Book Banning essays

Book Banning essays Many parents believe that banning of books only affects the learning of their students when in fact, banning of books affects the learning of other students as well. There are a lot of parents who believe that what students read about in class may not be appropriate because of its content. When a parent tries to interfere with his/her childs right to read, I think it affects that student as well as other students, which I feel becomes censorship. Censorship has become a major problem in many schools throughout the United States. In the 14th annual report Attacks on the Freedom to Learn published by People for the American Way, there is an annual survey of censorship, and also attempted censorship, in national public schools that has statistics on the number of books being banned. For the 1993-1994 school year, the survey reported there were 462 challenges to curriculum and texts, which is the most in the 12 years the report has been published. One hundred fifty-seven of those challenges against curriculum and texts were successful (Gartner A13). One of the most controversial books, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, written by Mark Twain, is a good example of a book that was challenged in 1994. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is a classic American story that contains many valuable lessons. An editorial in USA Today discussed that Huck Finn believed it was a sin to help a runaway slave, but his conscience made him feel otherwise. Huck would rather risk eternal torment, than betray his black friend and companion, Jim (Poor Huck A23). Even though this story is about race during the period it was written, one of the main reasons that critics attacked this book was because of the frequent use of the word nigger. The word nigger is merely an indication of the period when the book was written. As discussed in Poor Huck, His Critics Just wont Listen to Him, Mark Twain wro ...