Why Is Banning Books Right Or Wrong?

As United States citizens, we have the right of freedom of expression; the First Amendment of the United States constitution states, "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or the press…" (First Amendment Oct. 20, 2013). As this concerns books, people should have the freedom to choose what they want to read and what they don't want to read. By banning books, our basic rights as US citizens are abused. Book banning affects many different people, from the people who read books to the people who write them. Why do

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.

I absolutely disagree with banning books. Banning books is not good policy for any educational setting but especally in schools. Books help the students better understand the cultural changes and the different point of view in their beliefs.

The banning of books has always been a way for small minded people to ensure that the ideas or beliefs that oppose their own are kept secret, silent, hidden from the eyes of those who wish to consider these ideas for themselves. This practice is an affront to our ideas as a nation, which revolve closely around the ideas of individual freedoms, along with being an unfair system which forces the ideas of one person onto those around them. It also keeps people from being exposed to ideas

Book banning is something that was been around for almost as long as books have, but why? Book banning started because certain books made different people or different groups of people feeling challenged, uncomforted, offended, etc. In other words, these books were engaging to the reader, pushed them to their limits, and really made them think about what they were reading. This is exactly what readers should want out of a book. Instead of embracing the books, many decide to get rid of it and do not want to be challenged or forced to step outside of their little, comfortable box they have for themselves. This issue of book banning is something that has gone on long enough and needs to end right now. Books are something that should be cherished and protected, not banned. Books are a very important part of today’s society and should not ever be banned.

Next off, books shouldn’t be banned because it allows kids and adults to be able to escape reality. Some kids might now have a great life at home and books can be a way to be able to forget about the negative things for a while. This can also apply to school; let’s take someone that doesn’t have many friends for example. These kids are able to really get into a book and feel as if they are a part of something bigger than what’s going on around them. Another example is literature art, its they way authors express themselves. When you take that from a writer, it’s like taking away their ability to

School boards and teachers have a responsibility for protecting the minds of their students and covering age appropriate material. However, does this responsibility cover the extreme act of banning books from school classrooms? Does not the teacher have a duty to introduce to their students world issues in order to better the students ability to cope with problems in the world? How does a school decide which books should be banned from the classroom, and should it be left up to the teacher to decide what is decided in his/her classroom. By banning books from the classroom, we prevent our students from learning about controversial topics in a safe environment, and we also encroach upon the student’s freedom of reading what they want in

Even though we have the right to the First Amendment, many books have been banned or challenged in the U.S. Books have been banned for many reasons including profanity, sex, violence, religion, etc. The First Amendment states “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a

Isn't banning books disobeying the freedom of speech, and infringing on the freedom of the press? First Amendment, states that "citizens must be free to seek out any media, regardless of content, that they deem appropriate for entertainment, information, or education. With said, banning books stunts the extension of education. In addition, Books containing “Racial Issues, Blasphemous Dialogue, and Sexual Situations” parents' supervision is indicated. So, if read by children; banning books will not be an antidote for bad parenting. But, Most opponents of book banning understand parental preferences regarding their own child’s reading material, but they refuse to grant them the right to make a decision on behalf of all parents about what is or isn’t appropriate. The disadvantages, books can teach you a negative habits and that’s why some books should be banned. Literature will fully-develop children for the real-world.

We all know that when you get away with something your not supposed to be doing you get this certain rush. People like that feeling so they'll do it over and over again. Now, if you think about it, if they didn't ban certain books how many kids would actually read it? If people didn't make a big deal about it, how many kids would know that the book is bad and shouldn't be read at school? When you take the right to read a book away it just makes kids want to read it more. So instead of censoring what books are school friendly, and making a big deal about it, just leave it be and see what happens. Because, if the government keeps controlling this, a bigger problem will rise.

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

Banning books seems like a great idea, but in reality people are going to read, and do, whatever they want to. A lot of books have explicit language, violence, and sexual content. Most kids know about all of those things, even though they shouldn’t know about those things. Banning them from reading a book that includes those explicit things, at school, doesn’t mean they won’t go and read it at home, or at a friends house. Schools, and public libraries, have been trying to ban certain books with, what they see as, inappropriate content for many years now. Everyone has a different opinion on what is appropriate and what is not. Kids going to public schools are going to hear, and learn, explicit language, see violence, and probably even see people doing sexual things, or at least hear about it. Authors are going to write about whatever they want, it is their right to express how they are feeling, or what they are thinking. The Bible was also on the banned book list, and most people would argue that anyone who is reading The Bible is a Christian. It shouldn’t matter what content is in The Bible, if that’s not your religion you have no sense reading that book. Banning books is not going to keep kids from learning things, that in reality, they shouldn’t be learning. Banning books, in the end, is really hurting the author more than anyone.

I agree with Sarah Begley in “What The List Of Most Banned Books Says About Our Society's Fears” because she states how us as citizens have rights, and one of them being the first amendment which grants us freedom of press which prevents the government from interfering with distribution of information and opinions, which is why we shouldn’t be challenging or banning books.” We don’t get many challenges by diverse people,” she adds. In recent years, book challenges have peaked while religious liberty bills were in the news, she says. Some causes for for banning or challenging books may be religious reasons, the religious liberty bill protects us and our freedom. I think this statement is reasonable because people have rights which protect them

Banning books infringes on the first amendment rights. One portion of the first amendment states, “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.” By banning books, we infringe on the right of free speech and the right of free press. By banning a book, you are silencing an opinion. You are restricting a right that is given to us by the Constitution, the law of the land.

The First Amendment States “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.” (citation) Banning books violates the rights Americans are supposed to given automatically with an obtaining citizenship. Authors express their rights by freedom of speech and press, by using their creativity to write and publish whatever topic they feel necessary. They do not begin to write without a cause or mission to put out to their readers. When the books they write are banned it takes away the mission of their books by not allowing students to freely read them. “My idea is always to reach my generation. The wise writer