Less formally, and perhaps most disgracefully, the present Trump administration is pushing the Department of Defense (DoD) to cease dissemination of selected materials housed at DoD schools around the world. Among the banned titles, the children's book Freckleface Strawberry, written by an Academy Award-winning actress Julianne Moore, is listed. This decision has sparked a debate on censorship, relevant freedom, and the school curriculum of the novel.
Julianne Moore's "Freckleface Strawberry": A Brief Overview
"Freckleface Strawberry" (2007) is an emotional story about Julianne Moore's childhood. The story is based on the journey of a rather smart girl with natural red hair and dandelion blossom tattooed on her body who confronts her self-worth and the challenge of loving her own pretty look, even in the face of cultural pressures. The book has been complimented for its positive message, which encourages the children to feel positive and happy about their own specialness and differences.
The Ban and Its Implications
The command for the removal of "Freckleface Strawberry" from school libraries is just one piece of a larger effort by the Trump administration to examine materials on gender identity, diversity, and inclusion. As a result, the current research has also undertaken a "compliance review" at Department of Defense (DoD) schools (total enrollment of about 67,000 students at 160 DoD schools in seven U.S. states and 11 other countries). In this review, not only were bibliographic books closed, but so were those books that were considered to be outside of the scope of administration policy and will be further evaluated.
This administration is characterized by the practice of printing executive orders that will ban the classroom "bad" and hurtful to (anti-American) racial and sexual prejudices and blaming. Critics also argue that this strategy is, in fact, the process of subduing and, thus, the conversation on major social issues, e.g., racism, sexism, homosexuality, etc.
Julianne Moore's Response
Julianne Moore, whose father is a Vietnam vet, lamented deeply the fact of the ban. For this," she went on to say in a public statement, "I have emphasized the relevance of my book for children in military families, whose special capacity for empathy and care should be taken into account in the choice of stories, e.g., "Freckleface Strawberry" and likewise provide, through the practice of reading or similar approaches, comfort and understanding. Moore also queried the evidence upon which the curriculum promotes self-acceptance, acceptance of cultural heterogeneity and of differences in approaches to things, as well as the cultivation of controversial ideas in educational contexts-is to be made, especially as this relates to anxieties about free speech in the extended application for some form of some other thinking to mental health services (CMHTs).
Broader Context of Book Bans
The ban on "Freckleface Strawberry" is not accidental. The Trump administration has rejected numerous allegations of book bans, calling them a "hoax. However, PEN America, as has been the case with other organizations, has documented a staggering number of book bans taking place across the country, in which nearly 10,000 reports have been received of such actions in US schools in the 2023-2024 school year. Each of this constrained literature is reflective of the extent to which race, gender, and sexuality are treated and continues to generate debate as to what and how literature can be used in the classroom, rather than as a means of understanding and feeling the world of the child.
Impact on Military Families and Educational Freedom
It is having an immediate consequence on military families by removing the following from Pentagon-run schools, e.g., "Freckleface Strawberry" from schools that are aimed at limiting the disruption caused by military relocations and enhancing feelings of home for the children in their charge by ensuring there is a strong neighborhood in which the children can reside. It has been argued that by restricting to whom they are able to access to a general fund from which a whole range of literature can be drawn, the administration is not developing an educational base from which these students can draw and is excluding them from exposure to encountering other stories of culture.
Further, this change presents a question of what kind of educational autonomy model it is meant to be in a position to offer. Teachers are being told, one that, if achieved is, to stop, the kind of deep, rich, and participative learning that they can give, and this offer could extinguish worthwhile classroom discourse and critical thinking in students.
Public and Political Reactions
The decision has elicited strong reactions from various quarters. Supported by politicians, school administrators, and free speech advocates, the restriction has been condemned as a violation of First Amendment voices and as a form of censorship. For instance, specifically, Representative Jamie Raskin emphasized the responsibility of the executive branch as well as the importance of fostering acceptance of a diverse perspective in instructional materials.
Advocacy groups have also mobilized in response. In its capacity as a free speech advocacy organization, PEN America has been among the most outspoken voices against a tide of book bans and has argued that repressions of books have a detrimental effect on the trajectory of student learning as well as create an environment of exposure to a wider gamut of perspectives.
The DOD ban on "Freckleface Strawberry" during Trump's (era) has followed a messy, competing discussion around censorship, freedom to select the curriculum, and freedom for learners to select a textbook containing a range of naturalism. Regardless of how that discussion turns out, treatment for those configurations has not yet been fully balanced in terms of their long-term effects on the cognition and feelings of young readers, military family readers, in particular, whose readers have already been potentially exposed to some of these issues.
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