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censorship in schools cons
censorship in schools cons
censorship in schools cons
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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.
First off, banning a book violates the Freedom of Speech, which is a part of the First Amendment. The First Amendment allows the people to have their thoughts and speech to be protected. If a book is banned, you are essentially prohibiting the exercise of free speech, which strangely contradicts the First Amendment. In The Catcher in the Rye, we the readers can see that J.D. Salinger supports the idea of Freedom of Speech with the statement, "And if the boy digresses at all, you 're supposed to yell 'Digression! ' at him as fast as you can. It just about drove me crazy. I got an F in it" (98). Utilizing the Freedom of Speech, the boy can say no to the teacher that forced him to read out loud in class. By banning the book, you are also violating the ideals for Freedom of Expression, which is also a part of the First Amendment. According to the Bill of Rights, the main concept of Freedom of Expression is that we individuals have the right to hold our own opinions without the consent of others (Bill Of Rights of the United States of America). J.D. Salinger also supports the ideals for Freedom of Expression with the quote, "In the first place, I
The Constitution states: "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances." Even though books may influence young minds with negative thinking, society shouldn’t ban books because it prohibits learning and it violates the First Amendment in the Constitution. Banning books takes away the author’s right, some books can be very educational, and it takes away the children’s choice of what they get to read.
Teachers and parents are very protective of children. That is okay for the most part, but at some point the children are going to have to grow up. It is fine for some censorship in books for schools, but maybe just for the actual children. In high school, every student is referred to as a “young adult.” Let these kids be young adults by reading some adult language. J.D. Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye should be banned for elementary and middle school but allowed in high schools.
Trelease, Jim. "Book Banning Violates Children and Young Adult Freedoms." Book Banning. Ed. Ronnie D. Lankford. Detroit: Greenhaven Press, 2007. At Issue. Rpt. from "Censorship and Children's Books." Trelease-on-Reading.com. 2006.Opposing Viewpoints in Context. Web. 31 Mar. 2014.
Book banning is a prime target for censorship. Censorship in print media, notably book banning, occurs across homes, schools, stores, and other facilities daily. Censorship in the schools is the most widespread and exposed place for book banning. Do administrators and school boards have the right to ban books? Are we taking away the rights of children to read? In case of Island Trees Schools District V. Pico in New York, the Supreme Court gave the school board broad discretion to frame curriculum and teach civic and moral values. This case resulted in the school board removing ten books from the school library for being "anti-american, anti-christian, anti-semitic, and just plain filthy." Another case involving book banning was Hazelwood School District V. Kuhlmeier. In this case the Supreme Court again gave school officials the broad discretion to control curriculum. This time the court left open the question if this affects the school libraries. In Olathe, Kansas, the district's superintendent made the decision to remove all copies of Nancy Gardner's Annie On My Mind because of it imposing views for gay actions. This standpoint resulted in a public book burning by a homophobic community group. At Hempfield High School in Western Penn...
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
In order to understand the problems with school censorship, one must know why it is done. One reason is bad language. A prime example of this type of censorship occurred in a California school when words like ëdamn' and ëhell' were blacked out of Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451. Students were stunned by the irony of the situation. A book about censorship was being censored (Wright). Sexual activity is another common reason for censorship, along with assaults on family values and violence. Why is this happening when 90% of students surveyed do not believe that books should be censored because they contain offensive language or sexual situations (Survey)? Negative racial treatment of characters, setting, or theme also fuels censorship (Simmons).
In order to understand how banning books in schools affect student learning, it is important to understand why books are banned in the first place. If parents describe a book as inappropriate or offensive for children, they can complain about it to the school district to have it banned. If the school district agrees with the parents, they will ban the book from the school curriculum and forbid teachers from teaching the book to students. Parents might think that the book goes against religious or moral...
When a book is banned, reasoning should be backed up with many facts and teachers should be able to agree or disagree. Teachers are the ones who have graduated from colleges and have earned this right. Though the opinions of parents matter, their opinion does not necessarily take into account all that the book has to give. Parents may not see the potential of the book as a whole. They may just see the racist language or cruel behavior in a book. What their opinions are mostly based on is the information that will keep everyone the most comfortable instead of the importance behind the basics for students to learn (Hills). Some books may include opposing ideas like this, but that does not mean that they do not have something to teach us. Many teachers take it on themselves to determine what is appropriate. They take on a certain level of self-imposed censorship to make sure that they are teaching appropriate material. Along with this, books being bought with school funds have to go through a process of approval (Zimmerman). This should eliminate any problem areas that parents may have. Besides just having the school board approving the books, many teachers have the same basic outline of what a book should include and be like. They ag...
Many may argue, “Children are mature enough to choose their own books!” However a medical discovery has shown that children and teenagers are not mature enough through physical evidence. “Understanding the Teen Brain,” an article on the Online Medical Encyclopedia, states that “The rational part of a teen’s brain isn’t fully developed and won’t be until he or she is 25 years old or so.” This shows that children cannot decide for themselves what is good for them to read. Therefore, it is the responsibility of the adults to decide which books should or should not be banned.
Some people may argue that students should have a right to read what they prefer because we are denying them of their first amendment freedoms of the press and freedom of speech. No book should be banned due to improper themes in them. Books are a gift in which authors can express their opinion and beliefs and we can read about them. Kids should be able to be open minded to all books, banning books won’t affect you but it’ll affect children, which is what many
...ill always be problems with censorship no matter what level education citizens have, what grade students are in or how old they are. Some solutions may be if journalists are about to publish an article for the school paper, take it up with a teacher, get some feedback on it just to make sure there is not any offensive information or inappropriate things in your paper. Make sure it is alright to be published. If it is an already a published book, it should not be banned due to the content inside of it. It is a published book and the information inside it is not meant to be harmful or disrespectful in any way. In school people are exposed to a variety of new things with books. With the way Censorship has come along in the past, it should not be going anywhere, censorship is going to be a long term issue. It will never go away, it will always be around.
Brinkley describes a few actions that can lead to the censoring of a book in a school or school system: An expression of concern is simply a question about the material with overtones of disapproval; an oral complaint is an oral challenge to the contents of a work; a written complaint is a formal written challenge to the school about the contents of a work; and a public attack is a public statement challenging the contents of a work that is made outside of the school, usually to the media to gain support for further action (1999). Brinkley also points out an important difference between selection and censorship: Selection is the act of carefully choosing works for an English course that will be age-appropriate, meaningful, and fulfill objectives, while censorship is the act of excluding works that some con...
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. Censoring school books in libraries can often lead to censorship of our basic freedoms guaranteed in the First Amendment. In some cases, a minority ends up dictating the majority in censorship cases. To be told what is permissible reading material and what is not is a direct violation of the First Amendment of the Constitution.
The minds of children are the most impressionable. Children are not born with any predetermined judgments or ideas about controversial subjects. They do not know what racism, homophobia, or discrimination are, or how to practice them. They are not born knowing what religion they will practice, or even what religion is. This fact about children is among the reasons that children's literature is as important as it is. For as long as humans have been creating them, there have been books that have been considered controversial. Children's books are no different. There have been children's books that have been banned from various places or groups, such as religious groups, schools, and even entire countries. The reasons behind the banning of these books vary, and the criticism of censorship as a practice is an issue that is widely debated. One modern book series that has been censored in varies outlets is the Harry Potter series by J.K Rowling.