Assignment #3

I personally think that schools should be allowed to play whatever music and read whatever books. I feel that censoring the children from these elements is not fully preparing them for life as an adult. When you grow up these books and music certainly aren’t going to be censored for you any longer. I’m not saying that children in schools should be listening to explicit Snoop Dogg lyrics, but in high school the church plays a major role when learning world history, so I don’t see why there is such a big deal about religion in schools. Children should be taught about different religions, so they are more familiar with other people’s culture. Everyone has learned about all of the different religions in their high school world history class, so I don’t see why censoring Harry Potter books is different. Just because the kid is a wizard and it involves witches doesn’t mean it is bad for them to read. Would these parents ban them from watching The Wizard of Oz because it has a wizard and witches in it? If these people want to censor a children’s book like that, then they should change the history curriculum to not teach their children about different religions in the world. These parents should be pushing their children to read, not punishing them by taking these books away. Other books may have extreme violence and sexual content, but these books most likely aren’t available in an elementary or middle school library.
I believe that rating media is appropriate, because you don’t want younger children watching movies or television shows where people are killing people and swearing left and right. But also, the parents shouldn’t have to rely on these ratings. Parents should know what shows are appropriate for their children to watch. You don’t want these younger audiences to watch, so their parents will know by the ratings whether or not to leave it on. Older children should be able to know right from wrong and they should know that the events that happen in these shows are not something to imitate.
In my days in middle school and high school I have read many books. After reading these sections and looking at the diagrams in the textbook, I found that three of the books I had read are on the list of books that are the most frequently banned books. I have read To Kill a Mockingbird, Of Mice and Men, and The Outsiders. After reading all of these books and seeing them on this list, I can understand why, but completely disagree. For example, To Kill a Mockingbird is a book that teaches children to not make judgments about someone before you actually know them. It also teaches the effects of racism. Tom Robinson was put on trial for raping a white woman in an all white community. Atticus stands out and defends him and teaches that people should do the right thing. While these books are somewhat violent, they teach a greater lesson and shouldn’t be banned from schools. When I read this book I was a freshman in high school, and I don’t think that this books would be inappropriate for a high schooler.