Posted in: Comics, Current News, Manga | Tagged: Delaware, manga, school

Delaware Parents Object to High School Manga & Anime Club Ban

A parent of children attending the Magnolia Middle School in Delware has launched a petition to object to a decision to ban manga.

A parent of children attending the Magnolia Middle School in Magnolia, Delware has launched a petition on Change.org that has garnered over 1850 signatures so far. Jennifer Antonik objects to a recent decision to ban manga books from the school and discontinue the Anime Club. She writes;

"These valuable resources have played a significant role in my children's education and personal growth while fostering creativity, literary exploration, and building a strong community of friends. We have also experienced community involvement as Hertrich's in Milford awarded $1,000 to the school just last year to expand the library for its students."

"Meanwhile, the school's new principal has said as of 9/19/23, "Because of the age of students we service, I am only comfortable with material being in the building that is not related to curriculum rated E and Y only." So far, we have only heard of the Manga library that will be removed as a part of this new rule.

"My children have thrived under the guidance of Mrs. Fox, as I'm sure many others have since the Anime Club started. She has dedicated her time and effort to curating an extensive manga library at our school and encouraged community involvement in the process. The availability of these books has not only encouraged my children to read more but has also sparked their imagination and broadened their understanding of different cultures.

"Furthermore, the Anime Club at Magnolia Middle School has been an invaluable platform for students to come together and share their love for anime films. Through this club, my children have had the opportunity to engage in meaningful discussions about various themes depicted in these films while developing critical thinking skills.

"It is disheartening that such an essential resource for our students is being taken away without proper consideration of its impact on their educational and social experiences. By banning manga books and discontinuing the Anime Club, we are depriving our students of opportunities for personal growth, cultural appreciation, creativity development, and community building.

"I firmly believe that every child deserves access to diverse forms of literature that cater to their interests. Manga books provide a unique medium through which students can explore complex narratives while improving reading comprehension skills. Anime films offer visual storytelling techniques that captivate young minds while promoting literacy and cultural exploration."

Mike Williams, district community relations specialist, stated to Delaware Live that "The district is in the process of reviewing policies, looking over curriculum materials, and the after-school activities and things like that, and we still have maybe a week or 10 days to get through all that. We're going to look at each of the publications or books that are in this library and see which ones meet and which ones don't meet the standard for age-appropriate material… The manga books are not banned, either, but what has been brought to the attention of the school is that some of the materials might not be age-appropriate. So the principal decided to he's going to use a criteria and say age appropriate is this, and age non-appropriate is that."

However, it seems that everything available for the club was not approved. Williams added, "Middle School is sixth, seventh and eighth, so if an eighth grader is looking at it, it has to also be okay for a sixth grader to look at," he said, "and those are the conditions that we're working through."

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