Keep reading choice free
What is "Let Freedom Read Day about?
If one doesn’t know how to read, one has quite limited choices about what to read.
If one does know how to read, one’s choices of what to read should not be limited.
Many of us in the Special Education Today community are rightfully concerned with teaching students how to read. The ability to read opens metaphorical doors to knowledge, ideas, and opportunities, so teaching our kids to read is a good thing. It frees them to go out into the wide world and learn about lots of things.
But, that freedom can be diminished or restricted by book bans and censorship. Today, 10 October 2026, is a day when a wide and large consortium of organizations such as the libraries, publishing houses, writers’ groups, civic groups, civil rights organization, and many others reminds us that freedom to read extends to having unrestricted access to reading materials.
It doesn’t make much sense to me to teach children how to read if we are only allowing them to roam about in a constrained world.
Although he had flaws in his own pursuit of freedom, Thomas Jefferson wrote powerful words that can be readily interpreted as counter to censorship. A famous example, for me comes from a letter to William Roscoe from 1820. In describing his aspirations for the University of Virginia, Mr. Jefferson wrote that it should
…be based on the illimitable freedom of the human mind. for here we are not afraid to follow truth wherever it may lead, nor to tolerate any error so long as reason is left free to combat it.
So, I encourage we educators and parents to join with Unite Against Book Bans in celebrating Let Freedom Read Day for 10 October 2026.