Book Banning Research Paper

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Emily Corl Advanced Placement Seminar Frazier 4 February 2024 Book Banning and its Effects on Education as a Whole In 2022, Davis School District in northern suburban Utah made the decision to ban the Bible in its middle and elementary schools after an anonymous parent protested legislation making it easier to remove inappropriate content in school libraries. According to reporter-researcher Jasmine Liu at The New Republic, the anonymous parent wrote an eight-page list of obscene or so-called “indecent” passages present in the Bible (Lui). With the rise of extremist ideals in society, book banning in public schools has become a censorship problem in the United States. In turn negatively impacting students' education and autonomy of knowledge; …show more content…

Many parents still argue that it is their right to decide what content their child is exposed to. However, when these book restrictions affect other students, it becomes a problem. Ideally, students of high school age are still given the right to autonomy when it comes to what they read, and despite the idea of non-maleficence of causing no harm that some may use as an excuse for general book banning; in the end these mature students will still make their own decisions and are responsible for the information they choose to read about. Undeniably the most important impact of the rising controversy over book banning is its effect on students and their education. According to a First Book Research and Insights report of over 1,500 educators' opinions on banned books, many have reported a negative impact on students' education as a whole. 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 …show more content…

Again, high schooler Joshua Spilka writes, “How can people expect school to be a place for learning and growth, but at the same time push for restricting material and inhibiting students from educating themselves on timely topics?” (Spilka). School is regarded as a place of learning, but when content censorship occurs, especially through books, the foundation of school as a place of learning is completely contradicted. When teachers from the same First Book Research and Insights report were asked their overall opinion of books banning, many believed it important to note the parents role (“Educator Insights”). In the end, it is the parents decision to decide what knowledge their children have access to, but they most certainly cannot control other students. Book banning and censorship has overall been increasing significantly throughout the past few years, especially with the rise of conflicting extremist ideas and emerging groups regarding these ideas. Nevertheless, it is the decision of the parents to determine what knowledge or content is restricted to their

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