An article was written for NEA Today on October 2nd entitled "It's Banned Books Week!" The story discusses various banned books and the struggle by educators to fight censorship nationwide. I was amazed to see such classics as Of Mice and Men, Catcher in the Rye, and Adventures of Huckleberry Finn being banned from school libraries. Also included in the list is the Harry Potter series. The article states that over 500 books were challenged for classroom reading or attempts to remove them from libraries in 2008. It is estimated that 70-80% of attempts to ban books are never reported, so the total is likely much higher than that. Reading the article brought back memories of reading Fahrenheit 451 while I was in high school. Can we really have that many people in America that believe censorship is right?
I agree that care should be taken by educators that we expose our students to educationally appropriate materials. However, part of the decision must be the educational value of books, not just whether the contents of the book might offend some people. A parent should have the right to monitor the books their children are reading if they find them objectionable. However, they should not have the right to make that same decision for all the other children in their school. If a parent objects to an assigned reading, give that student an alternative assignment rather than punishing all the other students.
Another point the story makes is about human nature. The best way to increase anybody's interest in reading a book is by telling them they can't. We have seen many instances of sales for a book or movie increasing dramatically by somebody making a public objection to the contents. This is especially true for students-they often want to do something even more after they have been told they can't. Hopefully people will soon see how damaging censorship can be.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
I could not get your link to load, so I could not read the link. I am surprised at what books get banned at times, but I do like the fact that schools are censoring the material. We do need to protect our students by censoring what they read. We need to model discretion and discernment. Often times jr. high or sr. high students can lack this. Hopefully, by banning books students can see that some material can affect students in a negative way.
ReplyDeleteUnderstand that I do agree that some of this material should not be banned but some should. I do not have any concrete examples, but I appreciate the fact that the people can control what is being taught in the schools.
Philip
I cannot believe how some of the greatest literature pieces of all time have "angered" individuals and subsequently become banned books. Some of these books are not on the shelves at my school, but there are books about drugs, notoriously bad and immoral rappers, and other inappropriate things these kids find and let everyone else see. I think censoring books written by historical authors is ridiculous. Now middle schoolers would probably not understand Faulkner and other inflammatory authors, but whose to say they can't see what American Literature is all about? If we pick on one book, we should scrutinize all books. Books entertain, educate, and invite us to look at possibilities not in the real world and yet we want to burn them....something like Fahrenheit 451. (right book title?)
ReplyDeleteRandy--
ReplyDeleteRegardless of subject area taught, this is certainly a hot topic in the area of education. I especially appreciate your spin on it asking what right a single parent has to ban a classical novel for ALL children! If a parent were to call us about the grade of another student, of course we couldn't share that information--and rightfully so. But why then, if a parent doesn't want their little "Johnny" to read a book does it become banned for all students???
I think it might also be interesting for those same parents to listen to their child's iPod, warm up music for a sport or language around their peers. If the child is in the minority, the parents would approve of all of the above.