ATHENS, Tennessee. “After the McMinn County School Board voted in January to remove Mouse, the Holocaust graphic novel, from the eighth grade curriculum, the community quickly found itself at the center of a nationwide book censorship frenzy.
The book soared to the top of the Amazon bestseller list. Its author, Art Spiegelman, likened the reign to Russian President Vladimir Putin and suggested that McMinn’s officials would rather “tell the Holocaust better.” At a recent student council meeting, opponents of the book’s removal gathered in a crowded room.
But the outrage didn’t convince the school board to reconsider. And the council’s objections are not limited to Maus or school educational materials about the Holocaust.
“It seems like the entire curriculum is designed to normalize sexuality, normalize nudity, and normalize vulgar language,” said Mike Cochran, a school board member. “I think we need to rethink the entire curriculum.”
Such efforts are being encouraged statewide, placing Tennessee at the forefront of nationwide conservative efforts to change what students learn and read in public schools.
One of Tennessee’s proposed laws would ban textbooks “promoting LGBTQ issues or lifestyles”; the one passed in June would ban content that makes someone feel “discomfort” because of their race or gender. The other allows party elections for school boards, which critics fear will introduce cultural grievances into debates about education policy. State lawmakers in Nashville are considering a ban on “obscene material” in school libraries, as well as a measure requiring school boards to establish procedures for reviewing school library collections. Governor Bill Lee recently announced a partnership with a Christian college to open 50 charter schools dedicated to raising children as “informed patriots.”
The cumulative effect of all this activity has alarmed educators and other staff members concerned about academic freedom. “It’s not one or two people here – the intention comes from the governor to ban conversations, divide communities and erase life experiences from class discussion,” said Hedy Weinberg, director of the American Civil Liberties Union. Tennessee.
Kaylee Isham, a McMinn County ninth grade English teacher, said the environment has changed her teaching. She is hesitant to bring up topics such as racism and socio-economic issues or LGBTQ issues in her class for fear of being targeted by conservative parents.
“A big part of my job is to figure out what’s normal,” Ms. Isham said, adding: “Not being able to talk about things that I think are really important, not being able to express myself — it’s a little disappointing when it seems like everyone has the rest have no problem expressing themselves louder and louder.”
McMinn County’s decision to ban Maus has been widely interpreted as a rejection or disregard for Holocaust education. A book that depicts Jews as mice and Nazis as cats, recounting the imprisonment of the author’s father in Auschwitz, has been used in social studies classes across the country since the early 1990s, when it became the first graphic novel to win a Pulitzer Prize.
But the student council members mentioned narrower issues: several instances of “inappropriate words,” including “bitch” and “hell,” and the image of a partially naked woman.
“This council is the arbiter of community standards as far as the McMinn County school curriculum is concerned,” Scott Bennett, the council’s attorney, said at a packed council meeting in February. “At the end of the day, it is this board that is responsible for making those decisions.”
According to school board members, the decision to remove Maus was made around the start of the current semester following complaints from parents and teachers. The district has recently switched to a new curriculum provider and this was the first time the book has been assigned.
School staff were initially ordered to edit cases of “strong, inappropriate language” as well as nudity. But the school board decided it wasn’t enough.
Tony Allman, a board member, noted that “Maus” describes hanging people and murdered children. “Why does the education system promote such things?” he asked. “That’s not wise or healthy.”
Curriculum leaders defended depictions of violence as essential to telling the story of the Holocaust.
“People have really hung themselves from trees, people have committed suicide, and people have been killed – over six million people have been killed,” Melason Knight, Curator of the Curriculum, said at a January meeting in which the board voted to remove the book from the curriculum.
One board member appeared to be concerned about the precedent this decision might set. “We could throw away a lot more stuff if we were going to take this position with just a few words,” Rob Shamblin said at the meeting.
However, Mr. Shamblin voted with the rest of the 10-member board to remove the book from the curriculum. The next day, the principal of the district schools informed the principals of the school system that “all Maus books will soon be removed from your schools.”
Athens, the county seat of McMinn County, is a quiet rural community with an elegant white-columned courthouse, low 19th-century brick buildings and a reputation for being a “friendly city”. The district’s school system serves a total of 5,300 students. But in the weeks since the Maus decision was reported in the local media, it has become the focus of new political activity, including among students.
Suddenly, boxes of donated copies of the book filled the local public library. High school students rushed to get copies, passing them to each other between classes.
Emma Stratton, a McMinn County High School student, drove an hour away with her mother and brother to Chattanooga to buy several copies of the graphic novel. “If they take this book away, what else are they going to take from us?” Emma asked, adding, “They’re trying to hide the story from us.”
A Zoom discussion on the book by a local church generated such interest that the church had to turn people away. Two residents have announced rare challenges to school board members up for re-election, backed by a group of new residents leading the opposition.
The Maus fight is the latest outbreak in a national wave of conservative challenges to youth reading in school libraries and classrooms. Dozens of bills have been introduced in state legislatures across the country in recent years to ban the teaching of topics derided as “critical race theory.” Conservative groups have targeted books about race, gender and sexuality, with more than 300 book problems reported last fall, according to the American Library Association, which called the number “unprecedented.”
In Tennessee, efforts to rethink what materials are taught and provided to public school students are making headway at the State Capitol, including by the governor, who raised the issue of parental rights.
“We must also give parents the opportunity to objectively look at not only how their children are learning, but what their children are learning,” Mr. Lee, a Republican, said last month. “The vast majority of parents believe they should be allowed to see books, curriculum and other items used in the classroom. This is how I treated my children, and today I support these parents.”
Legislators have used out-of-state bills, political research by conservative think tanks, and previous bills proposed in Tennessee to compile a list of laws that would limit materials and topics available to students. Pressure has increased from local chapters of Moms for Freedom, a parenting rights group that operates in Tennessee.
“We have a range of circumstances that are prompting lawmakers to address this issue,” said Deborah Caldwell-Stone, director of the American Library Association’s Office of Intellectual Freedom.
The Republican education reform agenda goes even further: in his State of the Union address, Mr. Lee proposed the creation of a $6 million American Civil Law Institute at the University of Tennessee as a counterbalance to colleges and universities, which he says have become “centers of anti-social politicians”. “American thought that leaves our students not only ill-prepared, but bewildered.”
State Senator Heidi Campbell, a Democrat, is concerned about what she sees as a broad attempt to undermine the credibility of public education. “It was a very effective way to stir up the crowd,” she said, adding: “The whole point is to create fear of the idea that the awakened socialists are trying to take over our country and indoctrinate our children with an ideology. And ironically, it all serves the purpose of educating our children.”
Even before the Maus vote in McMinn County, Miss Isham, an English teacher, was rethinking her career. According to her, she came into this profession because she wanted to help students deal with difficult topics, but because of the increased attention, it seems useless. She plans to quit teaching at the end of this semester after only a year in the classroom. She doesn’t know what’s next.
“We are allowed to say less and less,” Ms. Isham said. “At the moment, our hands are tied behind our backs.”