The major topic in class this week was censorship. With that being said, I think it is important to understand what censorship means. From dictionary.com it means "the office or power of a censor" or "the act or practice of censoring." To relate this to our class, I understand this to mean that there is a small group of people who decide what is to be taught in our schools. From the reading " school professionals have the primary responsibility to determine the content of course offered by the school district and to select appropriate teaching methods and educational resources." They have the right to choose what is taught and what is read. I do not think this is very fair. According to our rights as American's, I believe that we should be allowed to decide what books we should read. If schools do not think that we are capable of making this decision, then I think it should be a choice of the parents. Sending home a permission slip on books that are considered controversial is one step towards extending our right to choose.
An area of important in class was the two different sides of censorship. First you have the right wing, which is conservative or traditional. The other side is the right wing. The right wing is concerned about equal representation for all social classes including social, racial, and gender issues. I have a huge problem with this idea. I think that these are two extremes that both cause problems. The left wing, I believe, censors too much. Our children see violence, sex, and explicit material on TV everyday. I think the best place to learn about it, at least in a healthy enviornment, would be in a classroom setting. At least there will be an adult to explain and answer questions when needed. The right wing takes away freedom from the writer. It forces them to change their characters to fit all groups. I think this takes away from the potential of the book because the author's creativity is taken away.
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2 comments:
I agree that there needs to be some sort of middle ground between the two groups. Children are learning much more about sex, voilence,and other things that should be taught by a parent not by t.v or books. If a parent wanted to use those shows or certain books as examples that is one thing, but children need guidance and censorship will not change that the parents will.
I'm not sure that I understand your assessment of the right wing vs left wing debate. The left wants to cater to everyone while the right wants to keep things pure and clean and as conservative as possible. The left wing wants to make sure that no group is marginalized, while the right wing wants to keep all old American traditions in place, not marring the minds of these pure American children in society (as if TV, radio, and billboards don't already do a fine job).
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