Censorship Should Be Banned In Schools

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Challenge Banning or challenging books is an occurrence that has been taking place for years in America’s school systems, and at times parents and teachers are not in agreement concerning censorship. The position statement of the National Council of Teachers of English is “We can safely make two statements about censorship: first, any work is potentially open to attack by someone, somewhere, sometime, for some reason; second, censorship is often arbitrary and irrational.” One such challenged book is Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson which was “banned from an eight-grade classroom in Arizona due to profanity, sexual content, and rape theme” (Lesesne and Chance 48). Considering both sides of the argument, Speak could be a benefit to students …show more content…
This is a topic that needs to be discussed and explained, and Speak, even though challenged by parents because of sexual content, can be used in the classroom to open that communication. For instance, Victor Malo-Juvera conducted a study using the young adult novel Speak. The eighth-grade participants took a pretest and posttest to determine their “rape myth acceptance” (Malo-Juvera). After evaluating the test results, he concluded, “While date rape continues to be a serious problem for youth today, this study offers promise in showing that it is possible to change students’ attitudes toward rape by using a young adult novel in the context of English language arts instruction” (Malo-Juvera). Also, in a letter written to the author, Laurie Halse Anderson, a young lady wrote how she was assaulted as a freshman in high school and spent her high school years struggling. After she read the novel Speak, she found her voice and was able to tell her family and the authorities which allowed her to begin healing from the ordeal (Kaywell 1-3). Even though some parents challenge the book Speak being taught in the classroom, it can be used to bring awareness to a difficult but prevalent
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