In a recent social media post, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick made this statement:
“Parents should never have to worry about vulgar material being purchased with their tax dollars and placed in their children’s schools. I’ve fought to give Texas parents a stronger voice in their children’s education and to keep inappropriate books out of our schools. Parents know their children best.”
Every last word of his statement is dead wrong.
Parents, you should always have to worry about so-called “vulgar” material being purchased with your tax dollars and placed in your children’s schools. Exposure to all manner of material, including material one may find offensive, is the very point of education.
There’s no such thing as an inherently “inappropriate” book. Books aren’t toxic waste or pods from Invasion of the Body Snatchers. A child’s mind can’t get poisoned or taken over by the page. It doesn’t work like that!
If it did work like that, then as a result of works and authors I read as a child, I would be many things that I’m not …
- Nazi: Mein Kampf
- Communist: The Communist Manifesto
- Pedophile: Lolita
- Free-market Libertarian: The Wealth of Nations and Atlas Shrugged
- Gay: Lanford Wilson, Tennessee Williams, Oscar Wilde, and Noël Coward
- Rabid homophobe: James Dobson
- Promiscuous: The Joy of Sex
- Cynical: The Prince
- Innocent: The Little Prince
- Hindu: The Bhagavad Gita
- Buddhist: Zen in the Art of Archery
- Evangelical: The New Testament
Reality is quite opposite from what MAGA mandate-mongers like Mr. Patrick want you to believe. Intellect is strengthened when a child encounters – and eventually rejects – materials they find offensive or immoral.
That’s right, they get to make that decision – not you, Mom or Dad. That’s the point of education in a free society. You do not know your children best, because as Kahlil Ghibran aptly observed, your children are not your children.
The actual way for you, Texas parent, to have a strong voice in your child’s education is to quit advocating for lazy shortcuts. Do the hard work of engaging with your children and their curricula. Or, if that’s not doable, at least get out of the way of the overburdened, under-resourced professionals who are being paid (far too little) to be your kids’ educators.
Have a little faith in your children. They’ll turn out sane, ethical, and moral if you’d just do right by them. Trust them, and their teachers, to shape their minds properly. This is the enlightened path.
Burning down the library stacks only leads back to the Dark Ages. Dan Patrick is disgraceful for, as he put it, “coming for the books.” For the sake of your kids, be a far, far better model than him.
Liam Mathison Farmer is an award-winning screenwriter and Austin-area independent IT consultant. He lives in Kyle with his two fur kids, Lady Ada and Orpheus.
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This article appears in August 28 • 2026.