Banned books in public schools.

We have nothing banned here in DC. However, we are quite liberal. Could it vary from area to area? I know my school library has To Kill a Moking Bird as well as Mein Kampf, which is a little weird but it is there.

I believe it is area to area. To Kill a Mockingbird is banned from the high school I went to to this day, yet I read it in eighth grade where I attended a private school. 1984, Animal Farm, and the Bell Jar were all pulled from my high school's library when I was a freshman. Naturally, that made me seek out the books and read them on my own.

Quote from: Xaol on July 21, 2013, 09:13:53 PM

We have nothing banned here in DC. However, we are quite liberal. Could it vary from area to area? I know my school library has To Kill a Moking Bird as well as Mein Kampf, which is a little weird but it is there.

I believe it is area to area. To Kill a Mockingbird is banned from the high school I went to to this day, yet I read it in eighth grade where I attended a private school. 1984, Animal Farm, and the Bell Jar were all pulled from my high school's library when I was a freshman. Naturally, that made me seek out the books and read them on my own.

Interesting. I am very against that kind of censorship. Where are you located, roughly?

I hate banning books but I appreciate why it's done. A public school (or any school) has to cater to a diverse demographic. I think it is best if content is concerning to a significant part of the local constituency then remove the book. Allow parents to decide what they want their minors to read. Free access to literature is what bookstores are for; it's a lot harder to ban a book from a bookstore.

As an added measure to allow parents to decide the books their families read I love what one of our local school libraries does. The librarian has a reserve list of "bad" books in a back room. These require permission for younger students to access. It's just like that mysterious forbidden section in the Hogwart's library. The juicy stuff should be there but  available at parent's discretion.

I can understand why they do it too, but at the same time, isn't high school's job to prepare students for life/college where there is no such thing as a banned book in today's society? I do not think an elementary or even middle school student should be reading things like "f this, GD that you SOB'in A-hole" but should we really be trying to shelter 15, 16, 17, 18 year olds from it?

Quote from: Mikefrompluto on July 21, 2013, 09:27:21 PM

Quote from: Xaol on July 21, 2013, 09:13:53 PM

We have nothing banned here in DC. However, we are quite liberal. Could it vary from area to area? I know my school library has To Kill a Moking Bird as well as Mein Kampf, which is a little weird but it is there.

I believe it is area to area. To Kill a Mockingbird is banned from the high school I went to to this day, yet I read it in eighth grade where I attended a private school. 1984, Animal Farm, and the Bell Jar were all pulled from my high school's library when I was a freshman. Naturally, that made me seek out the books and read them on my own.

Interesting. I am very against that kind of censorship. Where are you located, roughly?

Shreveport, LA. So it really shouldn't be a surprise that we have banned books in the Bible Belt.

Quote from: Xaol on July 21, 2013, 09:30:15 PM

Quote from: Mikefrompluto on July 21, 2013, 09:27:21 PM

Quote from: Xaol on July 21, 2013, 09:13:53 PM

We have nothing banned here in DC. However, we are quite liberal. Could it vary from area to area? I know my school library has To Kill a Moking Bird as well as Mein Kampf, which is a little weird but it is there.

I believe it is area to area. To Kill a Mockingbird is banned from the high school I went to to this day, yet I read it in eighth grade where I attended a private school. 1984, Animal Farm, and the Bell Jar were all pulled from my high school's library when I was a freshman. Naturally, that made me seek out the books and read them on my own.

Interesting. I am very against that kind of censorship. Where are you located, roughly?

Shreveport, LA. So it really shouldn't be a surprise that we have banned books in the Bible Belt.

Ah, I figured it was the Deep South.

Hey I'm from SC, and we have those books.  I used to live in Alabama, and we had those books in the elementary school.  For some reason...

It's a disbursing example of how oppressive our society can be. The fact that To Kill a Mockingbird or 1984 or Animal Farm is banned from public schools is upsetting.

Are these banned or just challenged as lectures and proposed to be banned?

Quote from: Mikefrompluto on July 21, 2013, 07:01:43 PM

It's a disbursing example of how oppressive our society can be. The fact that To Kill a Mockingbird or 1984 or Animal Farm is banned from public schools is upsetting.

Are these banned or just challenged as lectures and proposed to be banned?

In my area, they're banned. Or at least at the high school I went to. According to other people who commented, it's an area to area thing.

Nc here and to kill a mockingbird and animal farm were not only not banned but required reading.

In fact 1984 is one of my favorite books

Books are written to be read.

Banning such books is to shelter children from the real world. If a 5 year old wants to read "fifty shades of grey", more power to you. At least the kid can read.

Not as long as my usual rants but i cant think of anything else to put.

Banned books?

I live in America.
And go to a private school...
Doesn't affect me much

Half of the books on that list are required reading here!

Honestly, if a book was to get banned it should be see no evil, that book (and the movie for that matter). Also if you have read the zombie books by charlie higson you would know how messed up they are.

Banned books?

I live in America.
And go to a private school...
Doesn't affect me much

Shinfo?

Half of the books on that list are required reading here!

I went to a private school for middle school and read a good chunk of those books. I get to public school for high school and find out most of them are banned. I'm slowly learning that my high school was just closed minded and about 50 years behind on the times, and that this is not a widespread thing . Le sigh.

I know for a fact that To Kill a Mockingbird is banned at my HS. It was banned in '95 and never put back. My freshman year ('02,) 1984, Animal Farm, the Jungle, and the Bell Jar were banned. I remember because they sent a letter out to parents about what not to expect their children to read and vague reasons on why each book was banned. So I went out and read them on my own. They turned out to be some of my favorite books.