Wednesday, December 3, 2008

Should You Be Reading This?

We read a story called Palm Sunday by Vonnegut on the topic of censorship of books, particullarly in schools and I have opinions about that.

As a high school student myself I firmly believe in my right to choose what I read. This does not mean that I believe that students have the right to refuse assigned reading or that students can simply go without reading because they simply do not enjoy reading. I myself am an avid reader and I believe that everyone should, and possibly be required to, read. However, I do not believe that someone else should have the right to say i'm not mature enough to handle the content of a book.

I am not scarred by the vulger language in a book but i'm scarred by the vulger language used against a person. Everything is about perspective and if you can look at a book objectively, read it. No panel of adults should say I cannot handle the language or idea of a book. That, in my opinion, is absurd. Some books are not OK for children to read but if students have a reading level that enables them to read a book, make it available to them.

Education is about the interpretation and acceptance of new ideas and concepts. By law students are required to meet that goal, yet that very same law is not letting us accept the ideas and concepts of books they claim are not worthy of attention due to unadulterated, honest language.

If you can't handle it, don't read it. Nobody will force anyone to read anything, but don't take the right to read away.

4 comments:

Justin G said...

I totally agree with you the reader should have the choice to read the work or not and if they find something that they don't like then it's there option to stop reading.

Nicole H. said...

OMG! That is so true and I totally agree with you. Expesually at our age (high school) poeple shouldn't be allowed to ban us from reading certian things. It should be our choice.

Jimmy said...

Pretty every point you and the previous commentators made here I agree with 100%. I honestly cannot say anything here that hasn't already be said before.

Abby said...

Um, I'm just thinking, at what point do you draw the line between children and mature adults? I mean, okay, your literary tastes are different than those of five year olds as a senior in high school, but you said that some things kids shouldn't be allowed to read and I want to know when that age is. Is it just when they can read it? Because I probably had the capability to read SH-V at 10 years old, and that seems a little young to be reading that kind of material. Just curious, because it's a slipperly slope.

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