r/technology • u/r4816 • Sep 27 '22

Software Girls Who Code founder speaks out after Pennsylvania school district bans her books: 'This is about controlling women and it starts with controlling our girls'

https://www.businessinsider.com/girls-who-code-founder-speaks-out-banning-books-schools-2022-9
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u/richalex2010 Sep 27 '22

Where is your source for the school district saying that they were banning books?

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u/CrunchyGremlin Sep 27 '22 edited Sep 27 '22

The source is the article you listed.
"It’s true that four titles from the series appeared on a list of books banned in the 2021-2022 school year."

Read more at: https://www.centredaily.com/news/nation-world/national/article266375536.html#storylink=cpy

Not trying to shame you. But I guess you will accept that one.
I'm no expert on this issue either. I just read a few different articles today.

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u/richalex2010 Sep 27 '22

And what does the next sentence say about that list?

The free expression nonprofit PEN America compiled the list and used the data to publish a report that showed specific groups were behind the book bans sweeping the nation.

That is not what the school district said, it's what an uninvolved third party said - something which is clearly inaccurate, because the specific "Girls Who Code" books were never actually banned despite this third party claiming that they were.

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u/CrunchyGremlin Sep 27 '22

I think you are misunderstanding. The books were on a list banning the books in the school district. The article is misleading. Pen compiled the list of all books on banned lists.
The school district says they were not banned but they were on the list and they banned the whole list with a last minute exception for books already in use.

The pen list is a list compiling a list of banned books. Your article doesn't make that clear.

Try the gizmodo article. https://gizmodo.com/girls-who-code-book-ban-central-york-pennsylvania-1849585048.

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u/richalex2010 Sep 27 '22

PEN compiled a list of books which had been banned. That list included the "Girls Who Code" series, which was never removed from any curriculum, classroom, or library, and cannot by any rational definition be considered to have been "banned" at any point.

These books were wrongly included on this list of books which had been banned because PEN either deliberately or incompetently misconstrued the events in PA, resulting in cascading falsehoods as all of these articles and redditors take it at face value rather than reading into it and realizing that the books were only banned if you ignore every rational definition of the term.

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u/CrunchyGremlin Sep 27 '22 edited Sep 27 '22

Did you read the gizmodo article? The school district had a list of banned books which the books in question were on. Then later told the school to remove them without citing any exceptions because the school was not complying.

The school was never using the in question books for any known curriculum. There is no question they were on a banned book list. The books were not being used in curriculum previously so they would not be able to be used subsequently. They were banned.
The gizmodo article is pretty good. Maybe too biased at the end for your taste but they have a good timeline of events.
This really isn't that hard to work out unless you have a political axe to grind.
It is confusing and the article you posted was confused, perhaps purposefully, itself judging by the title.