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Censorships in school libraries
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Administrators, librarians, teachers and parents all want the best for children. That is why the topic of intellectual freedom in school libraries is often emotional and heated. While the Library Bill of Rights clearly states that information access should not be denied because of age, when it comes to children the discussion gets complicated. Parents have the right to decide what materials are appropriate for their children, but the librarian has to be able to safeguard the collection for the rest of the school. During the career of a school librarian, the topic of censorship will undoubtedly arise. School librarians need to be prepared to support intellectual freedom rights when it comes to the issues of filtering, relocating, and removing information from a library collection.
Censors assert that materials that contain inappropriate information are harmful to children. Common reasons for censorship challenges include violent and sexually explicit material. It is feared that adolescents with higher exposure to sexually explicit material will be more permissive. Censors also have concern that overexposure to violent behavior will make children and young adults more aggressive. However, it is impossible to determine what other outside influences contributes to these behaviors. Bowie Kotrla (2007, p. 51) emphasizes that more damage is inflicted upon adolescents when they are restricted from obtaining information. She states that students find the limitations “frustrating and demoralizing, as well as a serious impediment to learning.”
Students are entitled to uncensored access to information. Many schools are adopting the use of internet filters in order to protect students from unsuitable websites. However, the us...
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...ibrary Bill of Rights. School Library Monthly , 26 (6), 48-49.
Bringelson, C. (2004). On intellectual freedom. School Libraries in Canada , 24 (4), 57-59.
Cornette, L. (1999). Taking a stand pays off. Ohio Medium Spectrum , 51 (2-3), 12-13.
Curry, A. (2001). Where is Judy Blume? Controversial fiction for older children and young adults. Journal of Youth Services in Libraries , 14 (3), 28-37.
Johnson, D. (1998). Internet filters: Censorship by any other name?. Emergency Librarian , 25 (5), 11-13.
Kotrla, B. (2007). Sex and violence: Is exposure to media content harmful to chlidren?. Children & Libraries , 5 (2), 50-52.
Saltman, J. (1998). Censoring the imagination: Challenges to children's books. Emergency Librarian , 25, 8-12.
Schrader, A. (1996). Censorproofing school library collections: The fallacy and futility. School Libraries Worldwide , 2 (1), 71-94.
Issues of censorship in public schools are contests between the exercise of discretion and the exercise of a Constitutional right. The law must reconcile conflicting claims of liberty and authority, as expressed by Supreme Court Justice Felix Frankfurter in Minersville School District v. Gobitis, 1940 in “Banned in the U.S.A.: A Reference Guide to Book Censorship in Schools and Public Libraries” by Herbert N. Foerstel (23).
In his essay “What Johnny Can’t Read, and the Censorship in American Libraries,” Suzanne Fisher Staples argues books being banned in libraries and schools all over the world. The reason most of these books are being taken off the shelves is because of what they say in them, mostly swear words, sex, gender change and more. It can be good to read what you want because if can teach you what type of person you are, and what you like and don’t like.
Books teach people everything they need to know about a certain subject, historical event, or how to deal with certain situations in life. Students in school need these books in particular to develop, but it is occasionally difficult to acquire education books when parents are censoring books for their children. “That parent in Connecticut also declared the she is the best judge of what is acceptable for her children to read” (Gallo). Censorship over a child is hard because depending on the age, there could be multiple reasons. This mother dictating over a child that is fairly young then it is understandable. Younger children as they...
When you bring your child to the public library to checkout a book, or to let them use the computers for a school project you do not want to have to worry about them accidentally seeing another person there looking at pornography or even worse, them accidentally pulling it up on their computer. Many libraries do not filter their internet and therefore leave children at risk of seeing these disturbing images. Those that oppose filtering the internet feel as if it imposes on their first amendment right and that these filters either filter too much or do not filter enough. Although it is important to protect people’s first amendment right, it is our moral obligation to protect our children from pornography and other disturbing images while they are in a public place, especially a library since it is used mostly for educational purposes. But, with filters comes controversy: whether it imposes on one’s first
It seems unlikely that there is a school librarian out there who has not encountered a problem with--or railed against--the presence of CIPA-mandated filters on school computers. My own career so far has allowed me to experience a full range of experiences with school computers, from a filterless library to an overfiltering situation so egregious that my journey to have it resolved culminated in suing the school district that employs me—Knox County, Tennessee. I just discovered, in fact, that a Google search for “internet filtering in schools” lists the ACLU litigation for which I was a plaintiff, Franks v. Metropolitan Board of Public Education, as its second hit.
Censorship is the act of strictly examining books, movies, and other media and suppressing unacceptable parts. But this implores the question, who attains the right to decide what is acceptable and what is not? Kenneth Donelson, author of “A Few Safe Assumptions about Censorship and the Censor,” bluntly declares that any book, idea, teaching method, etc. could be censored by anyone, anywhere, anytime, for any reason (1973). This idea that anybody and everybody can censor anything and everything for whatever reason puts any and every book, movie, etc. in danger. Many sources of media are censored for what seem like illogical or even
Objectionable content found in challenged books across the country can range from some vulgar language, to rape and incest, and even to explicit sex scenes. However objectionable these topics may be, high schoolers are already exposed to them in some way, whether it be through listening to popular music on the radio, watching television, or browsing the internet. Many parents, and even board members of some schools, object certain books for a variety of reasons. What they have failed to realize is this: if they are so concerned about what their children read in school, are they as concerned about monitoring what they hear on the radio, see on television, and search online? Many schools across the country are now taking the technological route when it comes to teaching. This often means students can have access to the internet while in their classroom. This point goes back to the prior statement of ...
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.
“Children start using the internet at the average age of three and most to spend twice as much time online as their parents” (Ward, 2013). Through the information age, the internet has become an invaluable tool. We have information at our fingertips in record time, but not everything on the internet is appropriate for everyone to see. Pornography, hate speech, and writings meant to incite violence are making their way to children’s computer screens every day. Scary, but we can change this. Internet filters can change this. Personal computer filters exist today and will help prevent children from accessing inappropriate material, but children also use the internet away from home. Libraries, schools, and community centers all offer internet services to children, but are they safe using these resources? The federal government should require by law that all public or government-funded computers have filters to block the access to material deemed inappropriate or objectionable for children. This would help protect children from exposure to inappropriate materials outside of their home.
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
Judy Blume’s essay entitled “Censorship: A Personal View,” attempts to explain her rationale for creating literary works for children and young adults that have been banned or restricted due to inappropriate content. Blume’s clever use of anecdotes, diction, and ethos theorizes her opinion that children are never too young to experience post adolescent concepts.
As the Internet continues to grow, so do the vast amount of information and resources that are available. The Internet is the driving force of the information super highway. From online banking to creating your own company to getting historical information about the American Revolution, virtually anything can be found on the Internet today. But because of the mass amount of information that is available there is also material that is not suitable for one to see. From online pornography sites to how to make a bomb these are just the few types of objectionable subject matter that can be found on the Internet. But with the advent of web-filtering technology, a software product now could filter out web sites from ones viewing. The problem had been solved. Now someone could surf the Internet and not have to worry about coming across offensive a material. However, the solution was not complete, a number of issues have surfaced relating to the controversial and ethical use of web-filtering software.
Censorship of televised media often begins as a result of the concern many adults show over what their children watch. Children begin watching television at an early age, and they are usually lifetime viewers by the time they are two to three years old. There is usually a steady increase in the amount of television watched during a persons' childhood. This is followed by a decline during adolescence. What is more of a concern to the American people, however, is the amount of violence depicted on the television screen. The addition of cable TV also adds a whole new dimension to the problem. Children who watch a lot of TV are less aroused by violent scenes, less bothered by violence in general, and less likely to find anything wrong with it ( Comstock 521). A study by George Gerbner, Ph.D., at the University of Pennsylvania, enlightens this subject. His research shows that TV programs made for children typically contain over 20 acts of violence per hour. 'Children who watch the violent shows, even 'just funny' cartoons, were more likely to hit out at their playmates, argue, disobey class rules, leave tasks unfinished, and were less willing to wait for things than those who watched the nonviolent programs,' says Aletha Huston, Ph.D., now at the University of Kansas.
At the Onalaska High School, internet filtering is more refined than this. Even so, has internet filtering in our schools gone too far? This has become a huge controversy with two clear sides, each with their own arguments. Already a major point has been mentioned -- what to block and what not to block. When algorithms are put in charge of deciding what is safe for students they sometimes incorrectly block web pages which pose no threat to students’ safety. Many claim that people need to be in charge internet connections, not the machines. Blocking a medical journal about breast cancer makes the student’s job of researching more difficult, and it doesn’t protect them (“How Internet Censorship…”).
... to dominate to the library field. Intellectual freedom is a world-wide problem and is very complex. It includes all forms of information, access to all users, and censorship. Librarians face many pressures when dealing with users and providers of information. There is pressure from parents, religious groups, administrators, and government agencies to restrict access to certain materials. Sometimes they win and sometimes they lose, but librarians "do not state these propositions in the comfortable belief that what people read is unimportant. We believe rather that what people read is deeply important - that ideas can be dangerous - but that the suppression of ideas is fatal to a democratic society. Freedom itself is a dangerous way of life, but it is ours" (From the Freedom to Read Statement as quoted in Rubin 161). Librarians continue to fight for that freedom today.