Monday, October 11, 2010

Censorship in the Classroom

Personally, I don't think censorship is a good idea in general, I think it is even worse in a classroom. Are classrooms not supposed to teach children to think, instead of merely become clones of their parents?

If you give a student a book to read, then have adequate discussion about both the book and the student's thoughts about it, then no book should be off limits. This is not to say, however, that I think having the students read a controversial book merely because it is controversial is a good idea. The literature must have some purpose and give the student a better understanding of the world around them for it to be worthwhile. If a book is thought-provoking, enriching, and fun to read and children are interested in reading it we should be encouraging children to read it! If it contains something we disagree with then we should talk about these topics after the student has had a chance to experience one point of view.

In all likelihood, if a topic has made it into children's literature, it has also made onto t.v., video games, the internet, and public conversation. In my mind, it is better to address these topics, be it through literature or not, so that children can get multiple points of view, instead of simply those they find in popular culture.

2 comments:

  1. Hey Alison, I started writing a comment to this post and it became quite long. So, I posted it on my own blog.
    http://thoughtsoneduc.blogspot.com/2010/10/parents-have-rights-over-children.html

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  2. I agree that children should be exposed to a lot of ideas, but I think we still have to respect the beliefs of parents. The crucial first step when introducing anything you think may be controversial is to let parents know ahead of time so you open the conversation.

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