Banning Books In Schools

1057 Words3 Pages

Reading literature in schools is unavoidable, whether it be in kindergarten or twelfth grade. Most children will have a book they read in class or an assigned book they must do a report over. Parents may discover their child bringing a book home from a school library they dislike because of the content. When parents feel like a book is not suitable for a classroom or the library, they may challenge it. Challenging a book is an attempt to remove the materials based on objections to the material within. If the books challenge is successful, the book will be banned. The official act of banning a book is its removal from a library or course material (“Banned & Challenged Books”). Board of Education, Island Trees School District v. Pico created the requirement that school libraries must bring books up to a board before a …show more content…

A few of these are: The Great Gatsby, To Kill a Mockingbird, The Jungle, and 1984 (“Banned & Challenged Classics”). Many of these books teach about a time that had some risqué happenings that people did not speak about; often these are called taboos. However, these are the books that are discussed in school in depth about what makes the book so prominent in society today. When a person reads To Kill a Mockingbird, they learn about racism in the 1960’s; the book was written in that time period to show how racism was and how common it was to blame an African-American for problems that happened in a society. Being informed about atrocious acts that are represented in classic literature helps people avoid them today. Classic literature is an important piece in schools and in libraries, they have sprouted their ideas to the world that no one was brave enough to write about at that time. No matter what age a person is they should be able to read a classic, whether that be used to be transported into an earlier time or to get some insight on issues that were and are seen as

Why Was The Outsiders Banned
373 Words | 1 Pages
Many might think that all teenage or young adult books would be filled with happy thoughts and positive things, but you don't learn lessons from everything being perfect. That’s where banned or challenged books come along. A challenged book is a book that has been requested by many to be moved off a library's shelf. A banned book is a challenged book the has been removed from the shelves. The Outsiders was one of the best-selling books of its time and has won 5 awards since. It was banned and challenged for many reasons by many school districts. By examining its usage of expose on family dysfunction, strong language and portrayal of gang violence, it is clear why some would have it banned.
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Should The Great Gatsby Be Banned
1103 Words | 3 Pages
With the thought that someone can be hurt by reading a book, people will try to challenge and ban them. To ban a book is to have it restricted from a certain age or audience. Banning and challenging books is trying to keep a certain book away from an audience due to sexual content, going against religious beliefs, language and vulgarity, violence, drugs, self-harm, racism, occult/satanic views, promoting gangs, and going against community standards. An argument from someone who believes books should not be banned is that it is important for the age group to learn about certain content and material as they grow up. Due to controversial content, the novel The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald should be banned.
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Reasons For Banning Fahrenheit 451
1659 Words | 4 Pages
As it is inevitable that children will grow up to be exposed to the world's evils, which are shown in novels like Fahrenheit 451, teaching the context and meaning of those evils in a learning environment allows for more of a educated understanding and a fuller grasp on the issues within. By reading controversial novels in schools, students in middle and high school will benefit tremendously by being exposed to them in a learning environment. Although teachers and parents have control as to what the students are exposed to at a young age, Fahrenheit 451 should not be banned from middle and high schools as it depicts the effects of censorship on a dystopian society through use of controversial material which doubles as
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The Banning of Books in American Schools
1054 Words | 3 Pages
As the American Library Association notes, books are usually banned "with the best intention…to protect others, frequently children, from difficult ideas and information." (Brunner). If a book has frightening or controversial ideas in them, adults willing often censor that book from children. From 2000 to 2009, of the 5,099 challenges that were reported, 1,639 of these challenges were in school libraries and 30 challenges in academic libraries. (Frequently Challenged Books). At various times in American history, even some of the tamest books have been banned. Harriet the Spy, was banned because it supposedly taught children to "lie, spy, back-talk, and curse." Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl was banned for being too depressing. A Light in the Attic, by Shel Silverstein, was banned because it might encourage kids to break dishes so they won't have to dry them. (Frequently Challenged Books). While some of these excuses are more reasonable than other excuses, the banning of these books prevents the children from empathizing...
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Banning Books in Schools
973 Words | 2 Pages
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...
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Banning Books in Schools
1082 Words | 3 Pages
...ading the novel. The teacher should always listen to input from the parents of their students, and should make the parents feel comfortable discussing with them the problems they see with their child reading a certain book. There should always be parental consent when reading a book so that the parent will be able to discuss with their child their views and issues on a certain book. Discussion should always be welcome within the classroom for student growth and to confront any issues that may arise. When following these guidelines, teachers can prepare their students for the future real-world problems that they will be confronted with.
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Censorship of Books in School
949 Words | 2 Pages
In schools around the nation, many books have been banned from the teaching curriculum. Some of them deserve to be banned due to the explicit content only suited for adults. Some books like the Harry Potter series, The Catcher in the Rye, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and The Hunger Games. Granted, there are language issues in Catcher and Huckleberry Finn, but that language exists everywhere. The censorship should not be as strict as it is because many great books are being banned that students should be reading in order to gain an understanding on who some great writers were. Some of the banned books should be reconsidered on whether they should be censored or not.
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The Persuasive Essay Of Banning Books
504 Words | 2 Pages
It is challenging to choose what types of books are appropriate for children to read. Now in days the choice is even more challenging then it was a couple of centuries ago. There are books that feature violence, sexual content, offensive language or all. These subjects question concern parents because it can teach young children about several subjects that are usually avoided. Times have changed and so have books and what they contain, which makes banned books an important subject. Books can be a great source to learn from whether it history or just a folk tale, but parents and teachers must take into consideration the ages of the audience. Maturity is not achieved until a later time and some children may have difficulty reaching that point.
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Banning Books
4607 Words | 10 Pages
The children are the real losers because they are the ones that are not able to read the classic works of literature, which are the backbone of classroom discussions all across the United States. The American Association of School Administrators (AASA) defines censorship as: “The removal, suppression, or restricted circulation of literary, artistic, or educational materials. of images, ideas, and information.on the grounds that these are morally or otherwise objectionable in light of standards applied by the censor” (Miner 1998). In schools there are three types of censorship, one type is a “parent” who doesn’t want their child to read a particular book. Another is a parent, teacher, administrator, or school board member who argues that no one in the class, or school, should read the book in dispute.
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Why Huckleberry Finn Should Be Banned In Schools
570 Words | 2 Pages
However, Los Osos High School and several other high schools have not banned these books because they are important pieces of literature and their offensive content originates from the time period they were writing about. However, that freedom doesn’t seem to extend to all books. On August 5, 2016, Jennifer Teresi, a Los Osos High School English teacher for freshmen and sophomores, attempted to get several books authorized in order to broaden the amount of modern literature at our school. However, the school administration quickly rejected these books without a clear explanation, leading to many questions and speculation as to the reasons why the books were rejected.
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Arugumentative Essay: Banned Books
762 Words | 2 Pages
Furthermore, being we are under our parent’s rule until the age of eighteen, a note may be sent home to notify parents of presentation of controversial novels or classics in our lessons. The parent may be able to sign a form or send in a note if they feel their child is not mature enough, or if such reading goes against specific personal beliefs of the family. The student may be given an alternative assignment if the above mentioned form or note is returned with a denial of permission to study the book.... ... middle of paper ... ...
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Censorship in Schools
3744 Words | 8 Pages
This burden often falls on teachers. The purpose of this research paper is to discuss censorship in schools and to argue that the censorship of books in the high school English curriculum is limiting and takes away literature that is meaningful to students. How a Book is Censored 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... ...
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Why the Gossip Girl Series Has Been Banned
998 Words | 2 Pages
There are many reasons why books get challenged and/or banned. According to Robert Doyle, the main reasons for banned are sex, profanity, and racism (Doyle, 3). The most common initiator of the challenge is a parent or group of parents (Challenges by, chart 2). Challenges can also come from: patrons, board members, or organizations (Challenges by, chart 2). Challenges can also come from whole institutions; usually they come from schools (Challenges by, chart 3).
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Censorship and the Banning of Books for Religious Reasons
776 Words | 2 Pages
There is a high number of books that are banned including Cather in the Rye, Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings, and To Kill a Mockingbird. Harry Potter’s banning falls under the religious grounds; it promotes witchcraft which in The Bible it says that all God’s people should have nothing to do with. Lord of the Rings was banned mainly because it was thought to be irreligious, it was banned in England though because of all the smoking the characters do. To Kill a Mockingbird was deemed “Classic Literature” (4) but was still banned due to all the racial content, profanity, and references to rape. Catcher in the Rye, the whole reason I am even writing this paper has been accused of being “anti-white and be...
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Censorship In Schools Essay
1440 Words | 3 Pages
Books like The Chocolate War, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, and Of Mice and Men have been placed on the controversial bookshelf of many school libraries.
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Banning Books In Schools

Why Was The Outsiders Banned

Should The Great Gatsby Be Banned

Reasons For Banning Fahrenheit 451

The Banning of Books in American Schools