This is in response to hearing that parents at Science Academy wanted to ban "Stranger in a Strange Land" and "Brave New World" due to their sexual content.
Science Academy students are recognized locally and nationally as the 'cream of the crop'; the thinkers and the doers. We represent intellectual students of the Rio Grande Valley that can make mature choices and accept their consequences. What kind of example does it give the rest of the Rio Grande Valley high schools when we deem the content of certain books too high and too imprudent for the student body to handle? Maturity must come from somewhere, and Science Academy students thrive on challenges, not censorship.
You may be concerned about the possible moral implications of these selections. Granted, '1984' doesn't pack the moral punch of an episode of Barney and Friends. But what is the the point of an English discussion- to never broach the rough topics of life, or to point out those implications and discuss them in a public forum, where we can question our own beliefs?
I understand that you have concerns about what moral messages students might be getting from the books. But this is just why an English class exists- to discuss those moral messages and to form your own opinions. When you censor ideas, the ideas cannot even be considered, and a principled idea can not be discovered. Aristotle said that the unexamined belief is always the wrong one. if we are not allowed to examine our beliefs than how can we form wise ones?
Ironically, one reading selection for Science Academy students, Fahrenheit 451, deals with the premise of burning books and why censorship builds an uneducated and morally reprehensible society. While we may not exactly be burning books, the freedom of press is built on a powerful tenet, a tenet that is a privilege and is one that Science Academy students are qualified to uphold. When you censor books, you are censoring minds. You are censoring the very foundation that makes Science Academy a great school. This is why I am against the banning of books.