I Want To Have Censorship In Schools

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.

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.

There is a book out there that talks about a topic that you do not agree with. While you may find the book offensive, others may find it inspiring or a reflection of their life. These varying points of view are what often lead to people calling for a ban of a certain book in a school or public library. This brings to light a topic that impacts all of us in one way or another, censorship in the form of book bans. This leads to a topic that can be the center of debate for many, whether or not we should allow the censorship of books, or other forms of media, in our libraries. And by censoring books, we are referring to taking them off of the shelves. Of course, many people have strong opinions on this. Coincidentally, I also have an opinion. My opinion is that we should not censor books, while making you understand why the idea of censorship in our school and public libraries goes against the fundamental values and freedoms that we hold dearly as citizens of the United States.

Knowledge is power. Using knowledge, people can reshape society and the world as a whole, changing it for the better. However, gaining access to the necessary wealth of information requires a full education: people should be taught multiple ideologies and topics from an unbiased perspective. They must receive access to various viewpoints in their entirety. Teaching only one worldview strips students of their ability to truly analyze the world and its issues, because they cannot look beyond the one restrictive narrative they learned and therefore cannot develop their own perspective. Censorship hinders schools, institutions with the purpose of informing students and helping them develop their beliefs. Therefore, schools should not practice censorship when selecting literature for students because censorship obscures the purpose of literature, because censorship fails to expose students to a variety of ideas, and because censorship removes students’ ability to develop unique opinions and worldviews; education should provide an unbiased view of the world and many ideologies, so students can take their own stance on various issues rather than blindly following what they learn.

The American Library Association defines censorship as the removal, suppression, or restricted circulation of literary or educational materials. Censorship can be subtle, almost unseen, as well as blatant and overt, but nonetheless, harmful. The abilities to read, speak, and express ourselves freely are core values. Throughout history many different governments and people have tried to ban books for many different reasons. People attempt to ban books because the material conflicts with their own beliefs. Some people believe that a child’s parent should be the only one able to censor what a child reads. Librarians and governing bodies should maintain that parents and only parents have the right and responsibility to restrict things from their children. According to the challenges by initiator, institution, type, and year, parents challenge books more often than any other group. The subject is very controversial causing many disagreements. Some people may believe that a book is wonderful, while others believe that it’s corrupting the youth. Books are banned to protect people, mainly children, from difficult ideas and information. Nudity, drugs, religious viewpoint,

Students need to learn the history behind the books they might read in the future. If some of these books get banned from public schools the students will not have the opportunity to learn the history behind the books, because of one little inappropriate thing in a certain part of the book. On the 4th page of the

The American Library Association promotes the freedom to choose or the freedom to express one's opinions even if that opinion might be considered unorthodox or unpopular, and stresses the importance of ensuring the availability of those viewpoints to all who wish to read them. Free thought and expression are rights protected by the first amendment of the United States constitution however there are people that continue to fight to censor and ban materials that they find offensive. Banning books robs people from learning and forming their own opinions people who challenge books usually have good intentions claiming that they want to protect children from suggestive content, dangerous opinions and profanity. The Office of Intellectual Freedom reports the top three reasons for books to be challenged are that material is sexually explicit, contains offensive language or is unsuitable to any age group. Although we need to be aware of what we choose to expose our children and ourselves to banning and censoring does more harm than good. It is wrong to ban books, everyone deserves access and exposure to different perspectives so that they can expand their thinking and form their own opinions.

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.

Books have many life lessons that are useful, themes that are valuable, and morals that should be kept. First off, “Libraries, to me, are safe spaces, and if young readers can’t explore the themes in my book there, where can they?” (Strum, “Banning Books¨ ). Libraries are supposed to be a place

I know that myself and many other capable people want to have every possible advantage to succeed in life, and through the censorship of certain books that other people deem “inappropriate” a majority of students and people in general are put at a disadvantage due to the incompetence and inconsiderate behavior of those who wish to censor books. Abridging or editing a book in any way is just as wrong. The

Books are like a teacher, they teach us so many things about life and how the world is. And for censorship to continue happening it's preventing us from learning even more and reaching our full potential. We chose how words influence us. It could influence us in a bad way, or it could influence us in a good way. Furthermore, most children who are in poverty use books as a source for knowledge because their families cannot afford for them to go to school due to little to no income. And for books to continue to be censored it prevents the children to learn and grow their knowledge even more.

The American Library Association states that the most challenged and restricted reading material have been children books. However, challenges are not merely an expression of a point of view; on the contrary, It is an attempt to remove materials from public use, thus restricting the access to others. Even if the motivation to ban or challenge a book is well intended, the outcome is unfair for everyone else. Censorship denies our freedom as individuals to choose and think for ourselves. For children, decisions about what books to read should only be made by the people who know them best; their parents! (Letter to the Editor). I strongly disagree when people want books banned based on their own opinion of the

Public education has been and continues to be a magnet for various forms of censorship. In his article “The Role of Censorship in School” published in the Journal of Instructional Psychology, Sept. 2005. Dr. Ken Petress provides examples of these, discusses the results, and argues the reasons do not justify censorship. Going further he addresses what is lost when this happens.

Claim: Public media centers such as libraries act as knowledge outlets to the general public. These media outlets already deal with censorship, and adding more censorship would be harmful to today's education process. By limiting our access to different subjects as well as different viewpoints, there would be a major hindrance on the need to gain knowledge. Many people actively utilize their local media centers, moreover, if censorship was abundant within these facilities, many people would be starved of the knowledge they are seeking for. While the media centers would continue to supply information, there would be insufficient access to needed materials thus leaving an inadvertent negative impact on education. The implemented censorship would directly effect not only our generation, but future generations as well. While the change may not be visible at first, the lack of knowledge on aimless topics will become very evident.

I understand how some people find some books found in libraries offensive. This is why some books have been removed from certain libraries including some from our own library. I believe these books being censored and take out of our library is not the way to go about it.