der’s Game, To Kill a Mocking Bird, The Catcher in the Rye, and The Scarlet letter. These are all books that have been banned in schools all over the world. More than 11,300 books have been banned since 1982. Students should be able to read any book they want to. Schools shouldn’t have the right to ban books.
Is it ever just to ban a book over the inclusion of controversial material? In Cold Blood written by Truman Capote has been an example of a book put under scrutiny for containing controversial content. Although the reasons for the opposition are clear to see in the novel, the complaints toward the book are not substantial enough to ban the book from schools. Capote includes some amounts gore and strong language in the novel, however nothing mature students are not able handle. The novel is based on a murder that occurred in 1959, and it has been speculated that Capote sympathizes with one of the two killers.
Another reason why this book should not have been challenged is freedom
Books are an essential way to gain knowledge whether they are controversial or not. Thousands of books have been banned from public libraries and schools due to being deemed ‘inappropriate’ by parents, administrators, or religious leaders. Whether Americans should ban books in public libraries and schools is an often debated topic. This censorship of books is dangerous, as it restricts the American people's’ ability to access information, leaving Americans ignorant. Historically, banning books is not a new practice.
Banned Books Essay Banned Books Week is an annual event starting on September 23 and ending on September 29 celebrating the freedom to read books freely no matter what topics are present throughout the book. The purpose of Banned Books Week is to bring the community together and express and seek ideas in books even if they are considered unorthodox. Throughout this celebratory week publishers, librarians, booksellers, journalists, teachers and more all celebrate the freedom to read and access information that they desire to explore. The outstanding novels by the names of Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson and The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie are both banned books in many middle school and high
They claim that the book has many redeeming qualities about it, and also is a great tool for teaching students reading and analytical skills. In my opinion, teachers should be permitted to teach these questionable book to their students. If an author's work was to be tampered with I feel as if many books will lose their value and or the meaning the author was trying to convey. Many of these “banned books” were written based on the time period it was wrote about. Banned books also can teach us history,social skills, vocabulary , and a new way of thinking.
Plus, in an interview, he mentioned the book burnings in China, Germany and Russia. The book was published eight years after the World War II, not really far from the time when book-burnings were an important part of the national socialism in Germany(Interesting Literature, 2013). In the interview, he also talked about the book burnings in the McCarthy era. In that period, 30,000 books which were written by communist sympathizers or contained pro communist themes, were banned and removed from the shelves of public libraries. He was widely upset with this and said, “Anything that touches the library, touches me(YouTube, 2011).”
(cbldf.org). Because of this challenge to the book, the principal decided that all questionable content regarding student curriculum will be disclosed to parents beforehand. In 2003, the book was challenged and then completely banned in George County, Mississippi. The copious amounts of profanity and sexual content lead to this unfortunate conclusion.
“American citizens who care about the improvement of education are urged to join students, teachers, librarians, administrators, boards of education, and professional and scholarly organizations in support of the students’ right to read” (The Students Right to Read). Citizens should be allowed to stand up if they believe books should not be banned. It is important that writers should be able to have their books out to the public without getting banned. “Challengers often employ a definition that maintains that banning materials is the only true form of censorship,”(Knox 740). Censorship of books is common and a real problem.
In order to improve elementary students' reading ability, the author suggested that the school board should encourage schools to purchase audiobooks because some studies showed thatstudents who hear books are more likely to become able readers. The author made several mistake when presenting the above argument. The biggest error the author committed is the conditions. First of all, the author stated that many students are discouraged by the lonely activity of reading.
“over 1500 books are challenged becuase of “explisit” sexcual content..” (“Banned and challenged books by the numbers”).(12 infographics about banned and challenged books). Books are one of the best sources for information Kids are missing out on the great quality of books that have/will be banned. “Parents who don 't like specific books can have their kids "opt out" of an assignment without infringing on the rights of others. The National Coalition against Censorship explained that "Even books or materials that many find 'objectionable ' may have educational value, and the decision about what to use in the classroom should be based on professional judgments and standards, not individual preferences." [6] In the 1982 Supreme Court ruling on Board of Education v. Pico, Justice Brennan wrote that taking books off of library shelves could violate students ' First Amendment rights, adding that "Local school boards may not remove books from school libraries simply because they dislike the ideas contained in those books."
“The ALA said that school and library officials banned the book in some cases last year because “it includes LGBT characters, was deemed sexually explicit and was considered to have an offensive political viewpoint.” (Cavana 1). First, this quote is important because it is showing readers why this book was banned. The quote connects with band books because it has sexually explicit content in the book and books that are in public libraries. “The children 's book Little Bill was banned because of the “criminal sexual allegations” against the author.”
“American citizens who care about the improvement of education are urged to join students, teachers, librarians, administrators, boards of education, and professional and scholarly organizations in support of the students’ right to read” (The Students Right to Read). Citizens should be allowed to stand up if they believe books should not be banned. It is important that writers should be able to have their books out to the public without getting banned. “Challengers often employ a definition that maintains that banning materials is the only true form of censorship,”(Knox 740). Censorship of books is common and a real problem.
At one point in time, over 7,220 books have been challenged to be banned. Though these books have been removed for the safety of children, not all books should be banned for many reasons. These include the fact that banning books is infringing on the First Amendment, keeping children from understanding the real world, and, even though there are many reasons for book banning, not banning books could help a student’s education and can even work against itself. Banning a book from a school or public library could go against a person’s First Amendment of the freedom of press.
Who should choose the books that students read in school? On one corner of the ring the teacher chooses, and on the other corner the student chooses. I support the decision that students should choose the reading for the next school year. Although it would be interesting to see what the teacher would choose, I think it would be effective for the student to choose for a variety of reasons.
