Books help us to understand ourselves, to find out who we are.” (National Children’s Book and Literature Association). Literature has been important to human development since the first script was ever written. Whether it is Shakespeare, or The Cat in the Hat, young brains have continued to flourish with the help of books. Books give you a way to escape your reality, live through the twists and turns of your imagined fantasy world, and help you find a sense of your true self within the story. Children, especially, need to have a clear sense of themselves as a person and have role models in their lives to look up to, whether that is in real life, or even in their favorite book. This is why the action of banning books in schools is problematic …show more content…
Everything that a child reads can influence their actions and their way of thinking. For example, the quote “Scenes full of character dialogue show children effective – and ineffective – ways to handle conflict in a variety of situations. It allows children to experience a range of moods and emotions they aren’t likely to experience in everyday life.” (education-connection.org) This quote shows how greatly books can impact a child. Many of the books that are being banned due to “inappropriate content,” are really books that contain ideas that can instruct children about the world around them. Ideas that can help children feel confident in themselves and how they treat others. Ideas that will help them throughout their lives. That is why books are so important for children’s thinking, as they are huge influences on their outlooks in life. Another piece of evidence that supports this is “The article further argues that literary fiction can “support and teach us values about social behavior, such as the importance of understanding those who are different from ourselves”.”(readingpartners.org) This is an example of how books can affect children’s empathy and their thoughts of others, as if they are reading about people who are different than them, they are more likely to understand and feel sympathy for …show more content…
That is both harmful to not only that child, but to the other people around them. If children are able to read diverse books with somewhat controversial topics, at least they will get an idea of understanding of these topics and start to provide their own thinking on the subjects. The more learning a child can do about many different lives, the more understanding that child will have. That is why books are effective in increasing children’s empathy and improving their social interactions with other people. While you could argue that banning books from schools is beneficial because it keeps out inappropriate topics such as gender, violence, drug use, racism, and LGBTQ content, you would be overlooking the fact that these book bans diminish the quality of education students have access to. While some of these topics are questionable to expose to young children, they are beneficial for older children to learn about as they are exposed to these ideas everyday and they need to know how to think for
The practice of the censorship of books in schools has been prevalent due to the explicit content of them. Parents have been complaining to schools about books that count as required reading because they disapprove with the points made in the book. If a book consists of offensive or sexually explicit material, then parents would challenge the schools about them in order to prevent their children from reading them. Censorship in general has been an intensely debated issue because it is considered an infringement to the First Amendment of the United States Constitution while others argue it is used to conceal inappropriate things (Aliprandini and Sprague). The banning of books in school curriculum has also been debated since parents see certain books as inappropriate while others argue that banning them hinders student learning. Against the censorship of books in schools, Fenice Boyd and Nancy Bailey, authors of Journal of Adolescent and Adult Literacy, believe that banning books creates a barrier between students and intellectual development (Boyd and Bailey, 655). Banning books from schools and removing them from the curriculum prevents students from exploring different ideas and developing creativity and critical thinking skills.
Children within this age group however are on the path of becoming young adults with their own identities. Finding your own identity when not being exposed to any negative thought provoking subject matter is difficult. Exposing a child to such topics that are out of their comfort zones is difficult enough without having to worry how the child will take in the newfound information. But through literature, parents and educators are able to expose children to difficult subjects such as abuse, religion, drugs, and so on and guide them into making the positive choices in life. Some are lead by example, and it is much easier to lead with a fictional character the children can relate to than just expecting them to know what to do when life takes a turn for the
There is no need to force students to read those kinds of books, since they can always get a book from the library if they want to read the book of their choosing. If parents are fine with their child reading books that have controversial content, they can get the book for their child themselves. I believe that once someone turns a certain age though, it is no longer up to the parents to decide what their children are exposed to. When a student is in the 11th grade, that is when the student starts to have more responsibility for themselves. That is when students are usually driving and on their way to becoming adults.
On the other hand, some people may believe that books should never be banned in school. According to Oscar Wilde, the author of The Picture of Dorian Gray, stated that “The books that the world calls immoral are the books that show the world its own shame”(BuzzFeed). Banning of books does hide the truth about the world from children. At the same time it is to protect them from the evil of the world at a young age. If books were banned until a certain grade this would not shield children from the truth of the world forever. This would shield children from the world until the proper age that they could understand the text.
School boards and teachers have a responsibility for protecting the minds of their students and covering age appropriate material. However, does this responsibility cover the extreme act of banning books from school classrooms? Does not the teacher have a duty to introduce to their students world issues in order to better the students ability to cope with problems in the world? How does a school decide which books should be banned from the classroom, and should it be left up to the teacher to decide what is decided in his/her classroom. By banning books from the classroom, we prevent our students from learning about controversial topics in a safe environment, and we also encroach upon the student’s freedom of reading what they want in school.
According to the American Library Association (ALA), family values, religion, political views, and minority rights are four motivating factors of why people want to ban books although there are many others (Kennedy Kids’ Book Censorship). Racial issues are commonly a concern when it comes to banning books because people often mistake the content for encouragement rather than discussion (Kelly). Religious fundamentalists frequently find topics such as homosexuality and magic inappropriate because it seems to support damaging lifestyles and witchcraft when the writer could simply be using these topics to help a child expand their imagination to different ideas of life (Kelly). Family values are a big issue when it comes to what tea...
Imagine you have a child. This child loves to read books on their own. They read so much you finally tell them to get their books from the library. Then, one day, your child asks you what does this word mean, you are horrified to see that the child is pointing to a curse word. From that point on the child gets in trouble with teachers and other adults for saying that word. This is why book banning is necessary to keep children from finding themselves in that situation and others. Book banning is required because a child may be taught bad habits, lose the magical innocence of childhood, and because children may not be mature enough to decide what materials to read.
How Banning Books Hinder Kids Minds: The most informational books are banned books. Books give knowledge but banned ones can not give you knowledge if you can not read them. Banned books can also destroy skills that need to be fine-tuned. One of the most important gifts of life can be limited, knowledge. Some people believe books should not be banned in school/libraries because banning a book can limit a person's mental abilities.
Books have been a part of history for 5000 years; in this time we’ve been using them to learn, teach, express, and give people experience that maybe mind alternating. Books are such an indispensable part of human development both in the sense of human evolution and the sense of an individual human’s growth. However, in recent years the act of banning books for “unsuitable” or “foul” language would be committing a disservice for the student body’s education; and for a school to deprive the student of said need is to fail of the main purpose a school is to serve. ” Foul” language is an essential literary tool for the dialect of certain books, but if censored, the lessons that could be taught from said books is lost. Along with this cutting out
Intellectual Freedom: The Case Against Banning Books in Schools. The debate over banning books in American schools has long been a contentious issue. While some argue that certain books should be prohibited due to mature themes, offensive language, and graphic content, this position undermines the principles of intellectual freedom and the well-being of society. Books, even those that challenge and disturb us, play a crucial role in fostering critical thinking, empathy, and a deeper understanding of human experience. Instead of banning books, we should promote open discussion, provide guidance for mature content, and trust in students' capacity to engage with complex literature.
Books allow a reader to explore different perspectives and permit people to find comfort in relatable stories. Books allow children to grasp perspectives that are not taught to them by their surrounding peers. As stated in source E, “We shouldn’t be banning books that allow a different perspective other than the one the school system wants to
Banning books keeps children from learning about or discovering themselves and the world around them. In an article from ProCon.org, the advantages and disadvantages of banning books are discussed. Author Robbie H. Harris, who’s children’s books are frequently challenged, talks about the effect books have on children’s understanding of the world. “I think these books look at the topics, the concerns, the worry, the fascination that kids have today. It’s the world in which they’re living” (procon 3).Harris says that books address the “topics”, the “concerns”, and the “fascination” children have about the world that they’re living in today.
Book banning and the censorship of books is an attempt to remove or restrict materials, based upon the objects of a person or group. These book bans and restrictions have been around for years and have begun growing more prominent to this present day. Books should not be banned and should be taught all around the world, because they all have deeper meanings than just bad language and inappropriate scenes. Book banning is the removal of books containing a certain type of material. This material contains graphic violence, is sexually explicit, or includes offensive language.
Should schools be allowed to ban books from their libraries? Nowadays, parents are concerned that inappropriate topics in books are contaminating the children's mindset (Powell 9). In reality, are the contents in the reserves indeed playing hide and seek with librarians, teachers, and parents resembling the famous quote “Don’t judge a book by its cover” by George Eliot? This raises concern about inappropriate content like disturbing, racist, and, sexually explicit in books leading to books getting banned from school libraries. However, it is unrealistic to assume that banned books won’t help us have a better understanding of our world, and evoke empathy and self-discovery.
If books can widen imaginations and encourage kids to pursue careers they should be withheld from kids. Although imagination is great in all, kids should also be taught about the real world