Should Schools remove controversial books from their libraries?
It's a very difficult question to answer. If the answer is yes, then how do you determine what should be removed and what shouldn't, and how do you justify the artistic, moral and constitutional infractions made against the authors of these books? If the answer is no, then how do you deal with the negative consequences of that decision?
In a practical society, there should be some sort of balance between the two sides. In my opinion, the ideal route would be to let the individual schools, school districts, and PTAs decide what should be removed and what shouldn't. Parents have the right to censor what their children are exposed to, and so it's perfectly alright to remove a certain book from a school library if the majority of parents feel it is the proper thing to do. After all, if a parent feels that their child should be allowed to read a controversial book, they can go to a real library and access it.
I'm usually strongly opposed to censorship because I am a highly controversial artist myself, but this is one case where I have compromised my beliefs for the sake of a greater right.
http://title.forbiddenlibrary.com/
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2 comments:
You are not alone. For example, American Library Association Councilor Jessamyn West said, "It also highlights the thing we know about Banned Books Week that we don't talk about much — the bulk of these books are challenged by parents for being age-inappropriate for children. While I think this is still a formidable thing for librarians to deal with, it's totally different from people trying to block a book from being sold at all."
Now that casts a new light on your statement, "Parents have the right to censor what their children are exposed to...." It is not censorship for a parent to keep inappropriate material from a child. Consider, for example, what the US Supreme Court said: "The interest in protecting young library users from material inappropriate for minors is legitimate, and even compelling, as all Members of the Court appear to agree."
And regarding schools libraries and how removing inappropriate books is not censorship, see Bd of Educ. v. Pico.
What you're describing is exactly what happens now -- groups of parents or other citizens "challenge" a book, and demand it be removed from a school or library. That's not what censorship is.
Try to give specifics to back up your opinions, for example, a book that you think it is right for parents to remove from their childrens' libraries.
It's also very interesting that you say you are a controversial artist, yet you support book banning. That would seem contradictory. It would be interesting to hear more about that.
Remember to include at least one link per blog post.
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