Essay On Banning Books In Schools

Should books in public and school libraries be allowed to be banned? It’s often said that ignorance is bliss, but is it better for young kids to be ignorant or blissful? “Banning books give us silence when we need speech. It closes our ears when we need to listen. It makes us blind when we need sight,” said Stephen Chbosky, author of The Perks of Being a Wallflower. Books are being banned all across the country in school and public libraries alike due to conservative organizations and fearful parents. Some believe that banning books will keep kids from learning about things that are not age appropriate or things that are religiously immoral to their families. Others think that banning books stops children from really understanding the future

The director of the ALA’s Office for Intellectual Freedom, Deborah Caldwell-Stone, said in an ALA article, “‘Each attempt to ban a book by one of these groups represents a direct attack on every person’s constitutionally protected right to freely choose what books to read and what ideas to explore,’ [...] ‘The choice of what to read must be left to the reader or, in the case of children, to parents” (ALA 1). Banning books violates the rights of the author and the person who wishes to read the book. It is a person's own choice what to read and in the case of children the choice of a parent. The act of banning books is unconstitutional and censorship violates the intellectual freedom that our founding fathers put in place to protect us

A report of a study done by Ph D. Christopher Fergusen states, “For the research, Ferguson studied the responses of 282 12- to 18-year-old students who were asked whether they had read any of 30 banned or challenged books. [...] Among the results: [...] Banned books are associated with increased civic behavior (doing good for society) and low risk of antisocial behavior” (Graziani 1). Result #3 says that reading banned books make kids more civically engaged. Banning books is not to protect children but rather to leave them ignorant to topics that must be discussed in the future by a progressive informed generation. Books like this make children who will become loving people who understand, accept all, and have seen vastly different experiences through the eyes of character unlike themselves. Learning about sensitive topics helps kids learn how to react to them positively and with an open mind to others opinions. This correlates to becoming a good and loving citizen. As stated banned books create tolerance and in a community like America filled with vastly different individuals tolerance is crucial to coexistence and