Banning Books

Josef Reuther

811

Dear Ms. Berner,

            It has come to my attention that you intend to ban several books with in the 6^th grade library. I think this is absolutely wrong. School officials should not misuse their authority to ban books for a student community, instead young readers should be able to make their own literary choices. Students at M.S. 51 are capable of deciding what they can read and what may be inappropriate.

            One piece of evidence that corroborates my claim about literary decisions is that most of the time books are being banned for senseless reasons. At St. Joseph’s Catholic School for instance the “Harry Potter” series by J.K. Rowling was banned for its depiction of witchcraft. “Reverend Ron Barker, removed the books, declaring that the themes of witchcraft and sorcery were inappropriate for a Catholic School,” as Tania Deluzuriaga wrote in her article “Man of Ministry.” Banning a book for talking about magic and children who have magical abilities is ridiculous. To read about children who have magical abilities is truly harmless and banning these books for that reason for an entire school community is going too far. The students of this school should be able to choose, which books they want to read. If they do not find that witchcraft and sorcery are inappropriate for themselves there should be no one preventing them from reading the “Harry Potter” books. There may be children in the current 6^th grade who do not feel that the young adult fiction books are inappropriate, and banning books for these children is illogical.

            Another piece of evidence that substantiates this claim is that there may be children who are dealing with certain issues in their own lives that they read about in books. These books can potentially help these children deal with their own issues and make them feel that they are not alone. Each year approximately 6 million children in the United States are abused, mistreated or neglected in some way, according to childhelp.org. “The United States has among the worst records among industrialized nations- losing an average between 4 and 7 children everyday to child abuse and neglect,” the website also stated. “I spoke to sixty students, who’d come from sixteen different districts, and had survived depression, attempted suicide, gang warfare, sexual and physical abuse, absentee parents, poverty, racism, and learning disabilities in order to graduate,” as Sherman Alexie wrote after visiting a Seattle alternative high school in his article “Why the Best Kids Books Are Written in Blood.” All of these poor and innocent children who in some way are neglected or mistreated may be able to better cope with their issues if they have books that depict other children going through similar issues.

            One last piece of evidence that further validates my claim is that a single person banning a book for a larger body of students is rather absurd and intolerant. In a high school in a small town named Caney Creek in Montgomery County, Texas the book “Fahrenheit 451” by Ray Bradbury was banned. A tenth grader at the school, Diana Verm claimed that the book was not fit for high school students because of its “inappropriate” language. She also believed that the book targeted Christianity, because of the burning of the bible, as ABC channel 13 reported. Although Diana Verm was given an alternate assignment her father pressed on and went to the school committee. Alton Verm, Diana Verm’s father wanted to ban the book in the high school. Banning this book for an entire school merely because it uses “Gods name in vain” is extremely narrow minded and does not take into perspective the other students at the high school who may not have the same opinion on the banning of “Fahrenheit 451.” Ironically the message of the book is to have a greater tolerance for books. As can be seen, some people think that young adult fiction talks about issues that teenagers should not yet know about when indeed other teenagers are experiencing these problems first hand. “It is also possible- indeed, likely that books focusing on pathologies help normalize them and, in the case of self-harm, may even spread their plausibility and likelihood to young people who might otherwise never have imagined such extreme measures,” as Meaghan Cox Gurdon wrote in her article “Darkness Too Visible.” Some people do believe that young adult books are too extreme, however it should not be the decision of people like Ms. Gurdon to ban books for children. Banning certain books at our 6^th grade library would be just as wrong.

            It is clear that the 6^th   graders at Middle School 51 should be able to make their own literary choices. People are banning classical books, best sellers, and even the Merriam Webster Dictionary has been banned in some schools for “inappropriate words,” as the website “Top 10s” referred to it. Parents of these students should receive a form in the beginning of the year asking them if they give their children permission to read young adult fiction and other books that talk about the very real issues of teenagers in our day. Books should not be banned because of the opinion of a single person or even a group of people if it makes a decision for a larger body of people. School officials should facilitate and assist students in understanding books rather than banning them.

“Censorship is the enemy of truth even more than a lie. A lie can be exposed, censorship can prevent us from knowing the difference”- Bill Moyers.