Essay on Censorship in Schools is not Justifiable

The act of book banning could prove beneficial to the society because it could keep the students and youth of our culture away from books with a bad influence or things that would not help them in any way, shape, or form. “If a book is deemed offensive, some may argued, that it is promoting ideas which can have a detrimental influence on individuals (often children) and on society as a whole” (Aliprandini, Sprague 2016). This quote proves that those who believe that book banning is a good idea have valid reasons to believe so. Although books should not be banned, there is solid evidence that proves otherwise.

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

Censorship and freedom of expression within school campuses has attracted a lot of debate and discussion over the years. School authorities have a difficult time in ascertaining where to draw the line between free enquiry and moral hazard. It is a surprising fact that in a country with a rich liberal tradition like the United States, there have been over 250 attempts by school districts at book banning in 31 states. This is just in the last 4 years. As shocking as this information is, “over 85% of bans go unreported either due to poor media attention or lack of opposition. Censorship leaves students with an inadequate and distorted picture of the ideals, values, and problems of their culture. Writers may often be the spokesmen of their culture, or they may stand to the side, attempting to describe and evaluate that culture. You must have some theory of

Rebecca Hagelin in “Book Banning Protects Family Values,” asserts that without schools banning inappropriate books, teachers can assign students books that not all parents would be comfortable with them reading (44-46). Most of these parents are concerned with explicit sexual content, graphic language, and the religious views that are expressed in the writing. Whether it be the parent of a high or elementary school student, they have the right to know and state their opinion on what their children are reading. Although, one parent doesn’t have the right to decide whether or not a book is banned from the library. Every school library has a specific procedure to follow in which typically the school board will review and arbitrate a decision on whether or not the book should be allowed in the school library. Allowing parents to challenge books can help protect family values, and ensure that the material that students are reading in school is educational and age

The controversial act of banning books in the public school system is hindering children from growing in their intellect and identity. “Schools and Censorship: Banned Books” is an article released by People For the American Way, which explains that American’s were given one basic right and it is one that must be fought for and maintained daily. This is the freedom to express as each individual sees fit. Because of concepts that challenge the level of what is “appropriate” for students, millions are being deprived of powerful works of expression which possess the power to shape students in who they are and who they can become.

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.

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.

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

The question of censoring the Harry Potter books is a great debate among parents, children, teachers, and librarians. Parents always have the final decision of whether or not their own children will read the books, but when parents try to censor the books from all children, as in taking action to get it banned from a library or school, they step over the line and infringe upon the rights of other children and their parents. A mother and father know their own child best; they should be able to predict how their child will react to the contents of the story. They need to make sure that their children are at an age where they can handle all that is contained in the tale. This is how it should be with all literature. If parents do not want to have their own children read the book, then censoring the book is what they should attempt to do. However, they do not have the right to censor it for anyone else’s children. In addition to the parents’ decision, children should also be able to have some say in what they read. If they wish to read the books against the will of their parents, then that is an issue they need to work out with their parents. Parents can only guide a child so far, and eventually at some point they will have to learn to trust their children’s decisions.

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 first side of this debate claims that banning books is for the good of the students, and parents should be happy that the school cares about the students and what they are reading. Robert P. Doyle shares his opinion about books and how they are banned because of the mild use of language, sexual content, and text against the government (Doyle). “So, in 1939, they wrote the “Library Bill of Rights,” which begins to articulate the library community’s philosophical position regarding censorship” (Doyle). ”For the book community, it wasn’t political content so much as sexual content that created censorship challenges and ultimately brought the issue to the attention of the courts” (Doyle). Doyle is the author of an article entitled “The American Experience”, he expresses his opinion for Pro banned books using statements such as above. Banning books is always for the benefit of the students, schools don’t ban them because they want to, there is always a reason for banning the book.

According to Ray Bradbury, “There is more than one way to burn a book. And the world is full of people running about with lit matches.” Censorship is a controversial topic that continues to gain attention. As various books are released, opponents that feel offended in some form begin to try and remove a book from the shelf. If the argument is lucrative enough, that book just might be removed from the shelf. As that book is removed, all the sudden other books become offensive and they too may leave the shelf. What happens when all the offensive books are gone? Will there be books left on the shelf for our children to read? Censorship is a difficult topic to discuss, however it is something that must be addressed so that school libraries

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.

Censors typically feel as though the subject material of controversial books in the high school English curriculum is too much for teenagers to handle (Shen, 2002).

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).