For better or worse, the folks who run for library board and school board are a bizarre lot of political weirdos. It’s a lot of work and money to run, and then you get to sit through boring meetings for no pay. As a result, most those who chose to run, run from a desire to either ban some books, or to promote them. The rest are developers who want to expand buildings and grounds. I don’t think this problem is new or unique to the US education system. That’s just the way it is, and has always been. Noah Webster complained about it in the early 1800s.

In terms of teaching, I find myself on the side of classic books that are fairly non-sexual. That’s because I read them. I suspect that the students would prefer more modern and racier fare, but what do I know. In terms of library purchase, I like variety, but virtually no library works that way, either the board are a band of perverts pushing weird sex on under-age kids, or they are blue-noses who want to keep Shakespeare from the shelves. I also claim to prefer a diversity of opinions both in the classroom and in the library, but I suspect that, I’m likely to favor my own opinions over others.

Anyway, it is common for libraries to ban books, with some of those banned shown below. As it happens, it’s a lot harder to un-ban a book than to ban it in the first place. You have to read the book, and make a coherent argument for its merits — something that board members generally don’t want to do. It would also help to have balance boards, but I fear that’s not likely/ possible. I ran for school-board, but lost. Here’s a link to my Ballotopedia page.

I thought that math and science education are important, so I’d like good books on these subject in the library, bu hardly anyone is driven by an interest in math, so math education suffers, as do math and science books. I also like cursive handwriting, something I consider an art form.

Robert E. Buxbaum, October 28,2025