Censorship in Schools Essay

The Catcher in the Rye. The Scarlet Letter. Huckleberry Finn. Harry Potter. The Diary of Anne Frank. Animal Farm. To Kill a Mockingbird. The Da Vinci Code. The Grapes of Wrath. These literary classics have been vital to the education of many, especially children and adolescents (Banned Books). These great novels both teach important values and educate children about world affairs and classic themes. Unfortunately, each of these novels has been banned at one point in time. In a country where freedom is so adamantly advocated, it is a wonder that an issue like censorship would even come up, that such a controversy would sink its claws into the minds of states’ boards of education across the nation.

Issues of censorship in public schools are contests between the exercise of discretion and the exercise of a Constitutional right. The law

The word censorship is from the Latin word root of censere, which means to give an opinion or expression to be judged upon. Censorship is the restriction of certain material, and due to its expression it is seen offensive to someone else. The origin of expression of censorship can be tracked back to the Roman Empire when Roman officials assessed the conduct and attitudes of other Roman citizens. The Roman government viewed that in order to have a strong government, the behavior and conduct of the peopled had to be changed according to what they thought was correct. Censorship continued to be a controversy over time. It remained a controversy over time, through many empires, the age of Enlightenment, World War II, and even today. As censorship progressed through the ages it still continues today. Today, censorship occurs at schools. It occurs in libraries, classrooms, and even in student publications. Even though censorship can occur to a certain extent at schools, students’ First Amendment rights are still protected at school. The First Amendment protects freedom of expression, speech, press, religion, and assembly. Students are allowed to express themselves freely at school as long as they do not affect the education and as long as it is not an activity supported by the school system.

Each year, someone is guilty of challenging a book while others are guilty of banning novels from the classroom. The question remains, is censorship necessarily a negative thing? Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson is a novel that has caused havoc and controversy within the education system. While some critics argue Speak should be “hidden” from students, many believe otherwise. At a glance, this novel contains scenes involving issues of drugs, parents that are disengaged in their child 's life, sexuality, and rape. It may seem understandable that it has been challenged throughout the past, however, while reading this novel, these specific scenes introduce a student to much more than just “inappropriate content.” By censoring this novel from

Through censoring books, schools make the messages of books unclear, concealing vital parts of stories and society as a whole; additionally, censorship sometimes even endangers students by failing to provide them with important knowledge. A lack of significant information in any situation restricts

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?

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

Some parents oppose having their children exposed to fiction that doesn’t have a happy ending, teach a moral lesson, or provide noble role models. If these and other individual preferences were legitimate criteria for censoring materials used in school, the curriculum would narrow to including only the least controversial and probably least relevant material. It would hardly address students’ real concerns, satisfy their curiosity, or prepare them for life

Censoring books limit the available books to everyone. The reason this is bad is because not everyone has the same rules for what and what not to read. As said in, Banned Books: A School Librarian's Perspective, “In most cases, the complainants begin to look at the book in light of the whole process and realize that although they may not want their child to read a book such as "Bridge to Terabithia" by Katherine Paterson because it has several profanities, it is actually a very fine book that other parents might want their own children to read.” (Coatney) This shows how a book that

Students: Victims of Censorship Have you ever been in class and wondered why some of the language in your text has been changed into something merely “more acceptable”? We spend our lives being told that we should express our opinions and be ourselves. So why is it that when we read literary texts we are censored from them because of the fear that they might offend someone else, instead of being able to form our own opinion? Instead of limiting what we read because it might offend a group of people, we should be able to read a book for what it is. There is nothing wrong with reading the raw, published material because that itself teaches us new things.

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 in school libraries allows teachers, administrators, peers and their parents to decide what a student may or may not read based on their opinion. Opinion is variable between different groups of people within the school; therefore, a single person or a small group of people cannot be trusted to make decisions on the behalf of a larger group. Kekla Magoon argues, “That no one person can be trusted to censor material, individuals can choose to be exposed to.” Expurgation, banning, and abridgement of books are not allowing students to learn how to guard themselves from topics they do not personally believe in. Students would benefit much more if they practiced self-censorship rather than depending on adults to make decisions for them. A

After doing the research and looking for the answers to my questions I realized that there is many complicated parts to censorship. Censorship is also needed to an extent because there are some things people do not need to be exposed to until they are in there teens. But also because adults fear ideas they end up thinking they need to protect children and adolescents from it. I also concluded that labelling of books is only good for elementary school libraries and only as a suggestion to the students of the types of books they should read.

Book censorship is when specific materials are removed from public access, which causes American schools to face challenges and curriculum modifications. To understand why book censorship exists in America, the land of free, I will be conducting a research that will expand my knowledge on why books are challenged in society, the process of censoring books, and the educational impact of book censoring. I will also be exploring court cases, groups that challenge school materials, and ways to avoid censorship in schools. The resources that will guide my research consist of political cartoons and writers that have witnessed book or material banning. With the help of the authors’ and illustrator’s experiences, I will understand the purpose of censoring

22). One form of silent censorship occurs out of fear of challenges (Kampen & Spino, 2007, p. 223). Allen (2007) notes the difficult balance an information professional must make when making selection decisions. Information professionals working in a school must contend with fear of reprisals from those within the school system. (p. 5). Author Norma Fox Mazer (1997) relates how a principal of a school allowed the fear of possible reprisals from the community to cancel Mazer's scheduled visit which had been arranged for nearly a year. As well as another incident where Mazer and another author were scheduled to visit a school, but were asked to not discuss a particular book. (p. 46-48).