Censorship Vs Curiosity Research Paper

Garrett Roberts

Mrs. Skolny

ENGL 11H

29 February 2016

Censorship versus Curiosity “Curiosity killed the cat but satisfaction brought it back.” (Eugene O’Neill, 1920) Curiosity always had a clash with the censorship era. Wanting to know what was hidden from a select few has been a very debatable topic amongst many. For a couple centuries, censorship has risen and to no surprise curiosity has too. But being curious was never at all a bad thing. Although curiosity has a negative outlook which can also be seen in the censorship world, curiosity has a tremendous role in the learning process. Censorship may actually drive people to get more information. Something we were supposed to be protected from for whatever reason may motivate us to seek these

Learning can be impaired. Messages in books that have been censored cannot be learned. According to critically-acclaimed author Sherman Alexie, “Book banners want to control what every child reads,” and that “censorship of any form punishes curiosity.” (Sherman Alexie) For some books that have been banned actually carry a good message such as in one of Sherman’s books where a racial slur had been said and the person got punched for it. Sherman said, “That seems like a pretty good to be learned to me.” (Sherman Alexie) Sherman also had to say that, “Parents should be in more control of what their child reads. They should have the control of how their kid deals with the information.” (Sherman Alexie) Sherman and many other authors feel the same way. Most books and much other types of media can be banned due to the slightest bit of profanity. A lot of bans have been lifted in recent years making messages easier to get. Negativity could always be assumed on something that was banned. For a society that is trying to be more civil, positive messages with good content is smiled upon, but a positive message with profanity is frowned

One of the key components in the brain for learning which is the hippocampus. It’s in charge of memory and emotion. Rarely has the area been studied while a participant has been curious. One test done by Charan Ranganath showed that questions asked to participants that actually interested the participants had an increased memory of things shown to them after. (Education Week. Vol. 34) Even the boring stuff was easily remembered by the participants. “Curiosity about a subject really does excite the brain in ways that can make it easier to learn,” Ranganath then said, “Curiosity may put the brain in a state of learning.” (Education Week. Vol. 34) So to any teachers, making a student curious about a topic or making them want to ask questions is a good way to help them learn. (Education Week. Vol.