Censorship

[Desert Warrior]

While what you said is true, I think that nowadays if a child were to pick up some book that would be inappropriate for them, they wouldn't read it. I'm guessing that they would consider it boring and just toss it aside.

Since we're mainly talking about book censorship I figured I'd put up something I consider a tad bit funny. Yesterday my friend was telling my the last time she had gone to UC Santa Barbara (I think that is how it is spelt). She said in the school's library was a huge list of banned books. At least half, if not more, of the books my high school english teacher had us read was on that list. Including, but not limited too, Beowulf, Catcher in the Rye, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, and 1984.

[Mike]

Originally Posted by Desert Warrior

While what you said is true, I think that nowadays if a child were to pick up some book that would be inappropriate for them, they wouldn't read it. I'm guessing that they would consider it boring and just toss it aside.

I'm not sure I agree with this.

The 'taboo' or 'inappropriateness' of activities is what motivates many children/teenagers to do things in the first place. It's like smoking, nobody waits until they're of age and then goes "I could sure use a cigarette" as soon as they can. Statistically, anyone who waits until age 19 (or whatever it is in your specific area) and has yet to start smoking, will probably never smoke...most (and something on the order of 95%) of smokers start in their teens before being 'legal smokers.' To a lesser degree, this applies to alcoholism, narcotic use, etc.

If you tell a kid 'this is an inappropriate book' they'll want to read it that much more. Perhaps it's curiosity, perhaps rebellion, but there do need to be boundaries for kids in either case.

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And if it's true, and those are banned at the university level (your UC Santa Barbera remark), then that falls into the category of 'banned for a stupid reason' imo. Especially since a university has such mixed populations.

[Desert Warrior]

Maybe I'm just thinking for a different age range. The children in my last post I considered to be 10 at the oldest. And nobody telling them if it is a good or bad book. I just think that if a child at that age just picked up a book they'd never heard of before, and it is a book that is inappropriate for them, they'd just ignore it due to lack of interest.

[Mike]

Ok sure. But then in that case, having 'difficult literature' (whether 'inappropriate' or highly intellectual) available to them (at say a school library) would be a waste of resources, wouldn't it?

[Desert Warrior]

Based off of what I've said, yes. But all that difficult literature would be useful if some kid was doing some kind of report or something where they'd be forced to look at the difficult literature.

[Kitty]

The children in my last post I considered to be 10 at the oldest. And nobody telling them if it is a good or bad book. I just think that if a child at that age just picked up a book they'd never heard of before, and it is a book that is inappropriate for them, they'd just ignore it due to lack of interest.

I think that if the book were considered inappropriate for them, in a lot of cases it would also be too difficult for them reading-level wise, and the inappropriateness would go right over their heads if they tried to read it.

So I suppose that Mike is right in saying that having those books available is a waste of resources, but there'd always be some kid who was at a higher level than the rest and who was interested in reading all he could, and I think there should be some way that he could gain access to anything he were interested in. Some kids might not have any other options.

[Azula]

I have read part of HItler's Mein Kampf. I do not like HItler at all and if anything this book just helped me to realize how he was just an overzealous guy who became greedy. I revealed this to show that even if a book is inappropriate it doesn't do anything to a kid unless he/she decides to do something on their own free will. I don't like telling people I read it. I only did because of curiosity and I like to seek knowledge wherever it may be.

I think parents need to be more open with their kids about what they think is innapropriate content. If a kid understands these things then they won't go and try to see them discretely.

[Kitty]

I have read part of HItler's Mein Kampf. I do not like HItler at all and if anything this book just helped me to realize how he was just an overzealous guy who became greedy.

I also know a few people who have read this (I think it was even on the list of suggested titles to read for one of my AP English classes). Personally, I don't find anything shameful about admitting to reading it. I think there's something to learn from it and I don't think it does us any favors to pretend like it doesn't exist. I'd meant to read it at one point, but then never got around to it for some reason (probably got distracted by Harry Potter or something )

I think parents need to be more open with their kids about what they think is innapropriate content. If a kid understands these things then they won't go and try to see them discretely.

I think Mike has a point up there about kids wanting to do something just because it is forbidden, but I think you have a point here, too. If more parents had open discussions with their kids and let them know how they felt about certain issues, and what they expected from their kids, there wouldn't be such an issue with anyone feeling they needed to ban books. The kids would understand why they might not be ready for whatever topic was in some of them, and if the kids did decide to read it anyway, I think they'd be more likely to want to discuss the issue with their parents and learn from it, rather than just sneaking a peek at a book just because it has sex in it, or something. Maybe.

[Father-McKenzie]

To all of you people who use the "Freedom of Speech" argument, there is NO control over that. People twist around that amendment so much that it's almost impossible to take it literally.