What is Book Banning?

The realities of book banning in the United States

Censorship is a prevalent entity everywhere we go. It can be seen in extreme circumstances as a corrupt government system censoring journalism of integrity, or simply your parents shielding you from watching a PG-13 rated movie when you’re underage. Of course, In some situations, it is necessary to implement censorship. For example, it is expected that a kindergarten teacher would not read To Kill a Mockingbird to her class comprising of five and six-year-olds. However, in many instances, the rectitude of the censorship is completely destroyed through the over-censoring of the necessary information or information that people have a right to know. This is the case of book banning, where private individuals, government officials, or organizations remove books from libraries, school reading lists, and book stores in an attempt to censor what they have deemed as vulgar, advanced, or critical content. While book-banning is predominantly seen on both a National and Global scale, for the purposes of this article we will focus on book-banning in school settings.

Is Book Banning Good?

TCITR is a commonly banned novel

Advanced literature is not supposed to be easy and pleasant to read. Rather, it’s supposed to be packed with symbolism and deeper meanings, stories that make you think and question, and uncomfortable elements put into place for advanced analysis. Yet, many school board members and English teachers disagree. They believe that these classic books, typically read in middle school and high school curriculum, are detrimental to the "purity" of teenage minds. For instance, from the year 1960 up until the present, the classic novel, The Catcher in The Rye, has been pulled from multiple high school libraries for being “blasphemous” and for “undermining morality” (American Library Association). While The Catcher in the Rye includes content about prostitution and alienation from mainstream society, it also contains advanced language, heartwrenching themes relatable to teenage readers, and a multitude of symbolism that perfectly fits into the curriculum of an advanced literature class. Banning this book from schools is detracting from potential learning opportunities, and a chance to promote deeper critical thinking skills in bright students.

Additionally, the banning of great American Novels such as The Catcher in the Rye can create an environment of distrust between students and teachers. Students may be inclined to ask, “If school board members and teachers don’t trust us with the ability to distinguish between reality and fiction, how can we be prepared to embark out in the world as learned and worldly citizens?” Middle school and high school is the era where teens are supposed to be nurtured, while also encouraged to make mistakes as they prepare to “leave the nest”; it is not the time for them to feel coddled and over-protected. Book banning is a clear pathway that leads to lost life lessons and potentially under-developed minds.

Moreover, many of the quintessential American novels that have been banned from middle and high schools, such as Call of the Wild by Jack London, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest by Ken Kesey, The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemmingway, To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, and so many more, accommodate themes that are important for all people to understand. While it is true that teenagers cold read these novels in their own time or after they graduate high school, the act of banning these books in the first place can make it appear as though these novels are “forbidden fruit”, and contain inappropriate lessons and themes that should not be taken seriously. However, the reality of the matter is that the teachings provided in these books are not to be taken lightly at all! They are deeply meaningful ideas that deserve to be discovered and analyzed, and deeming them as filthy or corrupt is a disservice to these great American novels and their authors.

To learn more about book banning in schools around the United States and what you can do to help stop the cycle, I invite you to visit the “American Library Association; Banned and Challenged Books” website.