This meme is a great example of how a headline can be technically right but, since no one knows the real context, gets dishonestly used to fuel a popular narrative. This school district is not banning Anne Frank, this is simply an administrative process that is being (often willfully) misunderstood.
▪️Like most schools, the Keller Independent School District had a process where parents could challenge books in the school library, which would then be reviewed by a committee to make a decision whether it was appropriate.
▪️However, last year they discovered books which had been reviewed but still contained pornographic and other material considered inappropriate by parents. Here are some examples given of books which were previously approved, you can decide if you’d want them at your kid’s school:
https://youtu.be/Ee6Yyg0QzwU
▪️Because of this, the board voted 7-0 to revamp the review process. The new review process will supposedly be more transparent to parents, involve community and staff members, open to the public and recorded.
▪️Thus, they are again reviewing all of the books which were challenged before. In total, 41 books, including the Bible! Yes, a single parent had challenged that previously, so it will be reviewed again (but the district isn’t “banning the Bible” either, which was also reported).
▪️One of the 41 books on the list, which again was challenged by only a single parent, was a graphic adaptation of Anne Frank’s diary. Not the actual diary, there are dozens of copies still available at the Keller libraries, which these memes omit. But an edited, condensed graphical work.
▪️This book passed the previous review process, and will likely pass the new one, but like the Bible, has to be done again. While this review is happening, librarians were told to remove them from the shelves. This email, taken out of context, is what caused the freak out.
▪️The school board president appeared on a few radio shows to explain this, like here:
https://www.wbap.com/2022/08/19/rick-roberts-keller-isd-national-controversy%EF%BF%BC/?fbclid=IwAR0BJ7hhkGIYrHEElnogNn4iMcrr0I__v0cUttgSMjH1oAtZGDxWDCcpA6M
Snopes even agrees Anne Frank isn’t being banned!
https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/anne-frank-diary-banned-texas/?fbclid=IwAR1tFNrRmfbuWk0m8afEAAoH2srpDRErw92dg30EVTgFFj-sVICMDUu7GeA
▪️But there’s currently a huge effort to push a narrative that schools are banning classic books, so it took off. Just like the fake list of Florida books that were supposedly banned, that celebrities like Mark Hamill decided to post the other day. Misleading is perhaps too kind to this meme, but technically the headline is correct, it’s the interpretation that is wrong.
▪️Beware of any stories about schools “banning books.” Not only are they often taken out of context, but it’s important to remember that the first amendment doesn’t apply here, all school libraries are controlled. Parents can and should have a say in what books are included.
▪️We can have a system where these decisions are made on a national or state level, or on a local (even individual) level. Giving local control will mean some districts might make silly decisions at times, but most parents would prefer to have a more direct say.
I first critiqued this terrible take by looking at how food has actually improved substantially. Even though I said the same could be done in every category, people said “you’re only doing food.” So let’s do air travel and see why it’s not gotten better, not worse.
▪️Aircraft have greatly improved. Just 15-20 years ago, many domestic routes (~15%) were flown by turboprops like the Brasilia, Dash 8 or Saab. Now, almost everything is in jets, and most aircraft have WiFi. Some even have Starlink, where you probably have faster WiFi than your home. Most major airlines offer dozens or hundreds of movies and shows to watch.
▪️Newer designs like the 787 have lower cabin altitudes and improved humidity, which make a huge difference in passenger comfort on long haul flights. The first/business class international market has gotten very competitive globally, with many carriers offering excellent service and amenities. Pods, suites, showers, etc. Coach still sucks but is dramatically cheaper ...
This is the complete opposite of an empirical fact. The right has now joined the left in being pessimistic about the modern world and completely unappreciative of the amazing abundance we now have. I’ll just focus on food here, but you could do it for almost every category.
▪️Fresh produce used to be available only in season. In the winter it was canned or frozen. People used to send fruit for Christmas gifts, it was that much of a luxury good. Now, you can get giant, sweet berries year around in every grocery store. Corn on the cob in February. Not to mention once rare items like dragon fruit, heirloom tomatoes or baby bok choy.
▪️If you didn’t live on the coast, seafood was either not available, frozen, or extremely expensive. If you lived in the Midwest and traveled to coastal locales you would quite literally be able to eat food you had never seen. Salmon has become much more abundant and accessible. You can get fresh ahi at Walmart today. Sushi and oyster bars exist everywhere ...
▪️This is a proposal that pertains only to graduate level nursing degrees, not undergraduate ones (which were never considered professional degrees). The proposal will have a 30-60 day public comment period next year, where groups can object, before the DoE will decide on it.
▪️This is about how much federal student loans someone can take out for a particular degree. The cap on graduate degrees is $100k ($20,500/yr), while a “professional degree” limit is $200k ($50k/yr).
▪️Under the new rule proposal, professional degrees include:
🔹Pharmacy
🔹Dentistry
🔹Veterinary medicine
🔹Chiropractic
🔹Law
🔹Medicine (including osteopathic medicine & podiatry)
🔹Optometry
🔹Theology
▪️The nursing degrees excluded are ones like master of science in nursing (MSN), doctor of nursing practice (DNP) and PhD in nursing. These degrees would be limited to $100k in federal student loans, like all other graduate degrees.
▪️These changes came from the One Big Beautiful Bill’s...
