Dictionary ban sensational

The Menifee Union School District in Southern California has banned the Merriam-Webster dictionary, the Toronto Star reported Jan. 26.

The ban was put into place after a parent complained about the entry “oral sex.”

The dictionary, which was being used in Grade 4 and 5 classes, has been pulled from the district’s shelves while the school board undertakes to scour the dictionary for other graphic entries. It’s frightening that the process of censoring what children are exposed to has moved beyond television and video games to include resources used in schools. The Menifee Union School District’s decision sets a concerning precedent for other issues in the classroom.

The decision also indicates a troubling parenting trend. Entries like “oral sex” aren’t new to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, and only appear to have become a problem in a generation of needlessly overprotective 21st-century parents.

The dictionary doesn’t promote an ideology—it’s one of the most objective sources we know, presenting simple facts about terms and their meaning.

Determining which words are inappropriate for children will likely present a tough situation for school board officials. Drawing the line of appropriateness in a sea of words about sex, violence and ideology would require a nearly impossible consensus about what constitutes harmful knowledge.

It’s easy to fear children’s corruption if they’re exposed to objectionable terms, but there are far more harmful ways to access information than through a dictionary in a school setting. In the Internet age, children have easy access to a slew of concepts that are misrepresented in degrading or graphic ways online.

While learning from the dictionary isn’t as valuable as having a frank discussion with a teacher or parent, children are likely to encounter far more harmful and questionable sources than the Merriam-Webster dictionary. Simple supervision in the classroom would have been a better solution.

Now, students in the Menifee Union School District have lost the many benefits of a dictionary and the ban has sensationalized the original issue.

In the wake of the uproar, children in the district are probably more curious about the term that caused a kerfuffle in their school board. Looking out for children’s safety is noble, but causing a hoopla didn’t help.

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