Adam Boyer

Mrs. Cramer
College Comp I
1 1/20/17
Censorship

Censor means to examine in order to suppress or delete any object that may

seem objectionable. I believe censorship is wrong because certain materials may

not be objectionable to some people. Censorship is used in schools and television to

prevent the corruption of peoples minds. Censorship is wrong because individuals

should have the freedom to listen or watch what they want, whether or not it

offends some, without interference.

Censorship in schools is a very controversial topic in America today, "

Divergent laws, policies, rules and practices through the years and across the

numerous school districts and college/universities governing boards have imposed

or allowed various forms of censorship involving textbook content, teacher

classroom presentation style and content, assigned readings, and extra-curricular

school activities (Petress 9)" Teachers in every single school and university have

censored things that they dont deem acceptable in schools and School authorities

have to face certain situations on what to censor in their school district, but the

problem isn't what they are censoring but who they are censoring. The Schools have

instead censored the students instead of censoring what they see, they have taken

essentially taken away students freedom of speech. By taking away students

speech they take away the way they dress and express themselves and by doing

that the schools have created a place that doesnt let students create a personality

and they never get to find themselves and truly find out who they are.
 "It is argued here that censorship is only valid, ethical, and required when it

appears to be the only way to avoid or to mitigate provable physical, social,

emotional, or intellectual harmful outcomes for students, teachers, or the school

itself (Petress 21)" Teachers administrators are not only censoring things in the

classroom but are also doing it in the library too with thousands and thousands of

books being banned and censored in the library's of schools I feel that the schools

are not taking away just a way to express themselves and show who they really are

but also taking away their intellectual freedom. By taking away those banned books

in the library it takes away from the students being able to learn something new

and incredible, by deeming a book not suitable for school you take away a chance

for a student to pick that book up and discover something amazing. By saying that

the book is inappropriate, or unacceptable for school you take away the students

right to learn and that is something you dont want to take away from your kids and

students.

"School libraries at all levels are more likely than they were eight years ago to

place content labels on books or to have restricted sections for books containing

mature content (Jacobson 17)" No school librarian or public librarian wants to be

called a corrupter of youth by having censored or banned books in the library. "The

books that have been challenged during the 18 years I've worked in our school

district came out of left field (Jacobson 63)" The following quote was from a librarian

that has worked in a school district for a long time and still finds it hard to take

books out of their library and ban them from the school district.

Censorship in technology is also a growing issue in our schools today how

much should really be censored in our schools? Blocking websites and controlling

what the students can see and find is something that needs to stop in the schools, I
have personal came across sites that have been blocked that should not be all of

those sites have been ones that I have tried to access for researching for papers or

trying to get an academic advantage. By blocking these sites the school districts

have not only taken away chances to find something new and learn about it just like

in library books, but have also taken away the opportunity to research something

for school and be blocked from something that could be very crucial to the structure

of your paper. Blocking sites and censoring the internet is very similar to how the

schools have taken an approach to the librarys attempt to censor the books in their

libraries. Many people believe that blocking these sites is not only pointless but they

also believe that it is also hurting students and not giving them a chance to learn

something new.

Work Cited Petress, Ken. The Role Of Censorship In School. Journal Of Instructional

Psychology 32.3 (2005): 248-252. Teacher Reference Center. Web. 5 Jan. 2017.

Jacobson, Linda. Unnatural Selection. (Cover Story). School Library Journal 62.10

(2016): 20-24. Teacher Reference Center. Web. 5 Jan. 2017.