...Censorship is a big deal in modern society. Censorship is the suppression of speech, public communication or other information which may be considered objectionable, harmful, sensitive, politically incorrect or inconvenient as determined by governments, media outlets, authorities or other groups or institutions. There is many different types of censorship. There is Media Censorship, and there is censorship in books. There is also censorship in school, with filters and limits of what websites you are allowed to be on. In The United States the first amendment states that every American has a right to the freedom of speech and the freedom of the press. In elementary school, censorship is only really common in the school library. Many books can...
Words: 711 - Pages: 3
...The Censorship of Public School Books The imagination of children across the United States rests inside the hands of not only books within public schools, but books within the hands of the government controlling these public schools. Censorship of books in public schools has been a controversial issue for decades; in fact, governments have already gone so far as to ban certain books in public schools. While some believe that censorship is necessary to keep students from being exposed to explicit content, others believe that any content of any book is acceptable for students. However, the content provided within books should be considered with grade level. Even though there may be books that contain explicit or mature content, applying censorship...
Words: 895 - Pages: 4
...America is the land of the free. What happens when you take away that freedom? America has lost it’s purpose to protect the people from being suppressed. If freedom is what America is all about then why do schools insist on restricting our free speech? The value I will be upholding is freedom. I believe that public colleges and universities ought not restrict any constitutionally protected speech, because we are speaking for the publicity of our school, and because everyone has their 1st amendment rights. Contention 1: Censorship and limitations take away the meaning of the word public in public schools. Public means the community, that anyone can attend. If you take the term public speaking for example, if you’re not speaking for the people...
Words: 318 - Pages: 2
...Furthermore, as my career focus is school librarianship, I have not had much exposure to the type of work that library technical services perform for larger academic or public libraries. Library technical services are key components all types of libraries. Acquisitions, cataloguing, and processing are all required to prepare a book or electronic resource for circulation by a patron. But in many school districts, school librarians will be solely responsible for acquisitions, cataloguing, and processing of their library resources. Ultimately, school librarians may perform many of the duties associated with library technical services and need to be aware of...
Words: 448 - Pages: 2
...Censorship Hinders Education in Schools Censorship is a negative influence on schools and education in general. Censorship is the forbidding, blocking, limiting, or obstructing access to information for whatever reason. When it is introduced into the school education system it comes with some flaws and drawbacks not intended by the original effect by which safety is the biggest concern. When teachers assign research on a certain controversial or unsafe topic, it is not allowed to be surfed on the school grounds due to internet filters or lack of books concerning them how are the students expected to complete the assignment let alone learn with that big barrier? There is also the problem with that it will actually encourage the curiosity of...
Words: 1894 - Pages: 8
...Censorship is a major topic in schools today whether it is of books, movies, or another source. These works that are being written may be very provocative or have violence in them. People often pose the question: Should we have these writings in schools, or are they unacceptable for the school environment? This question can be interpreted in two very opposite ways. The question can either be taken from the perspective that parents have the final say in what their kids learn or it can be taken from the perspective that the school curriculum and the school system knows what is best for the child's learning experience. Schools need permission from parents in order to show any book no matter how old or outdated the provocative information may be. Many parents believe that literature in schools today should be censored by them. Permission slips are sometimes given out when one may be...
Words: 1104 - Pages: 5
...However, in recent years, libraries have banned countless works because of their apparent “offensive” nature. One prime example of this is the novel “Catcher in the Rye” which caused a great uproar upon publication because of its “gross” aspects. But today, people describe it as a captivating novel that captures the minds of the American youth and teaches a great lesson on self-awareness. These different challenges and forms of censorship have aimed at limiting conflict. However, in recent years, these restrictions have sparked great amounts of dispute because prohibited materials forces people to bite their tongues. Needless to say, attempts to promote censorship have stifled free speech and limited intellectual discourse amongst individuals. Censoring different forms of media limits discussions and narrows academic exposure because people are deprived of information that may enrich their knowledge or improve their overall being. In essence, censorship would be largely ineffective because it keeps people from progress and development. Furthermore, it is not pragmatic to shield people from the real world. Doing so may create a generation of overly vulnerable, easily offended...
Words: 632 - Pages: 3
...Dec. 03, 2013 Censorship of Poetry There are many debates and arguments on the topic of Censorship. However, in this essay, I will focus on only one; Censorship's importance in books and, more specifically, poetry. Some say, to protect our children, censorship is needed; cutting out overly violent and gory scenes and or sexual content, along with other inappropriate types of media, is very important in the lives of parents and children alike. Others, however, wish that censorship was not so strict. Censorship has removed content from schools that are considered necessary; classics like Tom Sawyer are in a dangerous spot, as is the works of DH Lawrence, because of this law that has control of what we see, hear, and expose ourselves to. In some cases, this law is useful; however, there are limits to what it can do. Censorship can go from simply trying to keep our media and content clean for our children, to full censorship and banning of books because of one simple word. Even though censorship is needed in most parts of the media to control the inappropriate content, it should not be used when it comes to scholastic content, especially books and poetry. Poets, especially, few this law as a ball and chain of sorts; not just poets, but artists, musicians, creators; all do not like it when one wrongly put word would mean the destruction of their whole work. But, when it comes to books, knowledge, and poetry, censorship should never be used. Censorship has been around...
Words: 1650 - Pages: 7
...Censorship, a Problem Solver Practicing censorship is the safest way to let kids do what they want to do. Censorship filters horrible things on the television, internet browsers, phones, social media, and etc. In the book Fahrenheit 451, Ray Bradbury shows how censorship can be effective to a society. In Fahrenheit 451 Montag turns his back on his society and follows what he thinks is right. Our nation needs censorship. Censorship helps end racism, prevents military corruption, and protects kids. Racism is a worldwide issue that someone needs to put an end to. “This is great literature.But there (are so many) racial slurs in there and offensive wording that you can’t get past that,” the parent,said. The quote is a parent complaining about how the books To Kill a...
Words: 830 - Pages: 4
...Censorship for Teenagers Kathryn Criswell Western Governors University I. Censorship for Teenagers a. Is censorship dangerous to the development of our children? Censorship is a concern for parents, schools, librarians, and school administrators. Public education is vital to the future of society. Students must be allowed to develop the spirit of independent intellectual thinking and be exposed to a variety of conflicting ideas, images and viewpoints, in return giving them the knowledge to make the best choices in life (Reichman, 2001). b. Should parents censor what books their children read? Research suggests that censorship can have a negative impact on teenagers because the topics teenagers are facing today are the very ones that parents are trying to shelter them from. c. Main points: i. Censorship limits teenager’s ability to understand societal issues. ii. Censorship limits the knowledge teenagers have to make up their own minds and discuss their thoughts and opinions openly. II. According to the American Library Association, the following books are the 10 most challenged books of 2011. The graph represents the reasons why they are challenged. 1. ttyl; ttfn; l8r, g8r (series), by Lauren Myracle 2. The Color of Earth (series), by Kim Dong Hwa 3. The Hunger Games trilogy, by Suzanne Collins 4. My Mom’s Having a Baby! A Kid’s Month-by-Month Guide to Pregnancy, by Dori Hillestad...
Words: 1601 - Pages: 7
...Problem is ********* The United States has promised its citizens the basic rights to speech and free press since the founding of our nation. But in 1821, our country took its first steps towards censorship when the 1748 novel Fanny Hill was banned for containing offensive and vulgar language as well as detailing the less than glamorous life of a prostitute. The tradition of removing books from schools for their questionable content has carried on into the twenty first century with the banning of several extremely popular books such as Harry Potter, for its use of witchcraft as a key plot point, The Hunger Games, for its graphic descriptions of children slaying one another on live television, and even the widespread elementary boy’s books Captain Underpants, for its use of bathroom humor frequently throughout the series. Not only these books, but also beloved classics such as The Scarlett Letter, To Kill a Mockingbird, The Grapes of Wrath, and The Great Gatsby have all been removed from the curriculum of many schools in order to shelter students from the taboo topics they discuss, such as racial prejudice, adultery, and alcoholism. Many concerned Americans have begun to wonder whether or not the government should have the power to control what students read and believe that censorship goes against the very foundations of our nation. While the United States Constitution does clearly state that “Congress shall make no law… abridging the freedom of speech or of the press”, does that...
Words: 1702 - Pages: 7
...literary censorship, which is “the act of changing or suppressing speech or writing that is considered subversive of the common good,” (Merriam-Webster, 2012) has been more prevalent in the past 100 years than ever before. People all around the country have been affected by the parameters of censorship. Author Judy Blume once said when asked her opinion about it the topic, “It’s not just the books under fire now that worry me. It is the books that will never be written. The books that will never be read. And all due to the fear of censorship. As always, young readers will be the real losers.” (NMSU Library, n.d.). Blume, herself, is no stranger to censorship. Several of her writings have made ALA’s list of 100 Most Frequently Challenged Books. Her 1975 novel Forever was both challenged and banned in over 10 different states because of its descriptively sexual content, disobedience to parents, “lack of moral tone,” and use of profanity (Censorship & Judy Blume, n.d.). Forever is the story of two high school seniors, Katherine and Michael, and their journey throughout their relationship. The teens meet at a party and fall in love from there. Eventually, Katherine loses her virginity to Michael and they promise each other that they will last “forever.” They managed to keep this promise for a while until they were forced apart for a summer because Katherine’s parents made her get an out of town job. Judy Blume created a typical teenage love story. In 1983, schools in Akron...
Words: 1438 - Pages: 6
...In today’s schools, children are exposed to an expanded curriculum. As the world wide web, has opened doors to different cultures’, beliefs, and political stands, our curriculum has change to incorporate the growing need for diverse information. The freedoms to say, write, or have the right of expression in a manner without legal boundaries. As outlined in the first amendment, Americans are to have right to say or believe what we want, and how we want to express it. However, in an attempt to banish ignorance about our history while not offending students from other countries, and cultures, some of our textbooks have been censored. The beginning of book banning in schools is like, “an unnoticeable disease, which multiplied into a deadly cancer that has continued to consume more rights each year” (ALA p. 21-22.2005). When educational entities accept a policy which allow the banning of literature and other works, what effects will this have on the intellectual potential or possible views of our youth? Anytime a constitutional right is denied, the loss may cause many number of issues For example, if we denying a student the freedom to read any book, they wish reduces their freedom. This limitation may provide the child to develop a narrower outlook as their viewpoints maybe less insightful. Once we find that this constitutional right has been compromised, we wonder what right we will lose next. Using censorship is not right as it goes against everything this country was built...
Words: 1995 - Pages: 8
...Banned Books: A History and Examination One of the most prolific issues in American education has been censorship in the classroom. This issue has manifested itself in several ways throughout history; however, censorship most often manifests itself in the classroom as book banning. Book banning can be any form of textual censorship from the exclusion of novels from a school library, to the censoring of textbooks by a school board, to the full banning of books by a government. This paper will examine book banning and textual censorship and its impact on education. It will first look at the history of book banning including several modern occurrences of it in the classroom. It will then seek to explain the significance of book banning on education in general with particular attention paid to the American educational system. Banning books has been used as a system for controlling what students learn for ages where those in power use it force the views of the few on the next generation of learners. The banning of books has its origins as far back as 450 B.C., when Anaxagoras wrote that he thought the sun was a “white hot stone and that the moon reflected the sun's rays.” His writings were deemed “derogatory” to the gods, forcing his departure from Athens and the burning of all of his writings. Since that time, decisions about book bannings often have turned on the definition of what is derogatory. As society has grown and changed, so have its tastes, and the fine...
Words: 1561 - Pages: 7
...Nabeel Ellahi MYP-5 16/04/2012 History Can Censorship Be Justified? Censorship of information was a very important element in periods of time where propaganda was at its fullest and of course during the time of war, it was a great way to make people think how you wanted them to and to control them like a herd of sheep. From past studies we can see that censorship has been used for many purposes and the act of censorship has been practiced by many leaders. When used in situations like a war or when a leader is trying to bring reforms to a country, the use of censorship becomes understandable. To support this stance, lets take a look at past events which used censorship as a successful tool. Firstly censorship can be justified because back in the days of Stalin, Hitler and Mussolini, in their totalitarian governments authority was a very important thing to have; authority helped them keep control over the country and to enforce their will, they achieved this by censoring various materials to win the loyalty of their people. Secondly, during the government of Stalin censorship was used a lot and it helped him spread his ideas and commands to ensure him success in his goals which were to make Russia the best. And lastly during the great war when nationalism was at its peak, discouraging news such as casualties and battle loses were censored along with other news in order to make the public just know one side of the story, if these efforts would not have...
Words: 1197 - Pages: 5
