Censorship Causes Blindness

By Betsy Curry
An all too common pastime in the United States is banning books. Yes, even in 2005 books with “controversy” are still a hot topic in daily life. The American Library Association along with the American Booksellers Association, the Association of American Publishers and the National Association of College Stores started Banned Books Week in 1982.
Banned Books Week is celebrated the last week in September. This year the Library displayed many banned books, as did the Bookstore. The Bookstore also has many of the banned books available for purchasing.

Banned Books Week was founded to raise awareness of censorship problems in the United States and abroad. People are also encouraged to fight against banning and censorship. Often people take notice of banned books, and often protests break out to challenge the censorship and the ban is lifted. Sometimes nobody notices and the book is stifled for its creative text.
Most arguments in favor of censorship are imposed for the protection of children. Advocates of banning certain books uphold the fact that children in grades K-12 will be harmed if we do not protect them from inappropriate materials. The opposing side insists that censorship of books and other curriculum materials violates the academic freedom and diversity of thought protected by the United States Constitution.

Among the classic works of literature banned from schools over the years include; Shakespeare’s Hamlet, Nathaniel Hawthorne’s Scarlet Letter, and Mark Twain’s The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. According to the National School Boards Association, challenges of school materials are common throughout the United States. Frequently, nearly one-third result in materials being withdrawn from schools or their use reduced.
Censorship is defined as the removal, suppression, or restricted circulation of literary, artistic or educational materials on the grounds that these are morally or otherwise objectionable in light of the standards applied by the censor, according to Henry Reichman in Censorship and Selection, Issues and Answers for Schools.

Books are banned by libraries, schools, entire towns and sometimes in the past the United States government. Books are banned for the following reasons but are not limited to: sex and drug education, literature showing children challenging parents and authorities, teaching evolution without reference to creationism, showing women behaving in nontraditional ways, and “invasions of privacy” – projects requiring students to share personal information.
Censorship of all kinds, even burning of books, continues today. In 2004, the American Library Association counted 524 challenges; mostly in schools, many other cases go unreported. A complete listing of challenged and banned books of 2005 can be found at www.abffe.com.