I write in response to an article that ran in the Aug. 18 Sun Journal, “Maine writers’ group to buy high school students copies of book banned by RSU 56.”

As a Maine Writers and Publishers Alliance member, a Maine writer, and a father and grandfather — who has never discriminated against any person, including working class, colored, gay or lesbian — I do not support presenting educational material to children when their parents have very different views than that specific material.

I think we should respect parents’ rights to educate their children with their own values — even when different from neighbors, my own or new school values — as long as those values do not educate students to harm others who think different than themselves.

We also might understand that encouraging a division between parents and children relative to value systems can cause the students to develop personal and emotional problems.

Let’s not divide students from their parents.

Tom Fallon, Rumford