Pros And Cons Of Censorship In Schools

There has recently been a renewed interest and passion in the issue of censorship. In the realm of the censorship of books in schools alone, several hundred cases have surfaced each year for nearly the past decade. Controversies over which books to include in the high school English curriculum present a clash of values between teachers, school systems, and parents over what is appropriate for and meaningful to students. It is important to strike a balance between English that is meaningful to students by relating to their lives and representing diversity and satisfying worries about the appropriateness of what is read. This burden often falls on teachers. The purpose of this research paper is to discuss

Paint this picture: You once desired to watch a Youtube video that you have viewed recently once more, and as you searched it up, you remembered that there was offensive information. When you clicked on the video, a message popped up explaining that the video was blocked, and more importantly, why it was blocked. Although the Youtube administrators most likely blocked this information, this can mirror the controversial topic of censorship. Government censorship is the act of the government blocking information from media, such as books, the Internet, and magazines, due to bias, inappropriate, or offensive content. It keeps the information across these sources in balance of appropriateness. Some believe that it can form positive outcomes to society, but others believe not. Despite the violation of freedoms, government censorship can be beneficial because it removes objectionable/offensive information and restricts societal threats.

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.

Censorship has happened everywhere and happens everyday especially inside schools. In city schools there have been conflicts over what students should or should not learn. Censors decide that they should protect students from materials and activities that are upsetting and issue the wrong ideas. These ideas are said to "weaken parental authority, challenge students political moral, or religious views, or brainwash them into other ways of thinking (Sherrow10)." By protecting them they mean targeting academics. Courses that deal with drug prevention, sex education, development of character, or clarification of

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

“Censorship is the process of suppressing something that is considered objectionable or offensive” (Emert 1). In order for a work to become censored, some authority figure imposes restrictions that establish what would be and would not be allowed to be put in front of the public for people to read. The standards those in authority base their restrictions off of are the standards set by the publishers, producers, and agencies of that work. Censorship is something that affects many people especially in the school system; it normally causes tensions to rise. This is because someone feels that their First Amendment rights have been violated. This most frequently happens in the school system because parents, students, teachers, and or staff find a work offensive in some way and try to get it removed. They bring it to the school board, and if severe enough, the case is brought before a judge in court. In most cases the person or group that tries to get the work censored, loses the case. In some cases, the person trying to censor does win. According to most school boards, they would say that students have their full First Amendment rights, but that is not always the case. When it comes to the Freedom of Expression, most schools find some way to censor, books, and articles especially.

Imagine if a society controlled what people see, hear, or did. This type of censorship is harmful to a society. Everyone needs to understand each other’s freedoms. This issue is discussed in Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury. In this society, they can not read certain things and people decide to commit suicide over it. Censorship takes away our rights as individuals. It violates the First Amendment, keeps people from learning, and gives the government total control.

  The common image that comes to mind on the topic of censorship is that of book burning. Dating back to ancient times, the easiest way to deal with unwanted writings has been to get rid of them, usually by heaping them into a blazing pyre. In his most famous science fiction novel, Fahrenheit 451, Ray Bradbury warns of a futuristic society where all literature is destroyed under a kerosene flame and the citizens' freedoms are kept in check by the lack of written information. In fear of this kind of totalitarianism, many bibliophiles have fought against all manners of censorship, wielding the first amendment and the rights recognized by our fore-fathers. But with the technological advances of this the

Censorship is the act of filtering or blocking any inappropriate content on the internet, movies, books, etc. It is a topic that has become very controversial. Parents, teachers, and the government are finding new reasons to censor what people can publicly see. They are also finding new ways to censor what people see in wartime, the arts, religion, and on the internet. The controversial part of censorship is the question as to who gets to decide what is censored. The government does not want to have any issues with people doing illegal things that they could have access to through the internet, but they do not draw the line at just illegal information. Educational censorships take this further and restrict access to anything educators feel

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.

Books and videos are being banned as a result of parents and officials that don’t want children exposed to the material. Not only that, but teaching subjects such as evolution versus creationism are being banned as well because some find them objectionable. The biggest offender in this case are schools that only discuss creationism. Censorship is often arbitrary and irrational. For example, classics traditionally used in English classrooms have been accused of containing obscene, heretical, or subversive elements. Just a few of these books might include Plato's Republic, George Eliot's Silas Marner, Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter, Shakespeare’s Macbeth, Herman Melville’s Moby Dick, and so many more. The truth is, literally any work is potentially open censoring by someone, somewhere, at some time, for any reason. Even a modern, extremely popular book like Harry Potter could be censored for something like witchcraft, and going against Christian beliefs. The only thing that people are accomplishing by censoring school work is inhibiting everyone’s chance to be fully educated. If a parent doesn’t want their child to see or read something in school, then they should just homeschool their child rather than ruin it for

The Constitution of United States grants an American the right of free speech and expression which they often take for granted. Yet, the people who are educating others about those rights are rejected from utilizing those very same rights. Teachers in the U.S are being denied their First Amendment right to freedom of speech by limiting how they may express their views on educating students, restraining of what they can put on blogs or letters, and limits on how they might use social media.

School authorities face a great complexities and invetible challenges when deciding to make or not to make censorship decisions in school. Schools have to take matters into hand has they have to consider age, acceptance from parents, and appropriateness in the school enviroment. Throughout the years censorship has been an important matter to both schools and parents as it continues to be a topic of debate and protests.

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.

Another very good example of a good use of censorship is a parent raising his/her children. Children who are raised with parents who only speak of abhorrence and hate, will eventually become young people who only tolerate abhorrence and hate. The guardians of children need pay attention to the world around their children thus committing the act of censorship.