Over the past two years, protests at schools have been on the rise.

Aside from the push and pull about pandemic protocols, there also have been vocal demands about the content of curriculum and what is on the shelves of the libraries. Pennsylvania, in particular, has been a main battleground of this, with 457 bans in 11 school districts between July 2021 and June 2022. Only Florida and Texas had more.

In Southwestern Pennsylvania, challenges to books and curriculum have arisen at districts including Franklin Regional, Greensburg Salem and Norwin.

Hempfield Area School District has taken a long time to address concerns with its policy for challenging books. The reevaluation came after two books for high school readers — “All Boys Aren’t Blue” by George M. Johnson and “The Black Friend: On Being a Better White Person” by Frederick Joseph — were opposed by some parents.

After 10 months, the future of that policy is still up in the air.

Now, Hempfield has another book question. This one involves curriculum, too, as some parents are concerned about a proposed college-level literature course that would be available for seniors. The class would allow students to earn college credits at Seton Hill University and Westmoreland County Community College.

The problem for the complainants is the content of the class. A list of 11 books was proposed. There was opposition to three: Kurt Vonnegut’s “Slaughterhouse-Five,” Stephen Chbosky’s “The Perks of Being a Wallflower” and Margaret Atwood’s “The Handmaid’s Tale.” All were on grounds of mentions or themes of sex.

It is worth noting that all 11 books have been challenged somewhere for some reason, from “Hamlet” to “The Hate U Give.” For some people, the sexual content in Shakespeare is a bridge too far. For others, it was mentions of race or violence. “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest” is one of the most commonly banned books in U.S. history.

However, all of the books are challenging texts that come up in college courses. They are exactly the books one might expect to find in a university English class. So, how does a school prepare students for college without accessing the books that make that possible?

This should be a situation in which the access is entirely in the parents’ hands. Specifically, if they don’t want their children exposed to college-level literature, the solution isn’t culling the books. It’s not allowing their children to take the entirely optional class.

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