2008 Woodie Awards
Is book-banning a healthy practice in society?
Matt Flanagan
Opinion Editor
Issue date: 10/8/07 Section: Opinion
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As an avid reader (and budding author), of course I'm not gonna be the one to tell you book-banning is fine by all accounts. Of course I'm not gonna be the first one to tell you that information is something one should necessarily withhold.
I know through personal experience that censoring information is one of the many ways to make that information more desirable; it "demonizes" the information, which is a social stigma forcing that information into a certain light. Banning or "challenging" literature is one of the most popular forms of this.
Many of the challenges or bans have come from school administrators and parents of children who attend high schools and elementary schools -- since colleges and universities are considered places of higher learning, they usually steer away from banning unpopular/offensive works as a matter of respect for the First Amendment.
Like all great debates, we must take these challenges on a case-by-case basis. We can't see one inappropriate word and ban the whole book (or song or piece of art) like the "one rotten apple spoils the whole bunch" adage. To ban on a whim is missing the point.
Let's take a look at one of the cases by which these book challenges/bans are made: the "Scary Stories" series by Alvin Schwartz, for example. The American Library Association's list of challenged books says that "Scary Stories" is inappropriate for the age group. I think this argument is valid, since it deals with images and content that may be "unsuitable" for children (or, in effect, people) of certain tastes. The loaded phrase "unsuitable" means that the material presented -- in this case, the scary stories and images -- elicited a negative impact on the reader (or had the possibility of eliciting said impact).
Hence, if a child gets scared from reading the book, the parent(s) will certainly attempt to intervene in the child's access of the said book.
Why do some parents and school administrators insist on affecting their children's access of offensive material?
Parents have a prerogative to teach their children important lessons about life, and no school can or should attempt to intervene. When the school's beliefs run opposite of what parents want their children to believe, they have a right to voice their dissent.
I do feel that, on a very general level, some good can come from a ban. Sure, it sounds pointless to ban a book from a school when kids can read it anywhere else without problems; the most positive end, in my opinion, that may come from a book ban is an increased amount of conversation between parents and children about the topics presented in the works. Prevention of their access to the book itself will not stop people from talking about it.
I know through personal experience that censoring information is one of the many ways to make that information more desirable; it "demonizes" the information, which is a social stigma forcing that information into a certain light. Banning or "challenging" literature is one of the most popular forms of this.
Many of the challenges or bans have come from school administrators and parents of children who attend high schools and elementary schools -- since colleges and universities are considered places of higher learning, they usually steer away from banning unpopular/offensive works as a matter of respect for the First Amendment.
Like all great debates, we must take these challenges on a case-by-case basis. We can't see one inappropriate word and ban the whole book (or song or piece of art) like the "one rotten apple spoils the whole bunch" adage. To ban on a whim is missing the point.
Let's take a look at one of the cases by which these book challenges/bans are made: the "Scary Stories" series by Alvin Schwartz, for example. The American Library Association's list of challenged books says that "Scary Stories" is inappropriate for the age group. I think this argument is valid, since it deals with images and content that may be "unsuitable" for children (or, in effect, people) of certain tastes. The loaded phrase "unsuitable" means that the material presented -- in this case, the scary stories and images -- elicited a negative impact on the reader (or had the possibility of eliciting said impact).
Hence, if a child gets scared from reading the book, the parent(s) will certainly attempt to intervene in the child's access of the said book.
Why do some parents and school administrators insist on affecting their children's access of offensive material?
Parents have a prerogative to teach their children important lessons about life, and no school can or should attempt to intervene. When the school's beliefs run opposite of what parents want their children to believe, they have a right to voice their dissent.
I do feel that, on a very general level, some good can come from a ban. Sure, it sounds pointless to ban a book from a school when kids can read it anywhere else without problems; the most positive end, in my opinion, that may come from a book ban is an increased amount of conversation between parents and children about the topics presented in the works. Prevention of their access to the book itself will not stop people from talking about it.
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