As most of you already know, this is Banned Books Week, an annual advocacy event spearheaded by the American Library Association. According to the ALA website, Banned Books Week “celebrat[es] the freedom to read and the importance of the first amendment” and “highlights the benefits of free and open access to information while drawing attention to the harms of censorship by spotlighting actual or attempted bannings of books across the United States.”
Book banning has long been associated with totalitarianism, for good reason. The most notable book bannings took place in Nazi Germany and the USSR, and a quick glance at a list of books banned internationally will reveal that most were in restrictive nations. Still, many books have been challenged and banned in various parts of the United States, and there are many freedom-loving people who campaign to ban certain books from library shelves for a variety of reasons. The question remains: Is it ever okay to ban books?
From what I have observed, the general consensus among book bloggers is a resounding NO. No books should be banned anywhere anytime period. End of story (no pun intended). I personally think this is too simplistic an answer, particularly with regard to banning books from school libraries.
Let me just start by saying that as an adult, I should have the right to read whatever I want. No one should be able to take that right away. That being said, I believe it is the parent‘s right to dictate what a child reads. So, if a book is being challenged as inappropriate for a school library, as is often the case, then the parents–not the school board–should be the ones to decide whether the book stays or goes. Why put the power of book banning in the hands of parents instead of educational “experts”? Because unlike school boards, which can be swayed by politics and special interests, parents will always vote based on what they believe is best for their children and are not likely to be influenced by popular opinion.
By now you’re probably thinking, “Okay, great. More power to the parents. But what about the parents who vote in favor of keeping a book and are overruled by the majority? Their rights have just flown out the window!” Not so. Remember, we’re talking about school libraries here, which I think parents should have complete control over. (After all, in addition to having a vested interest in the educational success of the school system, parents also make up a part of the demographic that pays taxes to buy those books sitting on the shelves of school libraries.) Public libraries on the other hand should be totally immune to book banning. That way, if a parent wants their child to read a book that has been banned at the school library by the majority of the parents whose children attend classes there, that parent can simply take the child to the public library and check out the book there. Problem solved. Parents are empowered to decide what is and is not appropriate for their children to have access to at school, parents who disagree with the majority still have access to banned books at the public library, and school officials are stripped of power that should never have been theirs to begin with.
That’s my opinion, and I’d love to hear yours! Drop me a comment and tell me what you think about banning books–at school libraries, public libraries, bookstores; children’s books, adult books, and whatever else you think of!
I agree – parents should have the final vote on what their kids read. And public libraries really should not ban any books.
It’s when people who are not connected to the schools or to the kids spark up discussions based on their view of right and wrong that this gets messed up.
Absolutely. Third parties trying to infringe their views of parents and kids is rarely a good thing.
I completely agree with you!
You raise some interesting points. As a parent, I will do what I need to do to ensure my child gets exposed to a wide variety of books … regardless of what is available in his school library. It is a weird issue in a lot of ways … but I see your point about the difference between school and public libraries.
Obviously there are a lot of differing opinions among parents about which books should be deemed appropriate, but sometimes books that are blatantly pornographic in nature make their way into school libraries, and in those cases most parents will try to get those removed. I see no reason why they shouldn’t get their way if the majority is on their side. Those kinds of books wouldn’t be found in the children’s section of a public library anyways.
I concur. Banning books is horrible. Especially for some of the reasons they’ve been banned.
I think your solution is one of the best. It really is up to the parents.
I know! A Light In the Attic, Shel Silverstein’s book of poems, was banned because it promotes messiness. That kind of thing is ridiculous.
I haven’t done a banned books post and probably won’t. I do agree though that parent’s should be able to control what their kids read, especially elementary school kids. I personally have always told my daughter she can read whatever she wants and if the school doesn’t have it and the local library doesn’t have it, we can always buy it. She also has full access to my books, but she’s too young to bother even looking at most of them.
I agree. It kind of disgusts me when school admins make decisions on what books are appropriate without even consulting parents. I probably should have clarified that I think high school libraries are a little different, since kids are older and able to make more informed decisions. I think high schoolers should also have a say in what books are stocked in their school libraries, as well as their parents.