Argumentative Essay: A Stolen Life

Banned Books?? This passage is why books shouldn’t be banned and why it's important for parents and/or the school board to not ban books. Prohibited books are unlawful and not helpful schools. Books are an entryway to various beneficial encounters and perusing supports sympathy and social-passionate advancement.

Books are an essential way to gain knowledge whether they are controversial or not. Thousands of books have been banned from public libraries and schools due to being deemed ‘inappropriate’ by parents, administrators, or religious leaders. Whether Americans should ban books in public libraries and schools is an often debated topic. This censorship of books is dangerous, as it restricts the American people's’ ability to access information, leaving Americans ignorant. Historically, banning books is not a new practice.

“American citizens who care about the improvement of education are urged to join students, teachers, librarians, administrators, boards of education, and professional and scholarly organizations in support of the students’ right to read” (The Students Right to Read). Citizens should be allowed to stand up if they believe books should not be banned. It is important that writers should be able to have their books out to the public without getting banned. “Challengers often employ a definition that maintains that banning materials is the only true form of censorship,”(Knox 740). Censorship of books is common and a real problem.

“Books usually are challenged with the best intentions-- to protect others, frequently children, from difficult ideas and information” (Scales 163). A challenge is an attempt to remove or restrict materials, based upon the objections of a person or group. A banning is the removal of those materials. Challenges do not simply involve a person expressing a point of view; rather, they are an attempt to remove material from the curriculum or library, restricting the access of others. Due to the commitment of librarians, teachers, parents, students and other concerned citizens, most challenges are unsuccessful and most materials are retained in the school curriculum or library collection.

They claim that the book has many redeeming qualities about it, and also is a great tool for teaching students reading and analytical skills. In my opinion, teachers should be permitted to teach these questionable book to their students. If an author's work was to be tampered with I feel as if many books will lose their value and or the meaning the author was trying to convey. Many of these “banned books” were written based on the time period it was wrote about. Banned books also can teach us history,social skills, vocabulary , and a new way of thinking.

Intro 1: What if your young child is looking through a book at your public library and comes across a topic that was way too mature for their mind set. Would you be okay with it? A big controversial issue that has been going on in the past year is if books should be banned. Now, no one is trying to banish libraries across the globe but people have requested to ban books that are inappropriate. This matter has grown to be worse because everyone has an opinion.

At one point in time, over 7,220 books have been challenged to be banned. Though these books have been removed for the safety of children, not all books should be banned for many reasons. These include the fact that banning books is infringing on the First Amendment, keeping children from understanding the real world, and, even though there are many reasons for book banning, not banning books could help a student’s education and can even work against itself. Banning a book from a school or public library could go against a person’s First Amendment of the freedom of press.

The First Amendment states many of the freedoms a US citizen posses, banning/censorship of books however has violated this idea of freedom. Some authors dislike the idea of censorship of books, such as Ellen Hopkins. Hopkins is a successful writer who wrote a bestselling book called, Crank. She also wrote the poem Manifesto which was adopted as the official manifesto of the American Library Association banned books week back in 2009. Crank was a book that was banned and censored, which Hopkins disliked.

Books are generally banned or challenged because a person or group objects the main idea or portions of the book. The banning removes the material from the community whereas a challenge is an attempt to ban a book in an area, and these book bannings are often considered a violation of freedom of speech. An example of a book that was banned is 1984 by George Orwell. This book involves the titular character Winston, and his accomplice, Julia, attempting to take down a monolithic government that surveils everyone’s movements. Within the story, Winston had the job of changing previous news to

Books can create portals to different life experiences and encourage reading. A few schools and libraries have challenged the educational value of some books, however, therefore leading them to eventually be prohibited in a particular place. Each reason may be different depending on the book and the location of the exclusions. Books are icons of literature and their value should outshine the occasionally offensive topic. Be that as it may, there are multiple reasons why books should be taught and included in a curriculum.

“over 1500 books are challenged becuase of “explisit” sexcual content..” (“Banned and challenged books by the numbers”).(12 infographics about banned and challenged books). Books are one of the best sources for information Kids are missing out on the great quality of books that have/will be banned. “Parents who don 't like specific books can have their kids "opt out" of an assignment without infringing on the rights of others. The National Coalition against Censorship explained that "Even books or materials that many find 'objectionable ' may have educational value, and the decision about what to use in the classroom should be based on professional judgments and standards, not individual preferences." [6] In the 1982 Supreme Court ruling on Board of Education v. Pico, Justice Brennan wrote that taking books off of library shelves could violate students ' First Amendment rights, adding that "Local school boards may not remove books from school libraries simply because they dislike the ideas contained in those books."

There are both pros and cons to banning book in school. According to ProCon.org, “Parents have the right to decide what material their children are exposed to and when.” Parents have the right to ban books so they can protect their children from violent content. Children need to be protect from content that could scar them. ProCon.org also states that “Children should not be exposed to sex, violence, drug use, or other inappropriate topics in school or public libraries.”

Would you rather read a book of your choice or read a book that has been banned. ”Often challenges are motivated by a desire to protect children from “inappropriate” sexual content or “offensive” language. The following were the top three reasons cited for challenging materials as reported to the Office of Intellectual Freedom: content was considered to be sexually explicit, contained offensive language, and the materials were unsuited to any age group.” Banned books give people a sense of curiosity and excitement, which is why more and more people want to read banned books; to see what the hype was about.

You truly don’t know what you have until it’s gone. Everyday things are taken for granted. In “The Book Thief” It shows incredible examples of how loss transforms you for the better. “The Book Thief” Written by Markus Zusak is a novel based on Nazi-Germany during post World War 2. It Features the scary truth along with harsh humor, The story is told through the eyes of brave, Jewish girl named Liesel.

Every child deserves a proper education. Banned books are depriving students of a well rounded, culturally aware, literary education because of the culture that is discarded, the history that is being withheld, and the education that young people could get through these banned books. The point of history is to learn from it and learn from others mistakes, but how can we do that if we are not allowed to learn it. As teachers shouldn’t you be teaching us how to make judgment calls like understanding that Mark Twain was a racist, but a man of his time and that doesn’t change him being an amazing writer. We cannot learn things such as that if we cannot even read most of Mark Twain’s books.