Should The Benefits Of Banning Books

Society is constantly changing with new ideas of how you can live your life. A huge way people try to teach about these topics is through books. Books are windows into diverse perspectives that can help show different sides to a story. However, throughout history and still occurring today, many people attempt to spread their beliefs through the censoring or outright banning of books that go against what they believe in. The practice of banning books not only makes learning for children more difficult, it also hinders the ability of children to grow and flourish by locking away books covering topics such as LGBTQ+, racism, or other potentially explicit topics that could help teach children about the current world and help them connect to the

Yet some people do not think about this and continue to try and ban books based on what they believe. These people's ideas to ban books and preferences on what should be available for students to read “hardly address students' real concerns, satisfy their curiosity, or prepare them for life.” (“Censorship in Schools”). On top of this, the book ban not only affects students, but it also “hampers teachers' ability to explore all possible avenues to motivate and "reach” students” (“Censorship in Schools”). Book banning limits the amount of content teachers can use to help the students learn and grow, forcing the teachers to use a limited range of books that are being hand-picked by selfish individuals. With very controversial topics like book bans, there will be people who believe that it is beneficial to continue with this practice. On this occasion, it is the people who want books banned for one reason or another, based on facts or just personal

According to the American Library Association, or ALA, in 2022, seven out of the top thirteen most challenged books included LGBTQ+ topics, while others included issues like abuse, profanity, and racism (“Top 13 Most Challenged Books of 2022.”). These topics may be inappropriate to talk about or expose to children. Regarding the topic of LGBTQ+, some believe exposing this to children is dangerous because they have yet to discover who they are, and could expose them to unnecessary knowledge at this point in their lives. Other topics are potentially too violent or explicit to show to school children, as they could cause mental harm or encourage these children to perform these actions. The issue with this side of the argument is that it is very one-sided. These topics may be sensitive to some, but not others, and some parents may want to let their children read them while others do not. Book banning takes away the opportunity to read these books and learn from them, just because of potentially harmful