Popsonian

Not too awfully long ago, we saw a growing trend among American conservatism and the religious right towards the censorship of books and texts in school libraries. . .


Conservatives and Christians hailed the movement as a step in the right direction (no pun intended) and an effort in making schools safer and more equipped to act as a moral compass for children. The goal was simple: remove books from school libraries that depicted in text or images acts, thoughts, or other expressions that were considered by some to be unethical or immoral. A few examples include same-sex relationships and/or intercourse, lying, murder, stealing, vulgarity, or anything that glorifies things of this nature. The parents responsible for this were, in their own opinion, doing what was best for their children: attempting to purify the schools which their children attended, thereby purifying the school for the other children, perhaps showing them "the light."

The question remains:


Should we censor the books children in schools have access to? Should we really say that even 12th graders cannot have access to books like The Catcher in the Rye or The Grapes of Wrath, simply because of the content of the book? Do the benefits outweigh the costs of this type of censorship in the long run?

Leave your thoughts below

It is my opinion that no good can come from censorship within government funded systems such as public school.

I will support the right to something like a television studio or radio frequency to censor what they put forth, simply because if they don't censor anything, they can get hurt in their pocketbooks- sometimes, public funding is its own kind of censorship-

However, as soon as an institution receives government money, that should in principle make it a secular institution supported by people of all types. If they censor material simply because somebody doesn't like it, then they are flying in the face of diversity and alternate views.

Censorship is great, just so long as it isn't *your* input they are censoring. Sure, christian conservatives are ins upport of censorship, because the christians make up the dominant percentage of people living in the US. However, ask any of them what they think about the censorship of christian works in muslim dominant countries, and all of a sudden--- censorship is bad.

I'm always against the government sanctioned restriction of knowledge and literature, whether I like the material they are censoring or not.

So where do you draw the line? If you don't censor anything, then soon there will be porn in schools?

I don't see anything wrong with the books mentioned. I remember reading a story in the newspaper a few years back that a school was censoring out a book by Dr Seuss . . . can't remember the name, but it was the one where the people that are cutting down all the trees were depicted as the 'bad people'. Well, the school that banned the book was in a lumber producing community. So the kids were reading this book at school, and coming home and telling their dads that were lumberjacks that they were 'killing trees' and that they were 'bad people'.

I don't think censorship is 100% bad, I don't think there is a black and white yes or no answer.

Similarly, I don't think it's a slippery slope argument:

"If you don't censore anything, then soon there will be porn in schools."


This is obviously wrong for several reasons, but specifically that all 50 states require that you be over 18 to utilize such media, so it wouldn't be suitable for use in schools; it would be illegal


In regards to the lumber producers, I don't see how the school system could justify banning that text simply because ma and pa can't stand having their children ask legitimate, serious questions about the monster that is American Consumerism. In all fairness, the more children we pump out that ask questions about serious issues, the better off the next generation of Americans will be.

was my comment extreme? yes of course. But I believe that this world is on it's last legs, so to speak, and you just can't predict what will be allowed in a short few years of time.

The Dr Seuss ban was silly. And was over ruled. There was also a ban on religious books in a small school here, it was totally funded by the community, no government funds at all, but the government came in and told them they had to remove what ever the book was.

There will always be someone fighting against something.

There was a non-custodial parent that sued a school district because he didn't want his daughter saying the Pledge because of the phrase "Under God" the custodial parent took the child to church and they read the Bible together (according to the newspaper) the non custodial parent wouldn't allow the child to even bring her Bible into his house.

Some things are just . . . .. too much.