Children's Books Should be Censored Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Childrens Books Should be Censored - Essay ExampleIf publishing houses and distributors will not take responsibility for the content of their product, then we essential to monitor our childrens books, and censor those with the most violent and offensive content.Widesp memorialise censorship and wholesale book inhibition may not seem to be a practical solution in the complex valet that we live in. Filtering stunned books that have offensive mess get on withs may be a never ending project for which there is no end. However, we fundament ban a book from our libraries and public schools when common sense tells us it runs afoul of accepted sensibilities. The Supreme Court may guarantee freedom of speech, but it does not concord an audience and it does not guarantee a space in a public school classroom. We rate movies based on content, provide ample warning on the packaging, and restrict access to them based on progress. Censorship goes beyond the simple act of forbidding product ion, it resides in the gray area of proper labeling and age appropriate access.Viewing cloth that is inappropriate for a young forefront can have a profound and lasting impression on a child. As more violent and offensive material becomes available in our public schools and libraries, it filters down to younger children. A childs imagination will act out and emulate the characters they read about with the assumption it is fact and therefore acceptable. Left unchecked, violence and horror can have a severe psychological effect on children younger than 8 years old. The opinion that children can tell the difference between reality and fiction at this age does not instal to be the case when subjected to scientific scrutiny. According to the University of Wisconsins Joanne Cantor, Its especially ineffective to try to calm children in this age group by telling them that what they have seen is not real (Cantor). Children will believe what they have read and it can carry a lasting effe ct that will permanently mold a mind with an unrealistic view of the world and reinforce crude, violent, and inappropriate behavior.Censorship should reach beyond the sexually charged, profane, and brilliant violence that is only the most visible sign of inappropriate childrens literature. Messages that are racist, sexist, and derogatory can change children to the callus and inflammatory remarks that find their way into books and into our libraries. In the book One Fat Summer which the publisher says is appropriate for 12 and up, a young man fears jumping from a diving board. He laments in his fright, ... they kept screaming for me to jump, to show I was a man if I didnt jump I couldnt be a man, Id be a fag all my life (Lipsyte, 207). A 12-year-old will likely usurp this slur against the gay community and use it with the mistaken belief that it is an acceptable form of public speech. Messages that are contained in derogatory images of social, ethnic, or racial groups are as commo n and just as knock-down(a) as overt violence, yet they may lay hidden in an otherwise placid account statement of kindness and sincerity.We control every other aspect of our childs education and we should also control what they read. We scrutinize their math, grammar, and story books for accuracy. Why should we treat childrens litera