The Ultimate Paradox: Censor books to Protect Students

Okay...so you are sitting in English class and your teacher tells you that your class is going to study...da da da...Mother Goose and her Rhymes. What on earth is that all about? Well, you may not exactly be studying Mother Goose, but you mind as well call it that because you won't be studying any captivating, age approrpiate, racy material because these types of novels are BANNED. That is right...BANNED! You are NOT allowed to read certain books with content "inappropriate" for students to read in the classroom. In the past few decades, banning books has become an epidemic. Teachers everywhere, from California and Illinois to New York and Alabama have been told that certain titles are off limits to classrooom discussion. In some instances, books have been reprinted with "substitutions" for the so-called crude topics. Some higher education supervisors feel that certain subjects should not be discussed in school classrooms; sex, drugs, alcohol, rape, pregnancy, cursing, etc. Does this even make sense? Does that mean that kids do not know what these things are? Absolutely not. Kids are introduced to sex, drugs, and the like when they enter middle school. By censoring these topics, educators are telling kids to do it behind closed doors. Basically, don't do these things where someone can see you.

Marilyn Reynolds dedicates Chapter 4" Do You Ever Get In Trouble For Using Bad Words In Your Books?" to this banning topic. She tells that censored topics, mainly molestation, is necessary to address in school classrooms. It is a part of many student's life and by ignoring it, educators are, in repercussion, ignoring these students. She also says that if someone writes about molestation, then it must be presented realistically. Reynolds is author of Telling, a book that offers "clarity and insight into the pervasive problem of child molestation" (27). She claims that a student in her class, Estelle, took to the book in exactly the way she had wanted. Estelle was a victim of child molestation when she was younger and through reading the book, "she was able to speak fopr the first time of something that had happened to her several years before, and to begin the process of healing deep wounds" (28). What if Telling was never written, or censored and rewritten with less graphic content? Would Estelle have been able to finally cope with her past? Reynolds does not believe so.

Censoring and banning books also prevents students from traveling down a dangerous and lonely path toward self destruction. Many kids do not know the harm they do to their bodies and others when engaging in harmful activities. Reading books that demonstrate these real-life situations allows children to see the lives they could be coming into soon. A student wrote to Reynolds regarding this subject: "The book made me realize where my life was going, which was somewhere I didn't want to go" (29). Therefore, books can act as a parental guide for kids. They can help kids to realize there are other paths to choose, and if you choose path A, this is how your life will be.The question then comes down to who has the right to deny material for all children? How can one mandate be used universally across the boards to encompass all types of schools and children? After all, aren't we all individually different? Some students may feel uncomfortable reading a book about rape, but what about that student that WAS raped? Wouldn't she benefit from seeing that she is not alone? There is no clear answer. The government controls much of the censorship in schools, as well as local and county-wide superintendents. Even parents have a large effect on censorship. Many court battles have involved parents vs. schools in censoring books they do not want their children reading. Do these parents know what is on television, then? MTV has music videos with sex, drugs, alcohol, and cursing, so how is this any different? Isn't it even better for it to be in a controlled environment (the classroom) and carefully analyzed with the guidance of teachers?

Censoring brings a scary thought to my mind. If censoring keeps doing its business, then writers will stop writing. They will find something else to do because their real passion is to bring truth within a literary text. If writers are repeatedly censored or having their books banned, then the level of proficiency and critical interpretation will fall dramatically. There is already a large illiteracy rate among adults and even children. When students enter the higher grades, even middle school, their reading abilities are under par. They cannot critically judge a book except for if the plot is "good" or "bad". Students will detest books even more if there is no interesting and substantial content. Ask any student the following question and I can guarantee you the answer: 'Would you rather read a book about rape, pregnancy, and becoming a juvenile parent or a book about a fisherman who grapples with the difficulty in catching a large whale?' 'Would you rather read a book about a young boy who lives to tell his torturous life during the Holocaust or a book about White men expanding their control over the western frontier'? We all know what the answers will be. Students are what they are: HUMANS! They naturally enjoy reading about not only characters their age, but these such characters that lead interesting lives.The banning epidemic even has teachers trying to avoid controversy by not even introducing racy material. Their eyes may lead them to Night, by Elie Wiesel, but their hands reach for Hemingway's Old Man and the Sea. Although both authors are credible and great examples of literary figures, students want the juicy action: Night.What can we do? Well, for starters, we can pass the word on. That is the first step. Tell people about the dangerous ways our school systems are corrupting the minds of young readers and leading them into false literary lives. Then, act upon it. As a teacher, become an advocate...FIGHT! Publish works that challenge censorship, support writers whose books are censored. DO SOMETHING! Do not take a back seat because this is our future. If we do not do anything about it now, in years from now, young readers will be unreachable.