Book bans have risen in prevalence in the past few years. With the pandemic in 2020, parents began to want more control over their child’s education. These bans have divided parents and students; one group supports the increased censure of literature, while the other petitions for freedom of literature. Book bans can prevent young children from seeing potentially harmful information, but they also allow some groups to push the envelope, banning books based on their beliefs rather than facts. Many of these books include LGBTQ+ topics, abuse, violence, and racism. The number of banned books in the U.S. is over 3,500 and has increased by over 2,500 in the 2020-21 school year alone. This raises some questions. For instance, to what extent should …show more content…
Schools can restrict inappropriate books and literature, but not to a point where the curriculum is drastically changed. These sources are in contradiction to what’s currently happening in the U.S. education system. Even with this precedent, there are many cases of books and whole classes being banned, even if it drastically changes the curriculum. Book bans in schools create a segregated education between liberal and conservative states. A possible solution to this could be the standardization of education across the nation, eliminating discrepancies in the material taught in schools. Book bans are prevalent in schools across the country. PEN America, a nonprofit organization that advocates for freedom of literature, published a detailed report on book bans. In this report, many topics surrounding book bans are argued, as PEN America’s beliefs sit in contradiction to the idea of banning literature in schools, which could cause bias. The increasing frequency of book bans not only negatively affects students’ ability to read freely, but also restricts their access to information useful for their future …show more content…
Conservative states would have a more idealized education, tailored to the parent’s relief systems, while Liberal states’ education would be more broad, encouraging more critical thinking. Some parents’ overbearingness in their child’s education could cause a rift between different education styles in the U.S. At a large scale, book bans have the potential to have serious consequences. Book bans aren’t proven to be effective on a large scale, in some cases even increasing the visibility of restricted literature. A possible solution to this could be restricting books on a student-by-student basis, not school-wide. Uttara Ananthakrishnan, Ananya San, and Michael D. Smith from Carnegie Mellon University’s Heinz College, a prestigious college for analytics education, present the results of a research study. In the article, it references a survey done that includes a data set of over 17,000 books, to find the effectiveness of book bans. Their findings indicated that “Banning a book in one state led to an 11% increase in circulation of the book in states of different political leanings that did not ban the book”
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.
Countries worldwide actively call for the banning of books that are found to be politically inconvenient, religiously awkward, or embarrassing in one form or another. But for writers like Russia's Vasily Grossman, a book's ban means far more than just a dip in sales. In 1961, he pleaded with the Soviet censors, "I am physically free, but the book to which I have dedicated my life is in jail." (Merkelson). A book represents an idea, thus limiting access to a book is banning the representation of an idea. The banning of books in American schools should not be allowed, because banning books will prevent students from learning the reason for the controversy and alternate viewpoints they can come to on their own.
Banning Books “It’s not just the books under fire now that worry me. It is the books that will never be written, the books that will never be read. And all due to the fear of censorship. As always, young readers will be the real losers” (Blume 1999). Judy Blume can not explain the problem of book censorship any clearer.
The Dangers of Censorship in High School Every day, well-meaning parents, concerned members of society, and Christian activist groups across the country fight to censor the literature that is being taught in high school classrooms. The word censorship carries all types of implications and angles; it involves a denial of an author's right to guaranteed freedom of expression. However, as it relates to education, this issue goes a great deal deeper than the standard First Amendment argument. In attempting to ban certain types of literature from the classroom, censors are taking away the rights of teachers to prepare students for a reality that their parents do not seem to think will ever affect them. They likewise deny students the chance to learn how to rationally make their own decisions and instead try to keep that control for themselves.
Censorship in American Schools You may not realize this, but our government plays a large role in governing what sort of information America’s children are exposed to. The average American child receives the majority of their knowledge and education from school, so the information that is allowed to be taught is a very delicate and controversial issue. Literature is often altered or banned from public schools and libraries because they contain vulgar language, excessive violence, or connotations of drugs and sex. The reasoning behind this is that these are potentially dangerous ideas, and if children were to be exposed to them, they would be corrupted and manipulated by them.
Analyzing and Connecting Themes Within Fahrenheit 451 Today, there are over 3,362 books banned in schools around the United States. Every year, this number rises dramatically. Censorship and book-banning is a very debated topic for people today. But, what are the true effects of censorship and book-banning?
Censorship in School Libraries The most debatable and controversial form of censorship today is the banning of books in school libraries. Banning books that educate students is wrong and selfish. Censorship of books in school libraries is neither uncommon nor an issue of the past. Books with artistic and cultural worth are still challenged constantly by those who want to control what others read. The roots of bigotry and illiteracy that fuel efforts to censor books and free expression are unacceptable and unconditional.
When regulating the content that someone sees or hears, it is the sole responsibility of the individual to block harmful or offensive content from themselves or their children. In an article by Dan Gutman, a children’s book author, he states that if a piece of literature is banned from a school library, it is not only blocke...
Walt Whitman once said, “The dirtiest book of all is the expurgated book.” Between the years 2000 and 2009 a total of 3200 books were challenged in school libraries in an attempt to expurgate, or censor, the content in books provided to students. Today the trend of censorship continues as popular novels such as The Hunger Games, The Fault in Our Stars, and Captain Underpants are censored from schools across the nation (Challenges by Reason).Censorship in regards to literature refers to the examination and suppressing of a book because of objectionable material. The process of censorship in school libraries often begins with an outspoken parent, teacher, student, or administrator and ends in the banning or abridgement of a novel deemed inadmissible. Censorship is protecting many students from controversial, immoral, and potentially unsuitable content; however, this is not always the case. Students, parents, teachers, and administrators with different backgrounds, beliefs, and morals are not creating a library pleasing to everyone because of the variety of opinion. Censorship in school is not justifiable, because it restricts discussion and knowledge of new, controversial, and necessary ideas, allows a handful of people to make decisions for a larger group based on opinion, and undermines democratic ideals.
The Houston Chronicle, pp. C14. Retrieved December 2, 2002 from Lexis-Nexis/Academic database. This article emphasizes the point that censors go too far when they attempt to not only ban a book for their own children but want to remove it altogether from a school library, so that other students cannot read it.
Moreover, they see the act of banning books as a downward slope that can lead to greater suppression of free speech and expression. In contrast, proponents of book banning believe that some materials can be harmful, especially to young readers, and that communities have the right to determine what is accessible to their members. The controversy around book banning continues as society grapples with evolving standards of what is considered acceptable, and who gets to make those decisions. Opposing book banning is essential to upholding the freedom of thought and expression that is fundamental to a democratic society. It allows individuals to access a diverse range of ideas and perspectives, exploring critical thinking and empathy.
Over a third of banned books contain themes or instances of violence and physical abuse. This is, sadly, a reality for many people. People may turn to books like these for help, for someone to relate to, only to realize they’ve been banned. Governments and religious institutions have had the power to ban books they deem to be inappropriate for children for a long time. This can result in people thinking they are alone in their experiences and not being able to seek help due to isolation.
The growing trend of censorship and banned books has amplified over the last 3 years. Controversy on whether certain books that espouse opinions on divisive topics should be banned from the learning curriculum or banned altogether from districts but banning them contradicts freedom of expression through literature guaranteed in the 1st Amendment. Furthermore, it has affected thousands of individual titles across the US in grades K-12, one of many being the book Speak by Laurie Anderson. While Speak does address divisive topics like rape, xenophobia, and self-harm, along with many other mature topics, it should be age-restricted to middle schoolers and below for a lack of maturity but allowed in grades 9-12 due to its educational value to promote
Does the title sound familiar? Well it should be this was said by tony montana played by a classic star like al pacino in the movie scarface released on december 9, 1983 directed by brian de palma and written by oliver stone it is about a cuban immigrant who has just arrived in the united states by boat from cuba with nothing but the clothes on his back and is heading to a refugee camp with his best friends they get green cards eventually for helping a drug lord by killing a formal cuban government official he gets a job as a dishwasher but quickly realizes this is not meant for him and sets off to find something better which is selling drugs from the columbians to everyone in miami and quickly moves up in the rank and becomes one of the biggest
Book bans have risen in prevalence over the past few years. With the pandemic in 2020, parents began to want more control over their child’s education. These bans have divided parents and students; one group supports the increased censure of literature, while the other petitions for freedom of literature. Book bans can prevent young children from seeing potentially harmful information, but they also allow some groups to push the envelope, banning books based on their beliefs rather than facts. Many of these books include LGBTQ+ topics, abuse, violence, and racism.