According to "Literature For Today's Young Adults" by Alleen Pace Nilsen and Kenneth L. Donelson, adolescent literature covers literature for ages ten to eighteen years old. This age span covers many different psychological stages. A ten year old should not be expected to be as mentally stable as an eighteen year old. This is to say that a ten year old in all probability will not be able to fully comprehend a book that was written with an eighteen year old in mind.Censorship can be defined as the practice of officially examining books and suppressing unacceptable parts. In the world in which we live, it is only appropriate to want to protect that age bracket in which children are most impressionable. Between the ages of ten and fourteen, chilren are still trying to find their own identities. The sex, drugs, and violence on television and in the media are already causing desensitization in our youth. The school should not only be a place of learning, but it should also be a safe haven from the grittiness of news, television, and even some of the music that they listen to.
Now this is not to say that all literature books in middle school should be banned. I enjoyed reading classics such as The Outsiders, Of Mice and Men, and Hamlet. However, I read these books when I was in high school, not middle school. There is a new core curriculum program being adopted in the school system. This program is designed to better prepare our students for college. One way of doing this is by introducing these aforementioned classics along with others just like them to middle school students. As I have mentioned earlier, this is the most impressionable age group that there is. The question that we have to ask ourselves is: Are we, as responsible adults, ready to put books with adult content in the hands of children who just left elementary school? Tamika R. Huff
The influence of a child does not solely come from a book that he or she reads regardless their age. Censorship of middle school books does not hinder a child from learning about controversial subjects. School is the perfect venue for students of all ages to be able to learn and discuss important and controversial topics. Children are exposed to many different things at early ages. Sometimes they are exposed to more than we know of. It should be every adults duty to advocate for quality education. Censoring content in the textbooks of middle school student limits that quality of education by limiting that the full level of honesty within complex subjects.
Limiting ideas and stopping the flow of information is so very foreign to me. Every educated person understands the slippery slope that censorship creates, and the harm that it does to both individualism, and society as a whole. The fact that some churches, such as Christ Community Church of Alamogordo, New Mexico, had an actual book burning in 2002 as a reaction to the release of a Harry Potter book may seem just weird to most people. But for me the fact that anyone would even suggest such a thing in the 21st century in America is frightening and most alarming. To know that people actually attended is numbing.
Ryan Gates
Tamika says that children books in middle school should be censored. Ryan says that censorship equals hinderance. However, my position is that a child should not be able to read books that include sex, drugs and murder. If a parent feels their child is mature enough to handle these types of books fine, but it is not up to a school system to introduce these types of materials to innocent children. I do believe that censorship is needed when dealing with maturing children. Tamika makes a strong point when stating that between 10 & 14 a child's mind begins to shape into what they will become as an adult. Television, books and music have heavy influences over these children. A child without the correct parenting can lose their way easily during the years of 10 & 14. Censorship is needed.
ReplyDeleteI Gregory Kirk left the above comment!
ReplyDeleteAlthough censorship is crucial for a child’s life, it also opens up the world to the child as realizing everything is not going to be happy go lucky because parents that raise their children to be ignorant of these things are opening up an outbreak of bad behavior or phobia. While it is true children should not be exposed to literature such as Shakespeare, the writer does not properly understand that children’s attention spans will fade immediately and they will move on to doing something else. In conclusion, censorship is needed to provide protection, but it should rather be exposed slowly through the ages rather than hidden from intelligence.
ReplyDelete-Devanshu Barot
Ms. Huff disagrees with censorship. She claims "A ten year old should not be expected to be as mentally stable as an eighteen year old" It is actually true that a child is not mentally mature to take on the reading of an eighteen year old. Children learn in stages, that is why we have grades K-12. Mr. Gates agrees with censorship, he claims that "The influence of a child does not solely come from a book that he or she reads regardless their age." I disagree, because children are like sponges, they do not know how to determine what is right or wrong. Reading different materials comes with maturity and experience, which children do not have. -Bertha Jackson
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ReplyDeleteHuffs agrees with censoring middle scool literature. However, Gates is against the censorship claiming that a book is not the only form of a child being introduced to controversial topics and ideas. In fact Gates believes that censoring the content will limit the quality of the student's education. I agree with different aspects of each author's claim. Furthermore, I concur with Gate's regarding children's exposure to controversial topics and situations at an early age, but it should not be the schools job or duty to enhance or promote these negative factors of society to the student early on. I agree with Huff that some middle schol literture should be censored, and the curriculum should be developed and enriched with challenging and yet more positive content.
ReplyDelete-Reginald Leach
I agree with Ryan. I think that censorship can lead to a lack of social development in children, particularly the ability and willingness to empathize with others. I think that the school board has a right to deem what should be taught in the classroom, but all literature should be available in some way to students who have the desire to seek it out.
ReplyDeleteChris Greene