Book Censorship in American High Schools

Censorship in American High Schools
Book banning has a long history and has made both positive and negative impact on readers. People have been trying to stop books from being banned, but there are also people that are trying to ban books to protect their children. Many books have been challenged and even banned because of the “inappropriate” content the books contain such as profanity. Books have started to get censored since the 1500’s and has threatened many cultures. The people who ban and censor books think that they are protecting the readers from the information, but it is secluding the readers from getting more ideas. This creates a negative impact on the readers, especially high school students. People don’t realize that book censorship limits the way they view the world. Many books have been banned in American high schools because of political, religious, sexual, and social reasons. Book banners and parents should be more lenient in what the book expresses because it teaches readers, such as high school students, many lessons that will help them in life.
Books are banned to protect the readers and to do so, some books are even banned because of the smallest detail it contains. The reasons why books are banned is “because of political, religious, sexual, and social reasons” (Karolides, Bald, and Sova vii). Also, people’s beliefs are a reason why some books are banned now. Some books may contradict and offend a person’s belief which causes a certain book to be banned or censored. For example, it is obvious why books are censored or banned if it contained sexual content because it would create a negative mind-set for the high school students making them think that sexual content is no big deal. It would also...

... middle of paper ...

...l Librarian's Perspective." Time. Time Inc., 22 Sept.
2000. Web. 24 Mar. 2014. .
Finan, Christopher M., and Joan E. Bertin. "Banned Books." Courier-Journal. 23 Sep. 2012:
H.1. SIRS Issues Researcher. Web. 05 Mar. 2014. http://sks.sirs.com/cgi-bin/hst-article-display?id=SCA4335-0-660&artno=0000354640&type=ART&shfilter=U&key=banned%20books&title=Banned%20Books&res=Y&ren=Y&gov=Y&lnk=Y&ic=N.
Karolides, Nicholas J., Margaret Bald, and Dawn B. Sova. 120 Banned Books: Censorship
Histories of World Literature. New York, NY: Facts On File, 2011. Print.
"Quotes About Banned Books." (19 Quotes). Web. 20 May 2014.
.
Salinger, J. D. The Catcher in the Rye. Boston: Little, Brown, 1951. Print.
Steinbeck, John. Of Mice and Men. New York: Penguin, 1993. Print.