Censorship and Book Banning

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Recommended: Freedom of expression and censorship

Censorship is a concept with several different meanings. To each individual censorship has its own meaning. Is it a violation of our rights or is it a protection for our well being? Censorship in the generic sense refers to the suppression of information, ideas, or opinions. It occurs in all forms of communication from technological media to print media. Each society, culture, or individual's belief is violated by the codes of censorship that our society instills. 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... ... middle of paper ... ...." (http://www.cs.cmu.edu/Web/People/spok/banned-books.html). MIT Press Bookstore, "Banned Books Resource Page, " [http://www-mitpress.mit.edu/ bookstore/banned.html] 1993-1995. Republicans Against Censorship, [http://www.graphcomp.com/org/rac/] Dr. K. Alan Snyder, "Who is Censoring Whom in Schools?," [http://www.regent.edu/~asnyder/ wrinting/censor.html], Nov. 9, 1995. "Banned Books - Oh So Politically correct, " [http://www.banned.books.com/pc.htm] "Most Frequently Banned books in the 1990s," [http://www.cs.cmu.edu/Web/People/spok/ most-banned.html] Newsletter on Intellectual Freedom, "Recent USA Book Bannings," [http://www.banned.books. com/recent.html], Sept. - Dec. 1994, Jan. - Mar. 1995. Vivian Jaquette, "Banned Books:A Look Around the Net, " [http://www.gnn.com/gnn/meta/ book/banned.html]

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