Preserving Intellectual Freedom
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
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Parents are censoring books because of sensitive material without realizing that they are hurting their child in more ways than one (Aliprandini). Banning books like Thirteen Reasons Why suppresses young minds and their ability to question difficult topics. According to the website made exclusively for Thirteen Reasons Why, “the novel has been a teen favorite and has inspired anti-bulling discussions in schools across the America” (Thirteen Reasons Why). Jay Asher’s novel takes on teen suicide caused by bullying in a direct matter. A lot of kids suffer and witness bullying and so many readers can relate to the difficulties Hannah Baker, one of the main narrators, faced. This story inspires people to act instead of being onlookers because doing nothing also has serious consequences. Thirteen Reasons Why, vents just how much words and actions can affect people no matter how insignificant and meaningless the action might be (Asher). Banning the book only does harm because what better way to take on such a sensitive topic like suicide and bullying than in a classroom directed and discussed by a teacher. Banning Thirteen Reasons Why can close the door for students to learn about the consequences of their actions. The National Institute of Mental …show more content…
However, it is unconstitutional to impose their morals or judgments on an entire school or community. Even so, mitigating measures can be used to help those parents retain their rights as parents. The school provides various opportunities to do “book previews” on controversial books (Strategies and Tips). The school also provides permission slips allowing the parent to decide if they what their child to read Thirteen Reasons Why or any other book that might contain sensitive material. For the parents that decide not to allow their child to read the novel, there are alternative assignments that can be done instead. The School District also provides guest speakers including an assembly with the author, Jay Asher, that will address the sensitive issues with the students in a straightforward matter. Counseling for students and/or family can also be provided if need so. Anna Agenjo, a concerned parent for Intellectual Freedom, once said, “it’s the right and responsibility of the parent to monitor her child’s education as well as their right to decide what their child should read but their parental privileges shouldn’t extend to the rest of the district students.” (Agenjo). Ana is right and the mitigating measures provide alternatives for those parents concerned with the sensitive material in the book and it is also an alternative to having the
Although this quote seems fairly self-explanatory, there’s more to it that it appears on the surface. It’s not necessarily only the small words that hurt the most, but also the small actions and events that occur throughout a lifetime that can pile up to have an enormous impact on somebody’s life. A high schooler who isn’t outright bullied can still feel oppressed because a lot of little insignificant encounters that happen to them, such as a friend picking someone else as their partner for a project. This is evident is the book Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher, which is the story of a girl named Hannah who kills herself details her experiences leading up to her death via casette tapes. Each of Hannah’s reasons are single events that, if
“A banned book is one that has been removed from the shelves of a library, bookstore, or classroom because of its controversial content...A book may be challenged or banned on political, religious, sexual, or social grounds” (Lombardi). According to Esther Lombardi, banned books are specific types of books that are not allowed to be read because they are considered dangerous or harmful in some way. Even though content such as depression, drugs, sexual activity, and violence in books is viewed as problematic or inappropriate, real life isn’t all fairy tales and unicorns. Life is hard, and there is bad in the world just like there is good in the world. Students should not be shielded from the bad of the real world. Instead, they should learn about those situations through books in the safety of schools. Crank is a book about a gifted junior in high school named Kristina Georgia Snow. Her parents are divorced, she lives in Reno with her mother, and for the first time in eight years she visits her father in New Mexico. However, this visit leads Kristina into many difficult life experiences. Students should be able to read Crank because it shows students how small decisions could impact people's lives, how drugs become a need, and how communication between a family is important.
The main argument for why certain books are banned in schools is because the students need to be protected from the content within the books. For example, 13 Reasons Why, a novel about a teenager who commits suicide and leaves behind thirteen tapes containing her reasons has been banned from schools such as the Colorado School District, and some Canadian schools. The book was deemed as “negative portrayals of helping professionals.” and according to Lora Strum writer of the article “Banning books like ’13 Reasons Why’ makes it harder for teens to open up to adults, the author says”, “the book glamorized suicide”. As a whole, the school districts either took
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,
Later, the school board demanded a change back from this censorship and announced that the full copies would be replaced back on to the shelves of the library. Review processes of censoring or banning books should be based on a non-discriminatory basis; making sure educational topics are not compromised from the readings. Censoring books could lead to the controversy of judgments of, in this case, mental illness. This adds to the negative stereotype people have against mental illnesses which leads to those with the illness to feel poorly about themselves. There are a number of banned and censored books that can provide educational values to the youth including Girl, Interrupted.
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
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.
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
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.
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.
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.
Even though our world is getting more and more connected, censorship still remains one of the top issues that separate people from reading books. Books are the spreader of both bad and good knowledge and I believe that we should no longer contain or ban books just because they are offensive to certain groups in America. The debate on challenged books is a hot topic in America because the country is founded on a basis of freedom of speech.
Many parents complained to the school’ssuperintendent “what type of books are my children reading” in that reason being the content thatthe book contained . [Chasan, daniel J. "Why J.D. Salinger's catcher in the rye' still provokesbook bans." 2010 ed. crosscut. Web. 1 Dec. 2015].The parents got the book to not be checkedout by anyone in the library because they were not mature enough to read that.
Censorship cases often bring about debates over students’ first amendment rights. Students’ first amendment rights are important to preserve so that students can not be excluded from meaningful works or literature. It is understandable for the government to design educational plans as a way to get its voice into classrooms, but “the truth-promoting function of the First Amendment provides no reason, however, to question the right of students to explore a variety of ideas and perspectives, and to form and express ideas of their own” (Brown, 1994, p. 30). Schools already place a restriction on religious material or material addressing current political controversy (Brown, 1994).
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.