...October 2012 Banning Books Portraying Violence How much can a book that portrays violence affect a high school student? It can affect a student in many ways. In fact, it has more impact when a student reads a book that portrays violence than violent video games or movies. Rebecca Dawkins’s essay “Why Banning Books Isn’t Always Bad” discusses how many “concerned group of parents regularly pressure school boards to keep controversial classics out of the classroom” because of the violence and immoral values they portray for underage students. Books like “Valley of the Dolls by Jacqueline Susann (about three young women who abuse drugs to escape the pressures of show business); The Godfather by Mario Puzo (about the Italian-American mafia); and In Cold Blood by Truman Capote (about two real-life mass murderers)” are what should be kept out of high schools because those types of books for students who are exposed to the everyday dangers of drugs, gangs, and violence in schools make it seem okay in these books. Dawkins goes further on explaining how many high school teachers, including herself, agree with parents in the sense that these books are not age appropriate to be taught in a high school classroom especially in a setting where all of these issues are present everyday. I totally agree with Rebecca Dawkins that high school students would not relate to most characters in controversial books, teachers have no time to teach long controversial books, and books such as Capote’s and...
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...parent, your eight year old son come back from school with the book The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, he had been waiting for it for a week, until somebody finally returned it from the library. So you start reading it with him, you think that the book is fine, until your start seeing racist words, why does your eight year old child have this book in his hands, why is it within his reach? Book banning in schools has recently became a hot topic, some people think that some books should be censored or removed from schools. We do not want children reading books that have violence and swearing in them. Some books have violence and inappropriate content in them, others contain profanity and racism, a child's impressionable mind should not be exposed to stuff like that. Book banning should be allowed in schools to protect children from inappropriate content. Children's minds can be effected very easily, so why can they read books...
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...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...
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...Banning books is like crushing the open doorways to beautiful, alternate universes. Books are useful and entertaining tools that can be used to introduce all opinions to the children, teens, and adults reading them. Restricting a book or book series from a public library or school not only neglects to expose children to those new ideas, but it also infringes on the natural rights of the author. These types of books can be used as a convenient learning to as well. Depriving people of these experiences and learning opportunities is wrong. To begin, books can be used to expose children, teens, and adults to new ideas. Exposure to things such as swearing can help a child to form his or her own opinions, therefore developing their personality and the kind of person they want to be. Some books show all different realities that some people were forced to live or live that reality by choice. According to the article “Common Reasons for Banning Books” some books are restricted because they encourage damaging lifestyles included “Drug use, co-habitations without marriage, or homosexuality.” When elements like these are included, it is to promote a...
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...In the 1950s, many books were written that conveyed ideas controversial to popular belief. However, of the all the books written, two books stood out more than any others. Catcher in the Rye and Cat on a Hot Tin Roof were read more among anyone ranging from teenager to senior. Even though both began arguments, these two both books were mostly popular because of their rebellious influence. Over time, they have shaped and formed today’s society. From the 1950s to the 2010s, Catcher in the Rye and Cat on a Hot Tin Roof have spurred both controversial and rebellious altercations. Published by J.D. Salinger on July 16th, 1951, the Catcher in the Rye has been popular among people of all ages and races. Meant to be a controversial novel originally...
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...“It is not enough to simply teach children to read; we have to give them something worth reading.” (Paterson). When a book is “challenged”, a single person--or an entire group--wishes for that particular piece of literature to be banned from the curriculum or the library as a whole. These drastic measures may be taken because of discussions about racism, violence, sex, witchcraft, controversial politics, incest, or rape that are not considered appropriate for schools ("Banned & Challenged Books"). Consequently, after a book successfully becomes banned, the access to that book becomes restricted in the library collection and course of study of a particular school. This was the case in Cromwell, Connecticut, where a pair of residents attempted to have the...
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...Mark Twain’s first successful piece of work was a book about a young boy named Tom Sawyer. Tom and his best friend, Huckleberry Finn, went around, getting in trouble and going on exciting adventures. It was a popular children's book. So, when Mark Twain came out with his next book; The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, a story of Huck running away from home and going on new adventures with a slave, everyone was surprised by its controversial topics and offensive racial slurs. Now, 130 years later, the book is the number one most banned book in America. The question of whether it should still be taught in school is being brought up again. The themes in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain are still relevant today, and therefore, the book should still be taught in school. Some of the themes in the book are argued to be inappropriate. A boy running away from home, the bad language, a white boy and a black man being friends, the scheming and scamming; these are all topics that some may think shouldn’t be taught in school. These are themes that need to be addressed because they are real life topics. They may have been hard to talk about in the past but now, they are good teaching devices. The controversial topics in the book...
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...hundred years and the controversy of the word’s use has been lingering in the minds of all those living in America. Through his book, Mark Twain pushes his readers into thinking about why slavery is wrong and how immoral slavery is. By forcing doubt into the reader’s minds, Twain successfully gets his message through. Although some readers do not get the reason behind Twain’s constant use of the “n-word”, Twain’s book The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn remains as one of Twain’s best sellers. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn sends a subliminal message depicting slavery as an immoral occurrence in history, unfortunately for some, this book has been misinterpreted as racist. Mark Twain did not intend...
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...parents even go as far as to banning books for their controversial content. Books such as The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie has been banned from many high schools. The story is about Arnold Spirit Jr. who lives on the Spokane Indian Reservation and endures many challenges while searching for hope. Although The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian remains banned from some high school for its “unsuitable content,” it should actually be added to the curriculum instead. The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian should not be banned for it’s positive messages. In the chapter “How To Fight Monsters,” Junior stands up to Roger who had been bullying him: “Did you know that Indians are living proof that n****** f*** buffalo?...that was the most racist thing I’d ever heard in my life...So I punched Roger in the face...I felt brave all of a sudden...I was telling the world I was no longer a human target.” (Alexie64-65). Teens should be able to read this book in school because it reveals an inspiring story of how a weak boy with health deficiencies overcomes a larger worldwide problem: Bullying. Maybe violence isn’t always the answer but what is there to make of the situation when another option of salvation isn’t given. Banning this book would deprive young readers from an encouraging and uprising novel. Many people argue that The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian should indeed be banned in high schools for its violent content. For example...
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...Should the book, Huckleberry Finn,be taught in schools today? This question is very controversial across America. Because Mark Twain’s,Huckleberry Finnwasset before the Civil War, in the mid-1800s, Twain writes about slaves and blacks as they were saw in that era. Even though this was just a time in History that the whole world went through, people now want to try and erase that time in History. Huckleberry Finn was written during a time in America that should not be forgotten, but studied and used as a way to improve life today.Huckleberry Finn should be taught and read in schools. Huckleberry Finn is a book written by the famous author, Mark Twain. This book follows the adventures of a young boy named Huckleberry Finn. This book is...
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...Good afternoon, I'm Stephanie, member of the committee for 5 years. When I was a teenager, I read the book for my English class. At that time I was shocked about how black people were treated and referred. But, today I'm able to see that it helped me to don't become racist. It was good for me to see the world that my parents tried to hide from me when I was a child. Yesterday, I heard a lot of good arguments. It's a very controversial issue but the one that got my attention the most was referred by the adolescent psychiatrist. By the time teenagers arrived in college, they had already formed their ideas about the world. So if we teach them how to deal with this topic as soon as possible, there are fewer chances for the person to be disrespectful...
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...Kathryn Nelson Wright Human Development 13 March 2014 Sex education and adolescents is something that is more common now than back 50 or 60 years ago. More parents and schools are educating adolescents in sex education. When it comes time for parents to their sons and daughters the mother-daughter relationship is the most significant. As for the sex education in the public school system, there is actually a debate between public schools whether to teach sex education in the public school system and what to teach. In some states they have decided to teach sex education and some have decided not to Sex education has many significances in an adolescent’s youth and where they learn it and who educates them about it can result in good and bad outcomes. “Some evidence suggests that compared with Caucasian American Families, African American families may better prepare girls for menarche” (Berk). Mothers are known to be the parent to form that relationship with their adolescent daughter about puberty and sex. When mothers talk to their daughters the two things that the mothers mainly mention are marital sex and menstruation. Unfortunately, not all females have that family support when it comes to talking about puberty and sex. According to the book Family Relations, females who had no sex education were just as likely to engage in premarital sex as females with some background of education. When it comes to parents educating boys, wet dreams and masturbation were the two...
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...critical thinking. As a result, everyone does not view a single story the same way or draws the same conclusions to a stories ending. It’s up to the reader to “see” how it should play out. However, amid such freedom and range evolves readers of criticism and/or bias opinions towards various styles of literature. An author whose work has been of much negative criticism could be due to a reader of some ignorance towards the understanding of the context. Deficient to connect with a piece of literature, judgments of society, lack of critical thinking and understanding makes for a category of controversial authors. Among controversial authors’ such as, J.D. Salinger’s The Cather in the Rye, Dan Brown’s The DaVinci Code, J.K. Rowling’s The Harry Potter Series, Mark Twain’s Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (Hasan, 2008), George Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four, so is Anthony Burgess’s most controversial novel A Clockwork Orange. Over the past fifty years, readers have deemed Burgess’s novel taboo disgusted with the unbolted image of sex, drugs, violence, and politics. In result, his work had been banned from several locations internationally. Meanwhile, open-minded readers will consider Anthony’s work as a piece of art, creative, raw and extraordinary, over more they can come to some understanding of the underlining thoughts Burgess had towards politics, discipline,...
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...Banning Of Mice and Men in high school In the United States, Of Mice and Men is a very popular book in Junior classes but it is currently on the banned book list, therefore many people believe that it should not be read in class. This book appeals to most students because of the fact that it’s on the banned book list. Of Mice and Men was written in 1937 and things were bad back then which leads to why people think the book should be banned. Steinbeck shows many examples of sexism, violence, racism, and mental retardation which are all the controversial issues. This book should not be banned because Steinbeck was showing exactly how things used to be in the 1900’s. As a high school Junior who understands Steinbeck’s purpose for writing the book the way he did, including profanity, and all of the other controversial issues, this book should not be banned. Most people think that...
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...from 1st of September throughout the country. 2. Free Education up to Matriculation. 3. Provision of missing facilities in schools. 4. Provision of free textbooks. 5. Grant of scholarships and incentives to girl students. 6. Composite examination at Matric level throughout the country from 2007. 7. Composite examination will be introduced in 2009 for HSSC. 8. English language has been made compulsory from Class-1 onwards. 9. The grievances of a particular sect / community addressed by removing controversial books in Northern Areas. However, in next review/revision: 1. Emphasis to be placed on language and literature learning instead of repetition of topics of Islamiyat in language learning i.e. Urdu/English textbooks etc. 2. Overlapping and duplication of contents in various subjects needs removal and the contents of subjects need to be examined to make them non-controversial. 10. Social Studies for classes VI-VIII bifurcated into History and Geography and will be taught as compulsory subjects from the academic year 2006. The curriculum prepared and notified and provincial textbook boards preparing the books for these subjects. 11. Introduction of English as medium of instruction for Science, Mathematics, Computer Science and other selected subjects like Economics and Geography in all schools in a graduated manner was endorsed. 12. Budgetary allocations for education from existing 2.7% of GDP to be increased to 4% of GDP...
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