Banning Books

Should Knowledge be Restricted? Each year, hundreds of individuals attempt to take books off the shelves of school libraries. Banning books takes away our privilege, as American citizens, to read what we want (Source 1). If people are offended by a book, depriving the entire state of their ability to read that certain book is not the solution. There are various other ways to ensure that parents who do not want their children to read particular books without abolishing them from the entire school. Banning books from schools restrains students from their first amendment rights by taking away their freedom of press and in some cases, religion (Source 1). The reasoning behind banning some books is absurd. Multiple books that are considered classics are banned in the united states for invalid reasons. The Harry Potter series by J.k Rowling is banned in states because it promotes witchcraft and The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain is banned in schools because of racism (Source 2). Books that considered classics gravitate to being banned because they tend to not be afraid to share what the public needs to hear. Some may say that specific books address real world issues that may be depressing to certain people.
The first amendment states that we as Americans have “freedom of speech, or of the press” (Source 1). Therefore, we have the right to express what we want to say, even if others do not want to hear it. On the other hand, books are banned for a reason; various books are offensive towards race, religion, and gender (Source 3). Indeed this is true, but considering books are one of the best ways to get information, it is wrong to ban a book from an entire state just because a couple parents did not want their children to read the book. In general, banning educational resources for students is