When great and necessary books are being pulled from school libraries, something has gone badly haywire.
It’s gone badly haywire in Iowa, and specifically, in Mason City.
“Friday Night Lights: A Town, a Team, and a Dream,” the 1990 non-fiction bestseller by H.G. “Buzz” Bissinger about a prominent west Texas high school football team and societal issues in its Odessa, Texas home is one of 19 books recently removed from school shelves in Mason City.
Others include Alice Walker’s “The Color Purple,” Theodore Dreiser’s “An American Tragedy,” and Maya Angelou’s “I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings.”
“I’m flattered to be in the same company,” Bissinger said by phone Wednesday. “These are great, great books.”
The rest of what he said wasn’t so flattering, and with good reason.
Iowa Senate File 496, passed this year, requires every book available to students be “age-appropriate” and free of any “descriptions or visual depictions of a sex act” according to Iowa Code 702.17.
Mason City Community School District Assistant Superintendent of Curriculum and Instruction Bridgette Exman said it was “simply not feasible to read every book and filter for these new requirements.” So, as Popular Science reported this week, that district is using ChatGPT. That’s an artificial intelligence software, to help provide textual analysis of each title.
“This use of AI is ridiculous,” Bissinger said, “There’s no sex at all. I’ve never depicted a sex act. I don’t know what the (expletive) they’re talking about. I purposely stayed away from that.”
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As for the book possibly not being age-appropriate?
“My book is being falsely depicted,” said Bissinger. “The tragedy is, this is a great book for kids. It is a great book for teenage males because they don’t like to read anything. But they devour this book, and I know because I’ve had over 30 years of emails telling me that.
“The idea that this book has been banned is totally against what our society is and should be, freedom of speech and the ability of kids to choose what they want to read. Absolutely tragic. Not just my book, but all the books they cited.”
“Friday Night Lights” still resonates 33 years since its publication. It deals directly with racial divisions and racism, which Bissinger calls “a thick vein in our country, and I’m really tired of people not wanting to acknowledge that.”
The book ought to make readers question the glorification of sports, particularly at the high school level. A school district should be glad when one of its students wants to read it.
“There are now elements of our society who believe that it’s in their interest to shield kids and to shield readers from anything that puts a certain perspective on the United States,” Bissinger said.
“So unless it’s totally glowing, unless the problems of this country are absolutely put under the rug and not acknowledged, it’s going to be banned.
“Kids should know about racism. It’s not just Odessa, it’s all over the country. Kids should know about what can happen if all your eggs are in high school sports.
“Kids are supposed to learn. Not just learn the classics, but they’re supposed to learn about elements of our society. And by the way, the book is not all negative. The book does celebrate the beauty of high school football. And that’s part of the reason for the success of the book. It’s magical.”
Banning the book, Bissinger said, is “a little bit too late since the book has sold 2 million copies. It sold those copies because people relate to it.”
Removing the book from school libraries is bad enough, but using AI to make that decision?
“Frankly, we have more important things to do than spend a lot of time trying to figure out how to protect kids from books,” Exman told Popular Science. “At the same time, we do have a legal and ethical obligation to comply with the law. Our goal here really is a defensible process.”
“Why don’t you read the book first and then make up your mind?” Bissinger said. “Instead, you rely on AI? … This is what happens when you’re actually too lazy to do what you need to do.
“It’s also symbolic of how we don’t read anymore. Let’s go to AI. Pathetic. Yeah, absolutely pathetic, and infuriating and dangerous. Because who knows what other school districts will do in Iowa or around the country.
“Whoever determined this is a complete idiot. And frankly, whoever determined this is a danger.
“America is a wonderful, great country. And one of the reasons it’s a wonderful, great country is that people have the right to choose. This is not Nazi Germany. This (banning books) is similar, and I hate that comparison. It is similar to the book-burnings in Nazi Germany.
“Tell me the difference. Is this the society we want to become?”
www.thegazette.com
It’s gone badly haywire in Iowa, and specifically, in Mason City.
“Friday Night Lights: A Town, a Team, and a Dream,” the 1990 non-fiction bestseller by H.G. “Buzz” Bissinger about a prominent west Texas high school football team and societal issues in its Odessa, Texas home is one of 19 books recently removed from school shelves in Mason City.
Others include Alice Walker’s “The Color Purple,” Theodore Dreiser’s “An American Tragedy,” and Maya Angelou’s “I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings.”
“I’m flattered to be in the same company,” Bissinger said by phone Wednesday. “These are great, great books.”
The rest of what he said wasn’t so flattering, and with good reason.
Iowa Senate File 496, passed this year, requires every book available to students be “age-appropriate” and free of any “descriptions or visual depictions of a sex act” according to Iowa Code 702.17.
Mason City Community School District Assistant Superintendent of Curriculum and Instruction Bridgette Exman said it was “simply not feasible to read every book and filter for these new requirements.” So, as Popular Science reported this week, that district is using ChatGPT. That’s an artificial intelligence software, to help provide textual analysis of each title.
“This use of AI is ridiculous,” Bissinger said, “There’s no sex at all. I’ve never depicted a sex act. I don’t know what the (expletive) they’re talking about. I purposely stayed away from that.”
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As for the book possibly not being age-appropriate?
“My book is being falsely depicted,” said Bissinger. “The tragedy is, this is a great book for kids. It is a great book for teenage males because they don’t like to read anything. But they devour this book, and I know because I’ve had over 30 years of emails telling me that.
“The idea that this book has been banned is totally against what our society is and should be, freedom of speech and the ability of kids to choose what they want to read. Absolutely tragic. Not just my book, but all the books they cited.”
“Friday Night Lights” still resonates 33 years since its publication. It deals directly with racial divisions and racism, which Bissinger calls “a thick vein in our country, and I’m really tired of people not wanting to acknowledge that.”
The book ought to make readers question the glorification of sports, particularly at the high school level. A school district should be glad when one of its students wants to read it.
“There are now elements of our society who believe that it’s in their interest to shield kids and to shield readers from anything that puts a certain perspective on the United States,” Bissinger said.
“So unless it’s totally glowing, unless the problems of this country are absolutely put under the rug and not acknowledged, it’s going to be banned.
“Kids should know about racism. It’s not just Odessa, it’s all over the country. Kids should know about what can happen if all your eggs are in high school sports.
“Kids are supposed to learn. Not just learn the classics, but they’re supposed to learn about elements of our society. And by the way, the book is not all negative. The book does celebrate the beauty of high school football. And that’s part of the reason for the success of the book. It’s magical.”
Banning the book, Bissinger said, is “a little bit too late since the book has sold 2 million copies. It sold those copies because people relate to it.”
Removing the book from school libraries is bad enough, but using AI to make that decision?
“Frankly, we have more important things to do than spend a lot of time trying to figure out how to protect kids from books,” Exman told Popular Science. “At the same time, we do have a legal and ethical obligation to comply with the law. Our goal here really is a defensible process.”
“Why don’t you read the book first and then make up your mind?” Bissinger said. “Instead, you rely on AI? … This is what happens when you’re actually too lazy to do what you need to do.
“It’s also symbolic of how we don’t read anymore. Let’s go to AI. Pathetic. Yeah, absolutely pathetic, and infuriating and dangerous. Because who knows what other school districts will do in Iowa or around the country.
“Whoever determined this is a complete idiot. And frankly, whoever determined this is a danger.
“America is a wonderful, great country. And one of the reasons it’s a wonderful, great country is that people have the right to choose. This is not Nazi Germany. This (banning books) is similar, and I hate that comparison. It is similar to the book-burnings in Nazi Germany.
“Tell me the difference. Is this the society we want to become?”
Buzz Bissinger blasts Mason City schools’ ban of his “Friday Night Lights”
Mason City relied on AI in banning of 19 renowned books, including Buzz Bissinger’s bestseller about a high school football team and the world in which it lived.
www.thegazette.com
