Britney Pham Mr. Stuart Maclean English 10.3 22 February 2024 Schools should not ban books from their libraries. The debate over whether schools should ban books is not a new issue. Many articles, studies, and surveys have taken this issue as their subject. From my point of view, schools should not ban books for the following three reasons: some issues are brutal but necessary in children's development, book censorship takes away personal choices from the majority in the community, and banning books is a discriminatory action. As previously indicated, book bans have the potential to restrict access to crucial instructional materials, depriving students of knowledge on social issues, significant historical events, and other subjects that can be deemed delicate or contentious. Banning books is like keeping the truth under wraps. Several publications about the Holocaust, for …show more content…
If children do not have access to this information, people will make the same mistakes again. If children do not have access to this information, the world will have a second genocide. This information is necessary for children to be aware of the inhumane actions that have taken place in a part of the world. From there, children, who decide the future, will make the right choice to avoid making the mistakes of their predecessors. In addition, Maoria Kirker, an expert at George Manson University, said: "Banning books also has the potential to create significant gaps in knowledge for young learners" (5). Banning books greatly limits students' access to knowledge. This is not beneficial for students' cognitive development. Not only does it limit education, but book bans also limit access to certain groups of readers who feel interested in these works. Erika Long, a librarian in Metro Nashville Public Schools, passionately expressed her disapproval of book bans in an interview with Brenda
In the article How Banning Books Marginalizes Children, the author, Paul Ringel, states that approximately fifty-two percent of the books banned in the last ten years illustrate “diverse content”, such as race, religion, gender identity, etc. Ringel believes that attitudes about which books are “appropriate” for kids to read have too often suppressed stories about different cultures and life experiences. He basis his argument around the pretext that when libraries stop the banning it will allow kids to learn how to navigate imaginary worlds filled with differences and apply those lessons to their own lives.
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.
"Book Banning." Current Issues: Macmillian Social Science Library. Detroit: Gale, 2010. Gale Opposing Viewpoints In Context. Web. 31 Jan. 2011.
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.
Something else that must be mentioned in order to understand the evils of school censorship are facts censors ignore; the first being literary quality. When they chose to censor a book they do not take into account the educational value of the book. How can one say a book does not belong in schools if they do not know what lessons it teaches? The second key element ignored is the manner in which teachers lead students to interact with texts. They g...
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
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.
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.
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.
Retrieved December 2, 2002 from Lexis-Nexis/Academic database. This article addresses some of the reasons that censors attempt to remove books from the curriculum: Many censors feel that works are not age appropriate for students. Staff, Wire Reports. (2002 October 3). Book banning spans the globe.
One of the key features that defined World War 1 was the psychological trauma experienced by the soldiers fighting in the war. The psychological impact of the war on people was a major crisis which people responded to in a number of different ways. As a result of the war, doctors gained a better understanding of the human psychology. Some of the crises that need to be discussed, are the symptoms soldiers experienced and the causes of shell shock. In response to the crisis, doctors made treatments to help the suffering and the view soldiers and society had on shell shock was changed.
Censorship is to conceal certain things from people, whether or not it is to learn and educate, including news, films, and books. Some will say that it is to prevent children from reading things inappropriate for their age, and if they are the guardians of the children, the parents or guardians should have a say in what their children are taught and what they read in school. People want their children to be raised with specific values, and the school has no right to change them or say they are incorrect. Some materials in schools and libraries go against religious beliefs and cultures. It should be maintained in and outside their homes, so they can do that by banning books.
Although one may argue that certain content in the books at a school library can be harmful for students, it is also possible that it could prevent trauma by removing those books. However, the truth of the matter is that having books in school libraries with potentially “graphic and/or sensitive content” can be beneficial for students that may have a bias towards a topic that is “graphic” or “sensitive” because it can give those students a different perspective on the topic. Having such books available to those students can also educate them so that they can fully understand those books. One can also say that books with “sensitive content” should not be removed from school libraries because it can make students who can relate to those books
Banning the book from the shelves and classrooms seems unnecessary for many people. Many people believe the book should not be banned but only modified to replace the “N-word” with the word “slave.” With the modification, people claim that the book would still send its message across, yet in a less offensive way. Mark Twain scholars believe that the modification will make the book more adaptable for teaching and it will still manage to send it’s message across, without the need of the “N-word.” Professor of Syracuse University, Boyce Watkins, stated in The Joey Behar Show that there is censorship present in our society already in “movies, television, and other forms of art” and that censorship on a book is not an exception. Modifying the book