RIHLA #19

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Banned Books

1. Some of the reasons why books are being banned in schools are because they contain violence, foul language, pornographic language (sexual intercourse), and topics that are seen as Rated R toward parents. Many parents do not want their children to be exposed to those topics because maybe the child does not know about the topic yet or because of the language used throughout the book is inapproriate.

2. I do agree with some of the reasons on why certain books are being banned in shools because some topics are more appropriate than others to teach in the classroom. I am sure teachers know the difference between what is school appropriate or not and if the book needs parental consent before being taught. The teachers need to put themselves in the parents shoes too. They need to ask themselves, "Would I want my child to learn/read about this topic in school? Is it appropriate/neccessary?".

3. Maybe in the students freshman/sophmore year, there should still be some type of restriction of what topics should be taught in schools related to sex, violence, cursing, etc. When it comes to juniors and seniors in high school, I do not think books about sex, violence, cursing, etc. should be banned because the 16-18 year old has probably already has heard about the topics before. Also, students at the age of 16-18 should know about those topics stated above and are mature enough to read about it and discuss it in class.

4. I think the parents pressure the teachers decision on what they should or should not teach. It is the parents child that is going to be taught the topic, so when a parent does not want that to happen, then he/she will do and can do anything about it to try to stop it.

5. If one wanted to fight against book censorship, I would advice him/her to attend school board, library, and PTA meetings. I advice this because the meetings are a time where the parents voice or anybody's voice/opinion can be heard and taken into concideration. Also, it is a nice info session to hear about what is going on and get informed about the topic and possibly brainstorm new ways to fight against book censorship and end up possibly winning.

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