Bakersfield College had the first Gadfly Café of the semester on Wed. Oct. 4 at the Levan Center. The topic of discussion was banned books, which coincided with Banned Book week which was from Oct. 1-7. The discussion was led by Philosophy Professor Reggie Williams and BC librarian Ariel Dyer and joined by an audience of BC students and faculty.
The conversation got going quickly with many audience members having a lot to say about book bans. An attendee described going to her children’s elementary school and seeing that there were less books than when she went to school. Another attendee questioned if that was because of the use of technology and many schools using chrome books now.
One member of the audience stated that if he had children and didn’t want them to be exposed to certain topics, he would just home school his children. Others commented that not everyone has the opportunity to home school their children and even if one home schools their children there is no way to shield kids from other ideas because of the internet and word of mouth.
Ariel Dyer commented that not all households have the technology to access resources. Dyer detailed a situation during covid where some schools in Oildale had to have buses drive around with Wi-Fi service so students could use a chrome book for class.
The conversation then gravitated towards questioning what book banning is about. Several members of the audience questioned if the banning of books was about preventing access to certain works.
At this point, Anahi Monroy, a BC student, said, “Censoring and banning (of books) is pointless because eventually kids will get the information from the internet.”
During the conversation, the topics of banning books with or by specific groups, such as the LGBTQ+ community and people of color, were also discussed. One audience member shared their opinion that these bans seem more like erasure of these communities.
The conversation shifted to what is age-appropriate for children, with one attendee recalling a chapter from Stephen King’s “It” that he would rather forget.
While most agreed that children should be reading age-appropriate works, there seems to be disagreement on whether parents should be the ones to decide what is age appropriate for their children.
Attendees pointed out that some parents might be ignorant to ideas that could benefit their children. This led to the topic of children’s literacy levels. Many felt that before worrying about what children are reading, the focus should be on children being able to read.
There will be another Gadfly Café towards the end of the semester. The date will be announced soon but it will be on a Wed. from 12:30 p.m. to 1:30p.m. at the Levan Center.