those. Oh and school books too… I mean they would be really dangerous for a child, he might actually learn something! Dictionnary are even worse! _’
Hope they don’t try anything like this in France!
Wow, that is one of the most ridiculous things I’ve seen. Living in Australia, there doesn’t seem to be this kind of conservatism. Banning books doesn’t really happen either.
Children under 12? I think that by the time a child has reached the age of 6 or 7 (at least I hope), or even earlier, they would probably have already stopped trying to put everything in their mouths, as you stated.
I am just hearing about this today. This is crazy. Have we all gone nuts. At first i thought that they were worried about young children reading books – that it might be "dangerous" because of all the "crazy" ideas they put in our heads. But no, they are worried about youngsters putting lead books in their mouths. Seriously? Are parents that bad now? That they cant watch their kids enough to make sure they wont put them in their mouths? And is there even enough lead paint in the books to make them sick? Wouldnt they have to eat the whole thing or something? Someone clearly hasnt thought this whole scenario through. Craziness… absolute craziness.
What? Seriously! I never heard anything more absurd than banning people to read. Reading is life. This is upsetting. :(
What on earth is this person thinking of ??? "education of the masses" is a universal right ! This stinks of some-one who wishes to deny us access to
Ridiculous ! as a junior librarian in my time this is essential for childerens education How dare this person ban access to education !
That is so stupid. We should encourage reading not the opposite.
How sad, this is so stupid I been reading books from my local library since . . . . well forever!
This is ludicrous! I thought we in Sweden had some daft rules and regulations, but sadly we’re not alone on that point. I sincerely hope that this does not go through! What’s next – a ban on breathing due to the risks from air pollution?
How is this possible? I just don’t understand how ANYONE could have this stance. Why haven’t I heard about this before? This should be breaking news, front page of every newspaper everywhere! This is ridiculous. Are people really this thick? Goodness gracious, these guys should win the Idiot of the Year award…
Last year in school we read Fahrenheit 451, which in case people have not read it, is a book about the future where books are burned! Then the ironic part was we later in class looked at a list of the most popular banned books, and Fahrenheit 451 (of course Harry Potter is on it too!) was on it. So a book about the importance of reading and not destroying books is a banned book. People are always so worried about keeping kids "safe" and sheltering them that they don’t allow kids to actaully live and learn things for themsleves. The government has to stop acting like the parent because when they do, they end up doing more harm than good.
I love your label: "New label for books:
Warning: Reading this will increase your enjoyment for life…"
It reminds me of something from John Ruskin: " The entire object of education is not to make people merely DO the right things, but ENJOY the right things…"
I would say that is the greatest thing I gained from my college education—not the teaching job I do (which I love beyond rational explanation)—but the JOY I have gained in things like art, music, literature, theater, architecture, history, philosophy, theology… It is a long list.
But keep let’s up the war. Lose or not, we have no choice. As Bob Dylan once wrote, I’ll stand on the ocean until I start sinking—‘cause it’s hard rain’s a-gonna fall.
No, you are not turning into a cynic; you are turning into a Stoic, one who knows the right thing is the right thing, win or lose, pain or pleasure. Keep blogging. Keep pounding us on the value of education. I look forward to you next entry.