CensorshipinPublic Schools-A principal in a California high school
bans five books written by Richard Brautiganbecause he thinks they
might contain "obscenities or offensive sexual references" (Berger59) A
Vermont high school librarian is forced to resign because she fought the
schoolboard's decision to remove Richard Price's The Wanderers, and to
"restrict" the use ofStephen King's Carrie and Patrick Mann's Dog Day
Afternoon (Jones 33) An Indiana school board takes action that leads to
the burning of many copies of atextbook that deals with drugs and the
sexual behavior of teenagers (Berger 61). These cases of
censorship inpublicschools are not unusual and there is evidencethat
such challenges are increasing (Woods 2). These challenges are actually
typical ofthe ones being leveled against school libraries today. These
challenges can come fromone person or a group concerned with the
suitability of the material in question. In almostevery case, the effort to
ban books is said to be "justified by fear of the harmful effectsthat the
books may have on young children" (Berger 59). The result of these
censorshipattempts has been two opposing sides: one side believes that
"more suitable materials canusually be found from among the wealth of
materials available on most subjects (Woods1), and the other side
believes that students' "intellectual freedom" can be upheld only
ifstudents are allowed to examine "any available relevant materials in
order to gain theinsights needed to reach their own conclusions" (Woods
1). In the simplest terms, thedebate is between censorship and the
freedom to read. The most important question when discussing
censorship deals with itsconstitutionality; does censorship violate the First
Amendment's guarantee of freespeech? Censorship advocates actually
use the words of the First Amendment to maketheir point; "the
amendment reads, 'Congress shall make no law ", it does not
say,"There shall be no law '" (Berger 69). They believe that, although the
federalgovernment is forbidden to censor, it is not unconstitutional for
states and localcommunities to pass censorship laws (Berger 69). Also,
since the US Supreme Courtdoes not believe the First Amendment
protects all forms of expression (childpornography, etc.), then proponents
of censorship believe that censorship laws areconstitutional (Berger 69).
Anti-censorship has the upper-hand, constitutionally, at least,since
"judges, from local courts to the Supreme Court, seem firmly on the
anti-censorshipside" (Berger 61). The courts have time and again ruled
that the Constitution prohibitsCongress from censorship of any form.
These two opposing sides have butted heads again and again
leaving behindlandmark cases for future legal actions. One of the most
famous of those cases was Picovs. Board of Education, Island Trees
Union Free School District No. 26, which was thefirst school library
censorship case to reach the Supreme Court (Jones 35). In March1976,
the Island Trees School Board in New York removed eleven books that
theydeemed "anti-American, anti-Christian, anti-Semitic, and just plain
filthy" (Berger 59)from the high school library shelves. Among these
books were Slaughterhouse Five byKurt Vonnegut, A Hero Ain't Nothing
but a Sandwich by Alice Childress, and Soul on Iceby Eldridge Cleaver
(Jones 37). The board felt that it had "a moral obligation to protectthe
children in our schools from this moral danger" (Berger 60). Five students
then suedthe school board on grounds that their decision violated their
First Amendment rights.The suit was passed around the courts until June
1982 when the Supreme Court took upthe cause and ruled that the
school board would have to defend its removal of the books.The
Supreme Court decided that since the library is used voluntarily, they can
choosebooks there freely and that, as Justice Brennan stated, "the First
Amendment rights ofstudents may be directly and sharply implicated by
the removal of books from the shelvesof a school library (Jones 45). The
Supreme Court's decision was that "courts may act ourof concern for the
First Amendment rights of those affected by school officials' action"(Jones
45). On August 12, 1982, the school board voted to put the books back
on theshelves; (special note: the librarian was told to inform the parents
of students whochecked out those books) (Berger 60). The
advocates of school library book censorship believe that adults must
havecontrol over what children read. They feel that unless responsible
adults oversee whatstudents are reading, students will be exposed to the
worst in literature. This literaturecan go from simply causing offense, to
"resulting in emotional damage and even leadingto anti-social behavior"
(Berger 61). Their beliefs lead them to pull the offending booksfrom the
shelves so that young readers are protected, as was the case in Pico and
as wasthe case when "Robin Hood was considered communistic, Tarzan
was living with Janewithout benefit of clergy, and Huckleberry Finn was a
racist" (Woods 13). Each time theyuse words like controversial, filthy,
immoral, lascivious, lewd, obscene, sacrilegious, andviolent, they are
actually using only one word, censorship. The anti-censorship group
believes that students have the same constitutionalfreedoms as everyone
else, including the right to read whatever they want. They feel thatit is
only in this way "that children can develop the taste and understanding to
distinguishbetween trash and serious literature" (Berger 61). And it is with
this group that I make my stand against censorship. The purpose
ofeducation remains what it has always been in a free society: to
develop a free and reasoning human being who can think for himself,
who understands his own and other cultures, who lives
compassionately and cooperatively with his fellow man, who
respects both himself and others, who has developed self-discipline and
self-motivation, who can laugh at the world, and who can successfully
develop survival strategies for existence in the world.
(Jones 184)As one who is
striving to be an English teacher I know that literature has a
significantpart in the education of man. I am aware that I have
responsibilities to my students, forknowing "many books from many
cultures", for "demonstrating a personal commitmentto the search for
truth through wide reading", for "respecting the unique qualities
andpotential of each student" and for "exhibiting the qualities of the
educated man" (Jones184). With these responsibilities, I believe that I
would not be serving my students to thebest of my abilities if I were not a
strong advocate against the censorship of books. As theNCTE writes, "to
deny the freedom of choice in fear that it may be unwisely used is
todestroy the freedom itself" (Jones 181). As stalwart and idealistic
as I am, I still understand that at some point in mycareer I will come under
attack from a censorship group unhappy with my selection ofcurricula.
The American School Board Journal gives a list of nine strategies that
can beused to help reduce the chances of an attack; these include
"involving citizens in the bookselection process", "giving objecting parents
and students and out", and "don't ban orremove books until they've been
afforded a fair trial" (Woods 35). A similar list by DianeDivoky is a little
more extreme but no less helpful. Her list includes hints like, "if
you'regoing to use a book with obscenities, check to see if there are
approved books in theschool library containing the same words", "before
you take on a high-risk project, try toalign yourself with a veteran staff
member", and "at the moment you suspect a problemlies down the line,
call the best lawyer within your reach" (Woods 34). As for my personal
opinion as a citizen and a reader, I have always been leery ofcensors.
Censors of school library books never announce that it is their morality
that hasbeen damaged. It is always "they" who will be damaged, it is
always someone else'smoral fiber that is being protected. In an excerpt
from possibly the most banned book ofthe modern era, The Catcher in
the Rye, Holden Caufield reacts to an obscenity scrawledon a wall: It
drove me damn near crazy. I though how Phoebe and all the other little
kids would see it, and how they'd wonder what the hell it meant, and
then finally some dirty kid would tell them what it meant and how they'd
all think about it andmaybe even worry about if for a couple of days. I
kept wanting to kill whoever'd written it. (Salinger 165)This phrase
from Salinger's classic novel, for me, illustrates exactly how censors
reactwhen they find anything they deem objectionable in the school. Why
will people reactemotionally, even violently, to certain spoken or written
words, while in many caseshaving mild reactions to the actions described
by the words? While D.H. Lawrence hasseen considerable censorship
due to his affinity for sexual content, Shakespeare hasenjoyed relative
peace even though Othello and his lover made "the beast with twobacks"
(I.I, 119-120). I, myself, will continue to struggle against the censors who
seek tocontrol written expression in our schools while waving the banner
of freedom, for it iscensorship that we must fear, not words, and hope
that in the future, the true obscenitiesof the world (poverty, hunger, war)
will be what we shall strive to censor.Works CitedBerger, Melvin.
Censorship. New York: Franklin Watts, 1982.Jones, Frances M.
Defusing Censorship: The Librarian's Guide to Handling Censorship
Conflicts. Phoenix: The Oryx Press, 1983.Salinger, J.D. The
Catcher in the Rye. Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1945.Woods,
L.B. A Decade of Censorshipin America: The Threat to Classrooms and
Libraries. London: The Scarecrow Press, Inc., 1979.
. Censorship in Public Schools- A principal in a California high school bans five books written by Richard Brautiganbecause he thinks they might contain "obscenities or. cases of censorship in public schools are not unusual and there is evidencethat such challenges are increasing (Woods 2). These challenges are actually typical ofthe ones being leveled against school. Melvin. Censorship. New York: Franklin Watts, 1982.Jones, Frances M. Defusing Censorship: The Librarian's Guide to Handling Censorship Conflicts. Phoenix: The Oryx Press, 1983.Salinger,