The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. SalingerCensorship and the Banning of Literature

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Our society has tried to protect the young minds of children over the years by banning certain books from school systems. This is occurring due to many people challenging books that obtain strong materials such as racism, sexual content, explicit language, religious affiliations, etc. The people testing books feel that certain books containing strong materials are not appropriate for young students to read. Some people feel the banning of books containing explicit materials prevents students from learning valuable life lessons. I feel that we should keep these banned books in school systems and allow students to start reading them once they reach a certain level of maturity. First off, there are a variety of reasons why it would be great to keep certain books in the school systems. Many books that are being put to the test are classics that contain valuable life lessons that deserve to be in schools forever (Shupe). People are trying to take these away just because they take offense to certain materials in these books, but our world is a cruel place and students need to learn the truth. Another reason why banning books is not necessary is because it goes against the Constitution of the United States of America. The First Amendment protects, “the students’ right to know and the 
teachers’ right to academic freedom.” Censors seem to have zero respect for the rights of students and teachers. They all just set bad examples by contesting the rights from the First Amendment (Shupe). Pat Scales a South Carolina librarian quoted, “Censors want to control the minds of the young. Students who read learn to think. Thinkers learn to see. Those we see often question. And young people who question often threaten the ‘blind’ and the... ... middle of paper ... ..., but teenagers are exposed to these situations everyday. Therefore, they should be allowed to read them that have been banned so they can learn many new things. Banned books truly do deserve to be inside of school systems. They are classics that should never have been taken away from the schools. Students should have the privilege and right to be allowed to read them once they reach a certain maturity level around their middle school years. It is absolutely wrong to hold students back and not let them learn the valuable life lessons that lie within the pages of every banned book. Works Cited Salinger, J.D. The Catcher in the Rye. New York: Little, Brown and Company, 1991. 1-214. Print. Shupe, Jaclyn. "Censoring the English Curriculum ." http://www.cedu.niu.edu/%7Eshumow/itt/CensoringEnglishCurriculum.pdf. Ed. Stephanie Kummerer. N.p., n.d. Web. 11 Nov. 2013.

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