Censorship In Schools

Sensitivity to Books in Schools

My initial reaction when our instructor, Kate Scarbrough, began to tell us our topics for the research paper was fear. As the other topics were being assigned: taxes, global warming, and state lotteries issues, I was led to anticipate the worst topic would be assigned to me. Finally, Scarbrough stated I was researching the censorship in schools and surprisingly, I was satisfied. Our school, Seaman High School, has had numerous events in the past couple years involving this issue: newspaper articles, posters around the school, and even interviews on SVTV, Seaman Vikings Television, over their opinion on the topic. This brought to my attention the amount of books that are banned from the schools with no
School boards shouldn't have the power to deprive a student of the right to read a book. Parents can control what their own child reads, but when they attempt to ban a certain book for the entire school district it become complicated. Someone cannot ban a book strictly because their own opinion is that the book is a poor influence; furthermore, one must have a valid reason behind the request to ban a book. The Supreme Court case in 1982 involving The Board of Education, Island Trees Union Free School District No. 26 v. Pico established this with a case to determine whether or not the school board could set up a committee to determine the appropriateness of the book for their school district to carry. "The Court stressed that the Constitution does not allow the suppression ideas. Thus, the intention of the removal is the focus of the inquiry. A book cannot be removed simply because a school board dislikes the ideas in a book and want to suppress them" (Chalk Talk). The article then explains that although the book can't be removed based on personal feelings, it may be removed based on "pervasive vulgarity" or "educational unsuitability". This means that the book can and only should be removed if a book promotes offensive behavior or doesn't meet the objectives of an educational
Remarkably, my research proved this conclusion to be accurate; moreover, a numerous amount of people agree that the school board should not have the ability to decide what their students can read or not read. In fact, as American citizens, we have the right to say, or think of whatever we please; moreover, we can read into whatever we desire. Someone may be living through a tough time and want to obtain information over a certain subject that's troubling them; moreover, the ability to read that subject or book should be permitted with your parent says approval. "'The word is there for a reason,' says Jeff Nichols, the executive director of the Mark Twain House and Museum in Hartford, Conn. 'The word is terrible, it's hurtful, but it's there for a reason,' to convey the language and attitudes of Missouri in the 1840s, in a book written in the 1880s when Jim Crow laws were being passed in the South to deprive blacks of their civil rights" (USA Today). This explains that even when a book has a expletive word, doesn't mean it's necessarily an insignificant read. No one should judge a book without reading the entire story and truly understand the moral of the story. Furthermore, children aren't reading enough as it is. The school districts should be promoting their interests in certain books, not taking them away when one parent