Arguments Against Censorship In Schools

The issue of censorship and selection has been present for many years. Issues with inappropriate reading materials and images have plagued societies in the past, and this issue is very present in society today. In the practice of censorship, there are controls or constraints placed on what reading material should be accessible to the public or children in school settings. Therefore, these foundations are established to protect children from topics and information that may not be appropriate in regards to student development or maturity level. In an effort to meet all the needs of each student, school personnel must select reading materials that are sensitive to community concerns, as well as suitable for the student’s cognitive level. The selected material must also be compatible with the curriculum that the school plans to administer. As the paper extends, we will define censorship, discuss the freedom to read amendment, discuss censorship as a method of protecting students from harmful content, and …show more content…
These officials are responsible for controlling the content that is viewed by students within the learning environment. Therefore, censorship is utilized to help protect the innocence’s of students. Censorship may appear to be an effective strategy for groups wanting to remove a particular book from library shelves, but history has shown that banning a book in a culture where information freely circulates tends to increase the interest in that book (Lukens, Smith, Coffel, 2013). Past experiences have shown when schools censor ideas, people become even more interested in the ideas or thoughts that are being conveyed. Consequently, this process heightens or achieves a status it may have not earned on literary merit alone (Lukens, Smith, Coffel,