Banned Books: The Great Gatsby By F. Scott Fitzgerald

Banned Book Essay

“So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past.”

The Great Gatsby - F. Scott Fitzgerald

This sentence is a very famous quote that has helped change the meaning of literature today. Many times throughout history books such as a classic like The Great Gatsby have been banned for an assortment of reasons. Such fine literature as The Great Gatsby should not be banned. Although it may have some vulgar language doesn’t mean it is not a book that will help students learn. People are making books banned for kids at school because they think they have topics in them that kids shouldn’t be exposed such as sexuality, religion, and violence. Although these topics are very strong subjects, that doesn’t mean kids shouldn’t be exposed to learning about them. If the kid’s parents are okay with them reading certain books they should be able to read them. Kids should be able to decide what they read with their parents consent because it will help them mature and grow as a person by being exposed to many topics. Based on the article that we read in class we see how a classic like ‘Of Mice and Men’ can be questioned to be banned because of illogical reasons.

One reason that kids should be able to choose what they read in school is because of how it will educate them on topics they would like to learn about.

In this time period most kids have access to learning about what they want from the internet. Books are a better source to learn information from. In the book ‘Of Mice and Men’ readers learn about things such as friendship, loneliness, and compassion. People seem to think that because this book contains foul language that kids should not be reading at school. Without this language the book would not be as good as it is and kids would not learn the valuable lessons it provides. In all, one reason kids should get to choose what they read with their parent’s consent is because it educated them on topics that will helps kids be better

people.
Another reason kids should be able to choose what they read at school with their parents consent is because if kids aren’t able to choose a book on a topic that they're interested in they might not even read it at all. I know from personal experience that when kids are forced to read something they do not like it is very hard to focus on the book, which makes them not want to read it. It would be easier to let kids pick their own books, so they will read the book and enjoy it. In the article it says "We need to trust the judgment of our English teachers to use this book wisely, as we have since 2002." This is meaning that if an english teacher thinks that kids will learn and be interested in the book the kids should be able to read it. Although this is somewhat true having kids choose what they read with their parent’s consent will make them be interested in the book more.
On the other hand, kids do not have good judgement all the time. If kids picked their own books all the time then maybe they won't read books that will benefit their learning experience and books that are appropriate. There is a difference between inappropriate books that will help kids learn and inappropriate books that will not help kids learn. Although I do think this is true I still think kids should have the right to choose what books they want to read in school with the consent of their parents.
In conclusion, having kids choose what they read in school with their parent’s consent is something that should be done at school. Kids will learn about things they want to learn about and will be interested in the book. Although you can say that kids sometimes don’t have the best judgement, that doesn’t mean that they can’t learn to. Reading is something that should be interesting for kids, not torturing.