Ravitch talks about the right and the left wings and their opposing viewpoints on what should and should not be included in the literature children are exposed to in school. The things that the right wing people don't want students to read about are the exact things I think we all should know. I honestly feel that the more conservative people of our population are hoping to keep many people ignorant of many things that do not align with their agendas. Left wing has chosen some words they'd rather not see in literature as well and situational things that should change also. Why should either wing have a say? Let's see if we can get this pendulum to stop swinging in favor of one political view point or another and find some common ground. That common ground should be educating our children and helping them to really enjoy reading and learning about the things in life that matter.
Frankly, the founding fathers, or the "founders" as we're supposed to call them, set up the constitution to make sure we all had the opportunity to speak freely and be heard. No individual or political group has the right to infringe on this right that we all share. Authors have a right to tell their story and young learners have a right to read it. It really helps if they read something that interests them and really makes them think.
I found at about.com about censorship and banned books in schools. It was very interesting and reaffirmed a lot of what we covered in class. http://712educators.about.com/cs/bannedbooks/a/bookbanning.htm
Within that article I found another article from the New York Times by Judy Blume about censorship and the Harry Potter Books which really stirred me. As a young girl I loved Judy Blume and I am a huge fan of the entire Harry Potter series. If you have time, you should read it! http://712educators.about.com/gi/dynamic/offsite.htm?zi=1/XJ&sdn=712educators&cdn=education&tm=172&gps=178_1118_1276_651&f=10&su=p554.2.150.ip_&tt=2&bt=1&bts=1&zu=http%3A//www.judyblume.com/articles/harry_potter_oped.html
The policy makers within a school district or each individual school within the district must make clear where they stand on acceptable literature and use these strict policies and guidelines in their opposition to censorship. In the Reichman reading, he discusses how policy writers should include in their documents a section devoted solely to the controversial materials. By covering their bases on where they stand regarding literature that others might question, they are ensuring that books will have a much more difficult time being banned.
Censorship may keep some children from reading a select few books. However, it may fervently spur more children to seek out and read those books which have been banned. When young minds read material that is banned without the guidance and explanation of a teacher or parent, a lot of opportunity for growth and learning is lost.
3 comments:
I agree with what you said about children, who if they learn about the banned books they will most likely want to read them like anything else they shouldnt do and then want it more. I do think that if they are going to read them that they should be able to talk to their teacher or parents about what is in the book to help better understand the reason for it being banned, and the content in the book. So many young children would not understand that harry potters magic is not realistic if their parents did not explain to them that it is not real.
Ravich would agree with Mindy's comment. Well how do you feel about Reichman's solutions though? I mean he doens't agree with censorship but he poses several ways to make schools, communities, parents, and students more involved in the process.
Good discussion of censorship. I feel that yelling FIRE in a crowded theater is something that should be censored. Sometimes what you say and what you write could cause people to die. Would censoring certain things be wrong then? CNN publishes our troop movements. The enemy can look at CNN to figure out how to kill more soldiers. Censor that!
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