Deciding whether or not a book should be banned is an issue that is highly controversial in schools today, especially a book like The Scarlet Letter. There are multiple sources that can argue or defend whether or not the book should be banned. It is apparent that the book has debatable issues for a teenager to be exposed to and it is evident that these issues are topics that people should be concerned about enough to ban the book from school curriculum. Although the book includes having sex outside of marriage, The Scarlett Letter should be incorporated in high school curriculum because it encourages for a detailed and in depth discussion on respecting the desires and feelings of a full person. It is important to respect the desires and feelings …show more content…
Bullying is the many types of forms of disrespecting the desires and feelings of an individual and can cause damage to how a person goes through their life. In the article, "Social and Parental Support as Moderates of the Effects of Homophobic Bullying on Psychological Distress In Youth," it states, "...victims of bullying can suffer significant repercussions in terms of socioemotional well-being, health, and learning outcomes" (Raquel Ant ´Onio 730). Thus, bullying is not good for a person mental and physical health. The main idea behind respecting an individual is to make everyone feel safe, but instead people are not being respected, which is causing detrimental damage. Essentially, people are not respecting others in this way of bullying. Statistics from the same article stated "Forty percent of the participants claimed to have been intimidated, insulted, or assaulted in school..." (Raquel Ant ´Onio 734). …show more content…
Adolescents exposed to sex outside of marriage may encourage them in doing so, resulting in unwanted or teen pregnancies. Not only can teens be exposed to this in the book The Scarlett Letter, but also in the TV show "Teen Mom" on MTV. As stated in an article, "MTV’s hit programs 16 and Pregnant and Teen Mom have been the subject of national debate since their inception. Supporters contend that the shows inhibit pregnancy-risk behavior. Critics contend that the shows glamorize adolescent motherhood and encourage pregnancy-risk behavior" (Wright 50). Therefore, teens who have been exposed to this type if behavior have been encouraged to act the same as these teen girls. As seen in The Scarlett Letter, a women has sex outside of marriage and ends up pregnancy with a child. The article also states, "Exposure to sexual television prospectively predicts early intercourse..." (Wright 51). When teens are watching this show, they think that since these girls can do it, so can they. Books like The Scarlet Letter can expose adolescents about having sex outside of marriage and end up following in this character's footsteps just like if they were to watch the TV series "Teen Mom". Students reading this book may interpret it the same as they would in
This can teach many teens what to do when situations like this arise. They will know the consequences and will know what to expect. How real this book portrays all the events teens can decide not to try anything because in a way they slightly experienced everything with Alice. Overall, the book should not be banned and teens should be allowed to read this anywhere without there being consequences. Works Cited Sparks, Beatrice.
This controversial book has been challenged in countless states for many years. In 1997 the Elgin, Illinois school district banned the book from middle school libraries. Catherine explained that the book was banned because “talk of masturbation, birth control, and disobedience to parents occurred”
It used the characters to express different perspectives on the same issue. Ultimately it was banned because of a lot of controversial language, sexually explicit situations, mention of drugs, and a lot of other variety of reasons. This book has been removed from the libraries of mostly middle schools and has been banned in their classroom discussion. Though this book has not been banned on a large scale though because most critics think positively about the book. The main issue is just what age group should be permitted to read this book and what age group shouldn’t be allowed to read the book. Whether this book is appropriate for middle school aged students or not is still up for debate but it does raise a lot of questions pertaining to the rights of humans to their own bodies. It also challenges the Medical
Kids love freedom. They thrive on it. It’s a part of growing up. The older and more responsible you are the more freedoms you will get. Parents at a variety of schools are restricting the one freedom of children that they should always have. The freedom to chose a book. A number of schools have banned the classic, award winning book “To Kill a Mockingbird” by Harper Lee. This book is about a little girl who’s father is defending an African American man in court in the south during the 1930’s. Sounds harmless? Many don’t think so! “To Kill A Mockingbird” should not be be banned because it tells an important fictional story about America's past.
...ting this novel was to reveal the hypocrisy of a Puritans life. He wanted to provide a moral message and psychological complexity. The Scarlet Letter may be one of the few novels that will continue to be taught in literature as it deals with sin, punishment, and guilt.
Censorship in Schools There has recently been a renewed interest and passion in the issue of censorship. In the realm of the censorship of books in schools alone, several hundred cases have surfaced each year for nearly the past decade. Controversies over which books to include in the high school English curriculum present a clash of values between teachers, school systems, and parents over what is appropriate for and meaningful to students. It is important to strike a balance between English that is meaningful to students by relating to their lives and representing diversity and satisfying worries about the appropriateness of what is read.
One argument against 1984 is the novel’s obscenity, which most conservatives would deem unsuitable for young readers. We should not be encouraging the notion that we live in a world where things such as sex and violence do not occur. By doing this, we are creating a mass of ignorant students. If we are trying to create a body of students with “college-ready” mindsets, we should not be keeping them oblivious from these
Many studies have shown that teenagers who watch shows about teen moms are more likely to not getting pregnant in their teen years. “MTV’s 16 and Pregnant franchise is responsible for almost 6 percent of the recent declines in teen births in the United States” (Kempner). All teens who are sexually active should watch these programs. Before this, in the US, 750,000 teens would get pregnant each year (Sun). This amount of pregnancies is erratic and it’s something that needed to be taken care of. If one show can make a difference, why not have your teens watch it. It would only benefit them and give them a better understanding of how things really are.
People’s actions are generally influenced by their surroundings. People act within invisible, yet seemingly invincible, boundaries set up by their culture. These man-made boundaries are as solid as rock inside a community or in a home, but sometimes these boundaries vanish. When a person steps outside of civilization and into the wild, the walls that keep people in line become less tangible. The darkness that surrounds the idea of the wilderness changes the decisions people make and interactions they have. In the 1850 novel, The Scarlet Letter, written by Nathaniel Hawthorne, the conflicting ideas of civilization and wilderness are apparent in both the external and internal conflicts of the core characters. Although the themes of sin and redemption
When children are exposed to new subjects, they become curious and without adequate education, the children’s curiosity may lead them to negative outcomes such as, sexually transmitted diseases. Only nine percent of the sexual scenes on television mention the complications and health risks of having unprotected sex (Grant). With that being said, a study found that when children watch TV shows that involve sexual content, they are likely to become sexually active at an early age and, also, that sexual talk alone has the same effect as sexual depictions (Collins et al.). Associating these two points; if when youth are exposed to sexual content, they become lascivious, how safe is it to expose uncensored sexual scenes to children knowing that only a small percentage of the shows discuss the risks? Most television shows are teaching youth about the exciting part of becoming sexually active but not about how to protect themselves from diseases that are transmitted through sexual activity. Most uncensored TV shows create a lust in adolescents but do not educate them on safe sex which can be dangerous to their health. In relation, a researcher who surveyed 75 adolescent girls found out that a few of the girls were watching soap operas, prior to becoming sexually active, and did not think that their favourite characters in the soap operas would
There are about four million teens that are sexually active in the U.S. Only about half of them use protection. There are many influences in a young person’s life. Mass media is a big part of the influence. Television displays twenty thousand scenes of suggested sexual intercourse. 94% are on soap operas between unmarried couples and teens. Some say that sexual education being taught in school makes it seem acceptable. It also makes teens think about sex more. Another reason that teens are having sex is because times have changed. For example, in the 1950s, pregnant teens were sent away for nine months to stay with distant relatives or to live in homes of unwed teen mothers.
It is clear that although some people believe that the TV shows, 16 and Pregnant and Teen Mom discourage teens from pregnancy, teen pregnancy is a problem that needs to be addressed for two main reasons. First, it is affecting teen’s education, future, and the well-being of the child. But most importantly, the TV shows, 16 and Pregnant and Teen Mom are encouraging teen
Sexually active youths tend to be more exposure to media than any other members of society. The reason behind that is because they are in charge of their own time without much interference from their parents and burdensome responsibilities. This, combined with the fact that both implicit and explicit sexual content and crime in the mass media has grown over time predisposes youths to premarital sex (Rosengren, 2000).
Us News and World Report reported a study by Kaiser which stated “that some teens reported they learned helpful information about safe sex and how to refuse from TV shows, this isn't the norm. Most teens are surrounded by sexual gyrations on MTV; provocative
Its shows like 16 and Pregnant and Teen Mom that some parents dislike and do not allow their children to watch. These shows have been around for years and have had a tremendous amount of viewers. But many would argue if whether the show is educational and discourages teenage pregnancy or promotes it. Doctors have done a lot of research and say that the shows actually discourage teenage pregnancy. The shows discourage teen pregnancy based on the complications and struggles the families go through and how hard it is to start a family at such a young age, but most importantly it influences teenagers to be safe and cautious.