George Orwell wrote the novel "1984: as a warning of to the people of the world of what happens if a government gains to much power. 1984 depicts a nightmarish world with an overpowered government that has complete control over its people. The Party has even gained a certain amount mind control over them through a process of thought narrowing and memory erasing. This dictatorship has even gone as far as to create a fake never-ending war to keep the minds of the people occupied and use as an excuse for the fluctuating prices of common goods. When reading George Orwell’s novel 1984, the parallels between the actions of the government in 1984 and the actions school system from two thousand to two thousand fourteen some striking resemblances came into view especially with the ideas of the censorship of education, and destruction of self-expression, removal of religion. Ever sense we enter our first day of kindergarten we are told that school is a place of pure knowledge and learning. We begin to accept everything the teachers tell us as the gospel truth giving schools a sort of “control [over] matter because [they] control the mind” (Orwell 264 265). The schools further extend their control by punished students who question what teaches say by sending them to the office for insubordination.as students we are told that nothing is being kept from and all knowledge is available to us. All we need to do is simply ask a question or go to our school library. What we are not told is that in the “recent past decade, 5,099* challenges” (Frequently challenged books) were made to books in schools for themes of “sexually explicit material offensive language... unsuited to age group… violence… homosexuality” (Frequently challenged books). Books... ... middle of paper ... .... Duecy, Luke. "2 Students Suspended for Wearing Confederate Flag to School." KOMO News. N.p., n.d. Web. 08 Mar. 2014. Kelly, Melissa. "Censorship and Book Banning in America." About.com Secondary Education. N.p., n.d. Web. 09 Mar. 2014. Massoumi, Cyrus. "Obamacare Should Be Repealed!" Mr Conservative Florida College Student Expelled After Refusing to Step on Jesus By Liberal Professor Comments. N.p., n.d. Web. 09 Mar. 2014. Melanie, Lewis. Personal interview. 9 March 2014. Miller, Joshua Rhett. "Lawsuit Claims College Ordered Student to Alter Religious Views on Homosexuality, Or Be Dismissed." Fox News. FOX News Network, 27 July 2010. Web. 09 Mar. 2014 Orwell, George, and Erich Fromm. 1984: A Novel. New York, NY: Signet Classic, 1961. Print. Seidl, Jonathon M. "Boy Suspended for Bringing Bible To School Files Suit." The Blaze. N.p., n.d. Web. 09 Mar. 2014.
At Hazel East High School, the school has a sponsored newspaper called “The Spectrum” that is written and edited by the students. On May of 1983, the high school principal, Robert E. Reynolds, received the edited version of the May 13th edition. Upon inspecting the paper he found two articles that he found “inappropriate.” The two articles contained stories about divorce and teen pregnancy. The article on divorce featured a student who blamed her father’s actions for her parents’ divorce. The following article featured students at Hazelwood East and their experiences as teen parents in high school. Reynolds immediately asked for the two articles to be withheld from that weeks edition. Reynolds had concluded fairness required the father in the divorce article to be informed of the article and given the chance to make any comments. He also stated that changing the names of the girls in the teen pregnancy article may not be sufficient enough to keep them unidentified. Also, the topic is not suitable for younger students. As a result he forbid the two articles from being published. On October 13, 1987 Cathy Kuhlmeier (a student at Hazelwood East High) claimed that Hazelwood East High School was violating her First Amendment rights, and her case was
Through out the course of history there have been several events that have been a pivotal point which has molded the behaviors and thoughts of this century. A lot of notable activist and authors wrote stories and speeches about how they believed that this day and time would be like. A lot of these views were very accurate surprisingly. In the novel 1984 author George Orwell gives his vision on how he believed that the countries would be like if they kept going the way they were.This report will give you a brief rundown of the characters, theories and principles of this novel along with some of my personal insight of the novel.
Rieff, Burt. "Conflicting Rights and Religious Liberty: The School-Prayer Controversy in Alabama, 1962-1985." Alabama Review 3(2001):163. eLibrary. Web. 31 Aug. 2011.
In 1958 five parents of the Long Island community brought suit to stop the prayers use in schools. Two parents were Jewish; one parent was a Unitarian, One a member of The Ethical Culture Society and One Self-Professed Atheist. At first the lawsuit failed. Justice Bernard S. Meyer found the prayer religious but not in violation. Instead, Justice Meyer ordered the schools to set up safe guards against “embarrassing and pressures” towards children who did not wish to participate. The New York Appellate Division upheld this decision along with the state’s Court of Appeals, by a vote of 5-2.
Minersville provides a very interesting backdrop to subsequent cases with graver overtones of censorship. The Minersville case was brought by the father of Lillian and William Gobitis, on their behalf, against the public schools of Minersville, Pennsylvania. The Gobitis children, Jehovah's Witnesses, were brought up to believe that scripture forbade saluting a flag. They refused to observe the Pledge of Allegiance and were expelled from the public school system, forcing their father to enroll them in private schools (23-25).
When presented with a list of such book titles as To Kill a Mockingbird, The Lord of the Flies, and Of Mice and Men, educated and book-loving individuals alike are often reminded fondly of timeless American classics. These novels are frequently taught in advanced literature classes throughout U.S. schools, by highly respectable teachers. However, shift the focus of the matter to an alternate group of people, and you will find these brilliant literary works in a much different category: Banned lists (Kelly). Censorship is defined as “deleting parts of publications or correspondence or theatrical performances” (Wolfram Alpha). Needless to say, the practice of banning books easily fits that description.
In January 1986, S. Simcha Goldman filed a lawsuit and fought for freedom of religious expression for service members after receiving disciplinary action for failure to comply with uniform regulation while working as a medical officer in a military hospital (Military law review, 1986). This lawsuit eventually landed in the Supreme Court, and led to Chief Justice Warren E. Burger to question, “Where the logic of religious exemptions from the dress code would stop, in a nation with hundreds of denominations” ("High court pondering," 1986).
After referring the student to a counselor, the student was suspended for the potential of a significant disruption. The issue with this controversial case was that the student wrote the poem from a first-person basis and the words did not present any physical harm or threat to other students. The Ninth Circuit Court ruled in favor of the school district because the writing presented the likelihood or potential that a suicide could occur, which could have had a devastating and psychological impact on the school community.
In this look at the language of censorship, we must first define censorship, who does the censoring, and why. These will be the first three spotlights for looking at the language of censorship. Then, we will look at how teachers, especially teachers of literature and the language arts are affected by censorship. Finally, we will preview how censorship can be taught in the classroom, to prevent some of tomorrow's censorship cases.
Doe case, Taking place in Texas in the year 2000, ended with a five to four verdict (Santa Fe Independent School Dist. v. Doe). The decision was in support of Doe, a Mormon family and a Catholic family that contested the school’s support of prayer at football games. The result of this case restricted the first amendment freedom of religion. The “wall” between religion and government that the Establishment Clause creates was present in this case (Cornell University Law School). The end of this case led to a strong divide between public schools and students’ religious practices. This case caused social changes to occur that affected public schools across America. Other public schools and parents of public school students saw the outcome of this case as an example of the “wall” that exists between church and state and that it will be enforced. Because of this case, many schools changed or abolished their own policies regarding
Throughout the twentieth century, the United States Supreme Court has protected students’ rights to practice their religious beliefs, so long as they are not “disruptive, discriminatory, or coercive to peers who may not share those same beliefs” (Education Weekly, 2003, para. 3). In 1943, the Supreme Court ruling in West Virginia State Board of Education v. Barnette stated that students could not be “forced to salute the flag or say the pledge of allegiance if it violates the individual’s conscience” (First Amendment Cyber Tribune, 2002). The 1963 decision in Engel v. Vitale made school prayer unconstitutional, and similarly found school prayer at graduation ceremonies in its 1992 Lee v. Weisman decision (First Amendment Cyber Tribune, 2002). Student-led prayer at public school football games was found unconstitutional in 2000 with the Santa Fe Independent School District v. Doe (First Amendment C...
Russell, Rick. "Studies in Censorship - the Index of Banned Books." Yahoo Contributor Network. N.p., n.d. Web. 06 Jan. 2014.
Simmons, John S., and Eliza T. Dresang. School Censorship in the 21st Century: a Guide for Teachers and School Library Media Specialists. Newark, DE: International Reading Association, 2001. Print.
Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 2004. Orwell, George. A. A. 1984. The. New York, NY: Signet Classics, 1977. Print.
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.