The American Library Association, ALA, is an organization that, among other things, compiles a list every year of the most frequently challenged books. “The American Library Association actively defends the right of library users to read, seek information, and speak freely as guaranteed by the First Amendment.” (ALA) Many times, the books on this list are challenged by parents with the want to protect their children from things they don’t believe to be appropriate. “Only parents have the right and responsibility to restrict the access of their children” (ALA) Even with these good intentions, by challenging a book, they are trying to challenge the authors’ thoughts and words, their First Amendment rights. These books usually contain
In addition, they believe that the content of the book could corrupt their kids’ moral sense. However, there are people that argue against the idea of censoring books in schools.
These reasons include the effects on morality, the innocence of a child, and conflicting values of what should be read in the classroom. “I think censorship should be avoided whenever possible, and there are a lot of examples of school boards too eagerly censoring this or that book, often for reasons that have little to do with propriety.”(Mattix 4) These concerns can easily be addressed. As stated in the previous paragraph, there is no negative morality drop when exposed to content like this. Unfortunately, our society is already getting rougher and is most likely that most children are already not so innocent due to it so the book will have little effect on their innocence. If there is conflict on the reading in the classroom, teachers can simply hand out permission slips asking for approval. An alternate assignment can then be assigned if there is disapproval. Overall, the negativity in these claims simply non-existent as it has no effect on the morality of people, children innocence were already gone due to other things, and alternative assignments exist to adjust for concerns.
As a teen, students should not be exposed to the inappropriateness that are put in books at such a young age.There are several reasons that banned books should be kept out of the classrooms. A few specifically are, racial issues, inappropriate language and sexual profanity. Some people believe books should be banned in schools/libraries because it is putting inappropriate knowledge in at such a young age.
There could be multiple reasons why certain books are banned.Some of the reasons may include profanity, racism, sexual content, etc. It is obvious that a book like Fifty Shades of Grey is not allowed in school, but there are parents out there who will ban books such as The Great Gatsby, Bridge to Terabithia. These kinds of books could lead the children to do horrific acts based on learning from these books. However, it could be good to have these horrific content to educate children about the various negative things that occur in this world. These banned books are meant to educate students, although the books can’t educate when there are parents are preventing them. The parents do have the right to stop their child from reading the inappropriate books, but it’s just unnecessary since the schools allow these books to be taught to the students.
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.
All it takes to challenge a book is for a parent or other citizens to file a complain against a teacher, library, school, or bookseller, for that reason many teachers and librarians choose to remove the books from the curriculum or shelves before an issue is brought up (Pitner). The fear of a lawsuit keeps many people from expressing their belief that banning books is unnecessary (Kennedy, Banned Children’s Books).
Books are censored in public schools for many reasons. Sometimes because of language, themes and religious viewpoints that the school district may not want to teach or expose their students to. The NCAC (National Coalition Against Censorship) talks about how “ individual sensitivities and concerns, restricts the world of knowledge available to students . . .” (“First Amendment in Schools”). Without necessary information about what is happening in the world students will be left bewildered about other ways of life. Crystal
What is a banned book? Well a banned book is a book that people have tried to get teens not to read, not only teens but also for younger children. This means that people don’t like what content may be in a book, they think it’s inappropriate or not meeting the standards for the age group. That’s when banning a book takes place. Before a book can be considered banned a person has to challenge the book. No,not like a like a fight with a book, but just “an attempt to remove or restrict materials, based upon the objections of a person or a group.” says The American Library Association. Then after the book is challenge the library board will decide if the book shall be banned or not. A lot of books are banned and 13 reasons why is one of them. Teens should be allowed to read 13 reasons why because it teaches people that words truly do hurt, Choices that people make in life can affect others too, and it also teaches people to ask for help when it is needed.
It is my belief that since by the time the child is required to read such literature in school, they are at an age where they can distinguish between things that should and should not be said and it is the job of the parents to educate the child that just because they say it in a book does not mean he or she should.Another subject common to banned and censored books is sexuality.
The idea to ban certain books from schools and libraries is preposterous due to the manner in which the people trying to enforce these bans try to do so in. Banning books doesn’t help with the already present problem that our youth’s intelligence levels are already declining, and neither does allowing the freedom to all books. Banning certain books due to their constant use of inappropriate language, sexually explicit nature, and all around mature content has a respectfully reasonable reason to be inaccessible to younger audiences such as minors and teens; not young adults. The banning of books in libraries is outright inexcusable, unless the material is directly racist, subjective religious content, and all around hatred for a certain race or ethnicity; not if it’s used for fictional writing, in a softer manner mid you, to express the conflict in a story and/or to show real world problems, same go for non-fictional writing that expresses ideals in a manner of which isn’t disrespectful to other ideals and that do so in a manner of which isn’t so subjectively and deliberately showing hate for a certain race or ethnicity, especially
Many books have been questioned and challenged. Even as far as to banning them. But what exactly is a banned book and why are they banned? A banned book is a book that has been censored by an authority, a government body, a library, or a even school system. A book that has been banned is actually removed from a library or school system. The actual contextual reasons as to banning them is use of explicit violence, gore, sexuality, explicit language, religion, or dark times in history. On the non-contextual side of the reason why they are banned books are usually because with the best intentions to protect people, frequently children, from difficult philosophies and information. Teachers, or even more common adults, often censor books from
Some problems do arise when incorporating controversial books into the school system. The main and biggest problem is the complaints of parents. Sometimes parents see the books their kids are reading, a preconceived negative perception, then immediately decide they do not want their kid “exposed” to such material. Parents do have every right to say and decide that. But the feelings of a few parents should not dictate the masses of students. If parents were educated beforehand about the material their children would be covering, it might alleviate some
For Thirteen Reasons Why, I am going to explain the literary terms. Thirteen Reason is about a girl named, Hannah Baker who killed herself. Before Hannah killed herself she made 13 videos of why this person made her make that decision.