Persepolis not banned at Lab School or New Trier

7 editions of Persepolis in Lab School library

Funny. It seems the Klonsky brothers are the best news source in town on this one. Clair Kirch quotes from both our blogs as she tries to make some sense out of the continuing book-banning fiasco at CPS. But as folks in the community say, "the Common Sense Bus doesn't stop on Clark St."

If the banning and restrictions on Persepolis was just a "clumsy, at best, and brainless at worst", "ham-handed" bobble by some CPS bureaucrats, as Sun-Times columnist Neil Steinberg contends, then why won't Rahm or BBB just say that, chastise the 'crat, pull back all the top-down restrictions on 7th-grade teachers and simply get out of the way?

Answer -- because even if that would improve teaching and learning (which it would) they can't. It's not in their nature. And besides, with the mayor's dwindling poll ratings, they can't afford much in the way of self-criticism or transparency. It's not the stuff on which political campaigns are built. Yet another reason to get rid of mayoral control of the schools.

Instead, the struggle at Lane continues and a student movement against censorship and democratic education is born. Hopefully it won't be crushed.

Persepolis only "inappropriate" for CPS students?

Interesting to take note of this library guide plan at high-scoring, wealthy, suburban New Trier High School --Rahm's alma mater.

Better yet, it only took a quick call over to Arne Duncan's alma mater, the U of C Lab School, where the mayor currently sends his own children, to find out that Persepolis is part of the middle school curriculum and is readily available to all middle school students in the Rowley Library. In fact, the middle school library has 7 different editions of Marjane Satrapi's book, both in English and in French.