Censorship In Libraries Research Paper

The biggest problem school libraries seem to face is where to draw the line on book content. But school libraries must understand that allowing book banning, they are taking away the opportunity for all students to read , instead of letting the parents decide what their child should be reading. Finlo Rohrer, BBC News Washington, explains that “In the US more and more parents are pressing schools to withdraw books with bad language or sexual content.” Parents that are uncomfortable with books in school libraries have made the effort to completely remove them from the library altogether. But when parents press to remove books that they might find unacceptable, they are actually deciding for the rest of the students as well. Mike Rose argues that “One disturbing aspect if censorship is its power to deny students in one class or an entire school system the right to read particular texts” (Agee, 61). Parents have every right to watch what their child reads and

From the very beginnings of literature, the act of banning books has long been a heated controversy. While almost everyone can say that there are definitely books that they do not want their children reading, the line between what is acceptable and what is not is much harder to define, especially in today’s world. In “How Banning Books Marginalizes Children” (2016), Paul Ringel argues that the current policy of banning books has had a negative impact on children because it has conveyed a message that rebuffs diversity and has contradicted the fact that the power to ban books should be used to “curate children’s choices with the goals of inspiring rather than obscuring new ideas.”

Literary works are the foundation for education and are crucial for multiple reasons, some of which include that literature obtains a large variety of information that is at times not accessible to students by computers and teachers alone. Another advantage is adults and children alike improve their understanding and knowledge of certain topics whilst improving their intelligence of the language itself. Banning literary pieces of work is unjustifiable and proves to students that if something is not agreeable within a book, shielding its contents is the next honorary thing to do in order to prevent disruption. High schools should not ban books due to their excessive profanity, violence, sexual content and unagreeable topics because this restriction prevents young readers from developing a better understanding of the society they live in, and could counter act a new change and lessons to be learned.

Banning books has been happening for a very long time within the education system. Parents and other adults are demanding that specific books stay out of the grasp of their innocent children, even high school students. This paper will be covering three reasons why certain books shouldn’t be banned just because parents don’t agree with the material inside the pages. The main points I will cover are, first: knowledge shouldn't be kept from one age group just because some people don’t agree with the subject matter. Second:

Books have played an important role in society for thousands of years. Books give people the foundations of being able to set opinions, the foundations of education and the foundation of preferences and perspectives on historical events. But, books also create opinion and require thought which can lead to disagreements and an unpleasant society. In the book, “Fahrenheit 451”, the author, Ray Bradbury, explains a futuristic society where books have become such a burden and the government strives so much for a world without fault that they banned all books from society. They view books as a problem because they promote thought and higher level thinking skills which can lead to controversy between minority groups that have differentiating

Book banning has been used throughout history as a way to control the ideas of a society. It is “a form of censorship that attempts to control the dissemination of thoughts and ideas that some groups in society believe to be harmful”(“Book Banning”). Governments and religious bodies have tried to ban books with differing or revolutionary views. Today, the top reasons books are banned are because of sexual content, objectionable language, violence, homosexual themes, racism, and religion (Whelan). The argument of book banning is seen in communities, school boards, public libraries, and state legislature, and can involve governments, corporations, book publishers, and private citizens (“Introduction To Book Banning: At Issue”). Book banning

A book can be a loaded gun. Books make you think about views on different subject and they can spark ideas. That is why books are amazing. Books inspire people to view things a certain way or feel a certain way. This is what sparks controversy because there are many other types of books outside of fiction. There are books that go against each other which causes disruption in the world. Without these books there is no problem; having no problem is a problem. People should be allowed to think certain ways and have a point of

Heinrich Heine states, “Wherever they burn books they will also, in the end, burn human beings.” Restricting the discussion of new and controversial ideas rather than tolerating and acknowledging the presence of new and controversial ideas is causing more pain than it is worth in the school setting. The idea of censoring reality from school libraries is unreasoned, yet that is exactly what pro-censorship individuals advocate. The discussion and knowledge of new, controversial, and necessary ideas among students is restricted due to censorship.

Books have been a major part of our society for many years. They have given many people the opportunity to voice their opinion in an appealing manner and to stimulate conversation about a particular issue. In recent years, the freedom of expression has been interjected by people who deem certain aspect of it offensive. These groups have called for the prohibition of such literature and claim that the censorship will create a more inclusive environment. However, they fail to realize the suppression of information would lead to libraries imposing their own beliefs on the community.

What would you do if you went to your child's school and saw that they were looking at inappropriate material on the internet? Would you react the same way if they were in a public library? Who decides what is okay for your children to view? Who decides where they can view it? What can you do about them being able to view these things? Are there any laws that can prevent this from happening? What are some schools and libraries doing to help prevent children form looking at such material? These are all issues that will be discussed in the next few paragraphs, along with my opinions on the matter.

Books, a simple object with a combination of words printed on many pieces of papers to create an entertaining story or to promote ideas and therefore curiosity. How can such a simple object engender such vigorous controversy? Behind that is the very reason why books are prohibited in some areas, and said to cause great rebellious action to retrieve their beloved books back from authorities. Is there some secrecy behind books that no one wants us to know? Perhaps that is the very reason why books are restricted in the first place - to filter out any information authorities do not want the public to be educated about. Whether if it encourages terrorism, creates uproars with government, or any general violence that should be locked away to keep people sane. However, books are the key to knowledge and are important in daily lives, without it how would we know anything? Books should not be prohibited because they educate others, create a virtual environment if the same situations occur, and are just plain words put together and that should not limit one’s freedom.

Who gets to decide what you can and can't say? Do? Or read? What gives someone the power to dictate what books a community can read? Censorship in libraries is simply un-needed and unfair to the society and public as a whole.

I read the article, “Intellectual Freedom and Censorship in the Library.” This article was written by Jessica L. Cooper and discussed how librarians are to deal with the issues of intellectual freedom and censorship in libraries while serving in the best interest of their patrons. This article states that with intellectual freedom, individuals have the right to allow their minds to take them wherever to gain understanding, information, and ideas. Libraries are where these individuals can gain such understanding by being served with access to all types of information in different formats, regardless of content. Throughout history, individuals have tried to prevent and control the creation, access, and distribution of ideas and information through

An individual’s view of themselves and the world is shaped and refined by the literature they read. Limiting these experiences in any way can be detrimental. In essence this is what literary censorship is, removing books from libraries and schools. Only certain texts are removed due to a variety of reasons and the requested ban must be formally submitted. Still, all banned books are available online making the bans virtually useless. With the limitless amount of books and text that expand individual perspective, censorship is ineffective; although, it is always a parent’s choice what their children read.

Some people do not realize that they affect the education of their children by banning certain books. The banning of books is banning the author's right to free speech which can hinder the education of Americans. In schools teachers have to worry about what readings they present to their students because they could have any parent coming after them for exposing their children to “heinous” or “bad” things when all it truly is, is literature used to broaden