Did you know that there have been more than 4,000 bans on books in the first half of the current school year? Books get banned all the time for not being appropriate, but on one side of the argument they say they shouldn’t be banned while the other says that book bans help society. Books should not be banned because they can be banned for invalid reasons, books can be kept from younger children while still being available to the proper audience, and book bans can have effects on the students who aren’t getting the chance to read them. From a historical perspective it can be argued that books should not be banned because people are banning books for invalid reasons. While some may argue that book banning keeps kids safe from books that are inappropriate, books like To Kill a Mockingbird and Uncle Tom's Cabin are books about parts of history that kids should learn because it is the truth. In paragraph 23 Author Viet Thanh Nguyen states “It seems clear that the latest attempts to suppress this masterpiece of American …show more content…
People could say that if books are not banned, students will be able to get that book if they wanted to, but books are always going to be accessible to anyone even if it does get banned. The article emphasizes “we don’t put playboy books in kindergartens; this isn’t considered a ‘book ban’ but merely common sense.” That just means that when books aren’t in schools it’s not banning a book from everybody but just something you are supposed to do in society. In paragraph 10, the article states “libraries must institute measures that recognize that some books are unsuitable for young readers and reserve (not ban) them for an older audience.” This quote shows that while some books aren’t fit for younger students, you can still have older, more mature audiences read the book because they can handle
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.
Banning books from public schools and public libraries is wrong. It’s irrational to have a parent or school board member’s opinion determine what a school district should be reading. Books including and not limited to, The Scarlet Letter, The Great Gatsby, To Kill a Mockingbird, The Lord of the Flies, and Animal Farm all have one thing in common. They have all at one time or another been subject to banishment. These literary classics have been around for a long time and proved to be vital to the education of many, especially children and adolescents. These novels teach values and educate children about world affairs that can not come from an everyday experience. These controversial novels encompass the materials that ultimately boost our educational wealth. Banning books infringe
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.
In conclusion, book banning should not occur because it is unnecessary, violates freedoms, and prevents important lessons from being taught. To preserve freedom and literacy, book banning should be banned.
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.
The first amendment of the U.S. Constitution states, “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances (Buchanan).” With the banning and the challenging of books all over the U.S. I believe that our first amendment is being jeopardized. We should be allowed to read whatever we want to read it is our right according to the first amendment in the U.S. Constitution with freedom of speech.
Has your school ever banned any books due to them having inappropriate content for your age group? How did it affect you or your peers? Many schools and public libraries have started banning books because of it having unsuitable content in them. I believe that certain books should be banned from libraries because some include racial slurs, others contain a blasphemous dialogue in them and usually kids shouldn’t be exposed to these types of books because of their age, lastly other books encourage children of unsuitable lifestyles that are considered dangerous or inappropriate in this world and it’s unacceptable for many parents to have their child read such topics at such a young and innocent age.
“The more that you read, the more things you will know. The more that you learn the more places you’ll go.”-Dr. Seuss. What Dr. Seuss’s statement is telling us is that books have given us knowledge about ideas, life, and the world. One of the greatest inventions of mankind is a book. A book is a set of printed sheets that are put together fill with information that people read about. Books have been around with us since ages from generations to generations. It is all around the world with different cultures and languages, books have given people the joy of story, information, and knowledge. Everyone should have the right to read whatever book they are seem interested. Well, it is not the case; there are some people out there trying to challenge books from being ban. It is ridiculous that books are being taken away from readers. Today, books are still currently being challenged or banned. This type of doing is censorship. This is a problem that people need to look at and think about. Books are in school, library, in our homes yet they are too much for the people. Why are books so sensitive for readers to be challenged? There are two set of sides to this issue, one side are the people that wants to remove the books and challenged them to be ban, the other side are the one that oppose the banning of books, allowing to read whatever they want. Which side is right? This leads to the question as to why books are currently being challenged or banned. How does banning books relate to censorship and what are some solutions that can solve the problem of banning books?
In the essay, “Banned in the USA: The Growing Movement to Censor Books in Schools” the author Nadine Farid Johnson reviews the states that have banned books as well as the books that have been banned, she then goes on to give her opinion on book banning, and how schools should go about banning books. Johnson does not believe in banning books; she thinks that it is taking away from the student's learning and they are missing out on opportunities. She thinks if the parents don't want them to read the books, that is understandable, but that should not stop everyone from reading the books. I agree with the author, I don’t believe that the USA should be banning books. I think this for a couple of reasons, I believe that if parents or students don’t
A total of 65% of educators report that book restrictions or censorship negatively impact their ability to teach, 36% claim it discourages critical thinking, and 72%, over 1,000 educators, report book bans have resulted in lower student engagement in reading (“Educator
It is an overlooked topic that should be considered by everyone because, in turn, this will hurt a child's education. It also goes to show how kids will lack their creative side of learning because they are lacking the opportunity to explore the different perspectives being explored in books and how to incorporate them into their own creative endeavor. Also seen through Text 4: Book Bans Are Really About Oppression of Diverse Ideas,” it conveys, “As a parent, I know that books should be viewed as tools of enlightenment, not tools of oppression.” This quotation also demonstrates how, despite the fact that not all parents are against book banning, one that is against it is aware of the bigger picture book banning may have on their children as well for children in general. This parent takes into consideration the way books should be used, rather than the way they should be
“Many books have been banned or censored in one or more of these categories due to a misjudgment or misunderstanding about the books content and message.” Even though many books have been controversial to whether they have a positive influence on the reader, banning books would be limiting what society could read and violating our rights. Many of people’s interests would be limited by book banning. Not only would it be limiting interests but it would be violating our First Amendment. In many cases this could also hurt a child’s education.
If schools continue to allow banning books that have religious context, it will later have a negative effect on the students, due to them being restricted from the specific material. Chiesa is not alone, Nia Cain talks about the long-term effects that book bans have on students. Cain states, “If we continue to restrict the topics students today get to read, we are robbing them of the impactful experiences literature can have and the leaders they may be one day” (Cain para 12). When students are restricted from topics due to the banning of books, they won’t be able to understand important life topics like religion, for example. Schools should end the banning of books because students are getting robbed from being educated.
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