Book banning and the censorship of books is an attempt to remove or restrict materials, based upon the objects of a person or group. These book bans and restrictions have been around for years and have begun growing more prominent to this present day. Books should not be banned and should be taught all around the world, because they all have deeper meanings than just bad language and inappropriate scenes. Book banning is the removal of books containing a certain type of material. This material contains graphic violence, is sexually explicit, or includes offensive language. In 1873, a man by the name Anthony Comstock introduced laws that were named “Comstock Laws”. These laws were “to make it illegal to send “obscene, lewd, or lascivious, …show more content…
In Massachusetts, there is currently a law called “The Books Save Lives Act”. This act would “counteract the rise in book bans and help ensure an inclusive learning environment for all students.” (Books save lives act Pressley). This act has multiple people and groups in support of the bill. Groups such as “We Need Diverse Books”, “PFLAG, Florida Freedom to Read”, and “Colors of Change” (Books Save Lives Act). Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley believes that banned books could prevent students from having a diverse selection of books and would ensure that they have an inclusive learning environment. Book banning should not be as prominent as it is now in the United States. In the 60’s and 70’s “a simultaneous drop in instances of book bans and rise in more explicit art.” (History of Book Banning in the United States). Books started to get banned less and less. Then in the “1980’s” school boards faced 700-800 book challenges each year. This was more than quadrupled from the previous 2 decades” (History of Book Banning in the United States). This shows that more and more books are being banned, so students should be able to read about these books and learn lessons that are within the books. If books were not banned, it would be discouraging freedom of
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.
What is a banned book? A banned book is a book that has been removed from the shelves; it could be from a library, classroom, or even the bookstore because of its content. A book could be banned for many reasons, but it could be banned because it contains sex, violence, inappropriate language, religious viewpoints, witch craft, and many more things because other people deem it inappropriate. When someone bans a book they ban it for everyone else too.
Foerstel, Herbert N. Banned in the U.S.A.: a Reference Guide to Book Censorship in Schools and Public Libraries. Westport, CT: Greenwood, 1994. Print.
What does it mean to ban a book? A banned book is one that has been removed from the shelves of a library, bookstore, or classroom because of its controversial content. (About.com) Before banning, a book must be challenged. A challenge is an attempt to remove or restrict materials, based upon the objections of a person or group. (About Banned And Challenged Books) A book is challenged when a person or group dislikes some of its content, and wishes to have it removed. Often times, it is banned for obscenities and is considered unsuited for the set age group, or any age group.
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.
To ban a book is to remove it from a library or from other sources such as online websites. A book is evicted by dense communities of people and can only be banned for reasons deemed unfit such as being: “politically incorrect, containing sexual subjects; and(or) talk of extreme racial tensions” or explicit violence (Downs and Sweet). An example of a banned book is Black Boy, which contains vulgar language, crude depictions which drove people of certain communities to evict it from High School libraries. It was banned in Mississippi 1945, by a senator who was so religiously biased that a book questioning God and a book that contains vulgar language should not be allowed to be read by teenagers of the Mississippi community
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
Books have been banned/censored throughout history. For example, the Catholic Church created the Index of Banned Books in the 1500s. The goal of the Index was to prevent the general population from reading books that went contrary to the Church’s teachings. Some of Galileo’s books were in this list. Anyone caught reading or selling these books was severely punished, tortured, or even killed. 500 years later, however, book banning still occurs. There are hundreds of books being challenged every year in the United States, for various reasons. Many of these reasons are understandable, such as preventing mature content (eg. profanity, violence, obscenity) from reaching young people. However, other reasons are quite irrational. For example, the Harry Potter series was removed from some school libraries because parents believed it promoted witchcraft. A single, precise reason behind book banning, however, is unclear. Furthermore, many important American classics are being banned, often for minor reasons such as profanity. Why is it that we ban books that teach valuable lessons? Is it because censors are simply trying to protect children from inappropriate content? Or are governments trying to suppress unwanted ideas? Books should not be banned because book censorship is unnecessary, limits knowledge, and violates the fundamental principles of this country.
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.
In 1976, five high school students brought the local school board to court to challenge the school board’s right to remove books from their school library. The students argued that their First Amendment rights were violated when the school infringed on the students’ “right to read”. (Campbell “BOOK BANNING IN AMERICA”). Book banning is a highly debatable topic among many people. While some people believe that book banning is the best way to protect children from inappropriate content, others believe that banning literature takes away the child’s right to read.
...s of new media have been proclaiming the death of books, and the marketplace seems to back them up” (Zeller 2011). Zeller is telling use that media like movies and game system have taken over and that the contents that it contains is the same as what books have. Still books are continued to be ban and unlike movies and videogames there is much a fight about the adult content in them. There is a special called Banned Book Week, which is a week where some of banned books are allow to be read and view. It is the freedom of reading anything. People should have it for the rest of life. Banning books is a type of censorship which violates our First Amendment. We the people are about rights and freedom. People have the freedom to read and books should have the freedom of press. It up to people on whether the banning of books should continue. Let the books be free and live!
The subject of censorship is a very controversial one, especially the banning of books. Many people believe they must protect themselves and others from the "evils" of many classic books and works of art because they can be deemed "indecent" in one way or another. Many believe that this is absurd and censorship in its current form is a violation of our First Amendment right to free speech. Personally, I align myself with the latter, however I do feel there are occasions where censorship is justifiable.
"Censorship cannot eliminate evil. It can only kill freedom. We believe Americans have the right to buy, stores have the right to sell, authors have the right to write and publishers have the right to publish constitutionally protected material. Period." (“Banned Books and Authors”). Harry Hoffman, president of Walden Book Co., Inc., is accurate in this aspect. When books are censored or banned, they are not eliminated from society; however, their message emanates to create an impact. Even if the public conceals the content in these books, the victims that these censors sequester from these works are rarely unexposed to what is being censored to them. By challenging or attempting to ban a book, more attention is drawn to that distinct book, so society is more likely to read it. So in all actuality, censors have no tangible reason to ban the books, especially since it violates so many legal and ethical standards; book banning violates the First Amendment, it takes away the meaning of the books, and it withholds morals that could be taught in schools.
When our country was founded in 1776, it was founded on the liberty of expressing and having your voice be heard which gave us the first amendment. Part of the first amendment is freedom of speech which lets many authors express themselves through words and informing readers about real world issues that nowadays people just ignore, and information that might be essential to someone on the days come forth .By challenging, banning or censoring a authors book you're basically restraining them from using their first amendment. When censoring a book it’s censoring a part of a book that either one or more have found offensive and with banning its the whole book. Banning or challenging a book is absurd , no one has the right to decide for everyone
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.