Ambiguity Of Textbooks

“Protecting one of our most fundamental rights- the freedom to read- means respecting each other’s differences and the right of all people to choose for themselves, what they and their families read.” So, how is it that boards of education are the ones making decisions on books? Which ones should be censored? What right do they have to do so? The boards are not the ones who should be held accountable for what books children and adolescents absorb; this is primarily the responsibility of parents.

Brenyo, M. (2011). [Censored]: Book banning in the US education system. Journal of Law & Education, 40(3), 541–549.

The school district feels these students are unable to use the books because the teachers think the students will destroy them. This brings up one of many claims, which happens to be that education is falling the students. The school pays very little attention to these students, and this is one of the reasons why they drop out and don’t graduate. The students’ know that no one cares about their education so they don’t try to do well in school. If the system were to appreciate the kids, they would have a different view on learning how to gain education. Another claim would be, hardships at home are affecting the lifestyle of these students. Some of these students aren’t appreciated by their family members, and face horrible tragedies, which causes violence within each student.

It is understood why somebody may think that books should not be banned at schools because by doing this parents are hurting their children by restrain their knowledge. When a quality book is banned, the children lose the opportunity to learn from that book. It is better supported that, some books should be banned from schools because they can introduce students to unacceptable topics and teach them bad or useless

Specific Purpose Statement: To persuade my audience to take a stand and change how expensive purchasing textbooks are at Colorado State University.

According to the American Library Association, the most common group of people, challenging a book being read in schools, was the parents of the students. Parents have a right to be in charge of what is put into the minds of their students, however just because one parent objects does not mean that the whole school should ban the book from the list. A solution for this book would be to enforce parental consent for books to be read in the classroom. If a parent does not want a book to be read in the classroom, then there should be other options for the student to read. The school and teacher should not trespass on a parent’s rights of raising their child. I believe that if a parent has a concern, they should go and discuss the problem with the teacher so that the teacher will be able to defend their reasoning for choosing the book to be read in the classroom.

Censorship cases often bring about debates over students’ first amendment rights. Students’ first amendment rights are important to preserve so that students can not be excluded from meaningful works or literature. It is understandable for the government to design educational plans as a way to get its voice into classrooms, but “the truth-promoting function of the First Amendment provides no reason, however, to question the right of students to explore a variety of ideas and perspectives, and to form and express ideas of their own” (Brown, 1994, p. 30). Schools already place a restriction on religious material or material addressing current political controversy (Brown, 1994).

Parents should have the right to decide what their child reads, but should not have the right to decide what is right for other children to read because not all parents have the same view on what is appropriate for their child to learn in school; as Jones stated, we must all respect each other’s differences. Educators should also be able to freely decide on what they feel is appropriate for their students to read. If a teacher chooses a book that has caused concerns in the past, they should alert the student’s parents of

This is one reason that materials in many school libraries today date from the 1960s and early 1970s, before funding was diverted. (p.141-142). the school library not update many new edition textbooks, sometimes we can find many earlier text books with old edition in the school library that not related to the fact that we need in classrooms. Since the new text books are more expensive so the school library budget should be increase to buy more new textbooks because outdated books will give students misinformation. I agree with the source, I think it is important for students to select what to read and what to learn to help them gain the knowledge. If they still learning from the old materials, this causes students to disengagement and impact on student effecting learning. By select of instructional materials that meet the needs of students and fit the constraints of the learning environment, student can be more actively learn. Therefore, encourage students to use the new textbooks can make them ask more questions from the books that require more critical thinking skills. Also, new information can help students develop higher thinking skill related to the fact. For example, students go beyond the textbook to study complex topics based on real-world issues, such as the recent industry in the communities or the health develop... they can

III Claim: (write a version of the claim from the introduction))Certain books should be banned from schools and libraries due to many circumstances and

School boards, principals, and teachers have a responsibility for protecting the minds of their students by covering grade and age appropriate material in the classroom. However, does this given responsibility cover the act of banning books from their classrooms? As an advocate for each student, does the teacher not have a duty to introduce the students to a these words issues in order to help the student cope with the different problems in the world? How does a school decide which books should be banned and how much say does the teacher have what should be left up to the teacher? Some say that banning books from the classroom, we prevent them from learning about different controversial topics in a safe and secure environment. In this paper I reflect on my research question: Why do schools ban books in the classroom?

Some problems do arise when incorporating controversial books into the school system. The main and biggest problem is the complaints of parents. Sometimes parents see the books their kids are reading, a preconceived negative perception, then immediately decide they do not want their kid “exposed” to such material. Parents do have every right to say and decide that. But the feelings of a few parents should not dictate the masses of students. If parents were educated beforehand about the material their children would be covering, it might alleviate some

One counterpoint of the argument of the topic is that banning books hinders students from discovering new things and obtaining knowledge. According to the article, “Banning Books: An Overview”, Michael Aliprandini and Carolyn Sprague state, “The core arguments against the banning of books have been based on protecting the rights of individuals to free speech as well as to promote intellectual freedom – the rights protected by the First Amendment.” They are basically explaining how arguments of book banning connect to the idea of intellectual freedom and protecting individual rights, which are implied in the First Amendment. Censorship of books can be expressed as violating the rights and freedom of the individuals. Boyd and Bailey support this idea of intellectual freedom by presenting how banning books in schools with the quote from their journal, “Censors evoke barriers to free thought and speech when they block knowledge acquisition, intellectual development, as well as creative and critical thinking…” (Boyd and Bailey, 655). In other words, students will not be able to develop the academic skills they need in order to succeed in school if books are banned for them. Previously, there have been books banned from the school curriculum because of the

While Tomar advocates that all forms of knowledge can be obtained freely by merely going online instead of “kow-towing to a professor, or sweating grades”, I firmly believe that certain subjects are much better oriented in a traditional classroom setting. For example, mathematics is a topic that is easily approached via online methods. Many ideas in mathematics are foundational and have been thoroughly proven and reiterated in different ways; if students have a hard time comprehending their professor's method of teaching, learning it from another source is perfectly acceptable as they will reach the solution regardless of methodology. This applies to many sciences: physics, biology, chemistry, and so on. Professors should not censor information in these classes as it may potentially hurt students from learning effectively. On the other hand, many literature and philosophy texts are rooted deep in history with many different translations and interpretations of the original content. By limiting access to certain interpretations that are off-base or irrelevant to the course at hand, essays assigned to analyze these texts allow for a focused discussion and thorough

Books are censored in public schools for many reasons. Sometimes because of language, themes and religious viewpoints that the school district may not want to teach or expose their students to. The NCAC (National Coalition Against Censorship) talks about how “ individual sensitivities and concerns, restricts the world of knowledge available to students . . .” (“First Amendment in Schools”). Without necessary information about what is happening in the world students will be left bewildered about other ways of life. Crystal