Books Should Be Banned In Schools

Many books around the world have been banned because they are offensive. One example is Mark Twain’s The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, a novel about the journey of a thirteen-year-old boy named Huck, who fabricates his own death to run away with an escaped slave named Jim. The two voyage in a raft along the Mississippi River to gain their individual freedom. In addition, Huck gains a new understanding about humanity. Huck Finn has been creating great controversy on both sides of the argument: to ban or to keep in the school curriculum. Currently “much debate has surrounded Mark Twain’s Huck Finn since its publication in 1885, but none has been more pervasive, explosive, and divisive than that surrounding the issue on race”

Some parents want this book banned because they are afraid that the book could influence bullies against African American children in today’s society. However, in any history book or historical fiction about the pre-Civil War times in the United States, the same facts or even worse are shown.

Many schools are taking books out of their curriculum because of the harsh and uncomfortable language and topics. The Biloxi School District had taken To Kill A Mockingbird out of their classrooms and Drake High School had even burned all copies of Slaughterhouse -Five. It is wrong that schools began taking books like that from their lesson plan because students should not be oblivious to these kinds of topics and it is sending the wrong message about the authors and their books.

To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee has been banned and/or challenged over thirty times since its publication in 1960. Effectively preventing many students from enjoying the novel and benefitting from its message. To ignore racism is no different than denying it ever existed. To Kill a Mockingbird is appropriate for mature adolescence/students and should not be banned from schools. Despite its sexual related content, or profanity, a valuable lesson remains that should be taught to students.

For example, Gone With the Wind by Maragret Mitchell is a highly challenged book because of its racist tendencies. However, this book was written in 1936 and it is about the life of a girl living in the South. Of course there will be some racist sayings in the book but it allows the reader to learn more about life in the south and provides perspective of how people lived in the early 90s. Another frequently banned book meantioned in the first paragraph is To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee because of its “degrading, profane and racist work that promotes white supremecy” (Banned Books Week).

Once upon a time, in a world not far from here, there are students who are forced to miss their annual train ride to Hogwarts, lock the wardrobe to the magical land of Narnia, and walk through the English countryside themselves instead of upon the back of Black Beauty. Why are these students deprived of those occurrences? They live in America, the land of the free- except when it comes to the books they can read. In fact, many schools across America exercise the practice of banning books. Since 1982, libraries, parents, and schools have attempted to ban 11,300 novels, according to the American Library Association. The essentially innoxious books are challenged for an assortment of reasons, including use of malapropos language, graphic or explicit

The practice of the censorship of books in schools has been prevalent due to the explicit content of them. Parents have been complaining to schools about books that count as required reading because they disapprove with the points made in the book. If a book consists of offensive or sexually explicit material, then parents would challenge the schools about them in order to prevent their children from reading them. Censorship in general has been an intensely debated issue because it is considered an infringement to the First Amendment of the United States Constitution while others argue it is used to conceal inappropriate things (Aliprandini and Sprague). The banning of books in school curriculum has also been debated since parents see

School Library’s Policy are Changing, for the Worst or for the Better? Almost all people have checked out a book from the libraries. And most schools have a library for the students to use. But most schools are thinking about strickening there policy on what books they get for the library, and banning more books.

Remember when one was taught that one shouldn't be afraid to speak up? Or speak about what one believes in? Well, censorship breaks apart all of that freedom we fought for, and learned throughout the years. Here is why censorship should not be implemented in the United States. Throughout the years, many innovative authors have created masterpieces and best sellers, such as Cujo, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, and many other classic books from Stephen king, mark twain, and other great authors. Unfortunately, many books have been challenged and banned due to the violence, gruesome, and sexual content. In 1960 “To KIll a Mockingbird” was released and immediately became successful. However, it’s one of the most controversial and challenged book due to the fact that many schools, parents, teachers claim that the book provides content that is racially, and sexually inappropriate for young readers. Still to this day, Harper Lee's “To Kill a Mockingbird,” remains among one of the top banned books. This is why Books shouldn't be censored because mature readers won't get the opportunity to read the books that they can handle.

When being assigned this project, I immediately went to this issue of banning books in the classroom. I remember growing up reading some of these books on the banned list. But not remembering them for being racist or indecent, but rather them depicting a time period and a glips of society back them. I wanted to get down to the reason why and who has the power of banning books. I wanted to dig deeper into the reasons why books were becoming banned and reach out to the community of educators for their opinion on this topic.

Some books have a few that are “society's most taboo subjects: race and rape,”(Try to Ban Books) this shouldn’t be something that is in school regardless if in a book. School is a place where kids learn about life skills, not read books that have rape and racism present in them. In a few case parents have been “trying to prevent kids from reading about racism in World War II - era” (Try to Ban Books), this give the parents right to ban books that were made during or are about one of the most impacting wars in the world just because it contains something they don’t agree with. This is what parents have the right to decide what their kids read in school but don’t hinder the other kids because they don’t want theirs to read these

School districts across the nation are banning books in school libraries. Some books contain inappropriate language that parents don't want their children to read. However, school boards should not be able to ban books from school libraries. I believe my position is correct because we live in a free country where book banning shouldn't be allowed.

For example, the novel Of Mice and Men has been banned, because of racism and profanity. This can be seen when the characters in the book refer to the only African-American ranch hand as a “stable buck” or refer to him using the n-word (Steinbeck, J/ Of Mice and Men/ 1937). It is understandable to want to keep children protected, and to not repeat the behaviors of the characters in the book, but it is the ugly truth. It is an accurate depiction of the 1930’s and Great Depression era. In Banned Books: Literature Suppressed on Sexual Grounds, Author Dawn Sova gives a brief overview of the book, From Here to Eternity. She said that it is about “American soldiers stationed in Hawaii in WWII,” and that it has been banned for its vibrant descriptions of when the soldiers took “trips to bars, to meet with women so they could temporarily quell their loneliness” (Sova, D,B/Banned Books: Literature Suppressed on Sexual Grounds/ 1998). This is another example that illustrates the type of uncomfortable history that people may want to suppress, but it’s accurate historical fact and one of many stories about what took place during WWII. To censor this is wrong because others should have the right to learn from the

The community should do what they want to do. They shouldn’t be told to ban books from their school district. They should be able to read what they want to read especially in schools. I don’t think any books at our school are banned from our school library because Illinois I don’t think has any banned books.

Every year, hundreds of books are challenged, banned, and/or removed. According to American Library Association, more than 11, 300 books have been challenged, banned, or removed in schools and libraries across the country since 1982. The reasons why books are banned were discussed during an interview between Time For Kids and the director of ALA’s Office for Intellectual Freedom, James LaRue. "Books are banned because they fall under one of these categories of controversy: Religion, Sexual Content, Profanity, or Race." (LaRue, 2016). Many books that have been banned, at one point in time, fall under one these categories. Some more well-known books included: The Holy Bible, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, The Catcher in the Rye, To Kill