Much of the recent talk around Science Academy has been on the subject of banning books, as I am sure you know. Most everyone has an opinion on whether books should be banned, and everyone is very passionate about their opinion. I write this letter not to tell you that my opinion is more correct than anyone else’s, rather to protest the method used to ban books.
The people who originally protested the books Stranger in a Strange Land and Brave New World, to my knowledge, have not read these books. In my opinion, I believe that to even be able to question the content of these books they should have read the entire book. A movie generally is not rated R based on the title alone. A committee known as the Classification and Rating Administration (CARA), watches the entire movie, and then after a discussion, vote on a rating for that movie, which is supposed to be an educated estimate as to which rating most American parents would consider appropriate (Source: Motion Picture Association of America www.mpaa.org). This committee basis the rating on theme, language, violence, nudity, sex, and drug use, but also assesses how these elements are employed in the context of the specific film. In other words, if a movie has heavy drug use, but this drug use teaches a lesson, then it might receive a lower rating, than a movie in which drug users are promoted as being “cool”.
Banning and rating of books should occur in a similar way. If a book has been suggested for banning by someone who has read the book, and found it offensive, then a committee should be formed, or people who have read the questioned book. They should then decide based on the “theme, language, violence, nudity, sex, and drug use,” taken in context whether the majority of the local parents would consider the book appropriate.
This brings me another point. A book is released as a complete book and not a series of paragraphs because it is meant to be read as a single story. When someone reads a single paragraph and says, “That one paragraph is disturbing, and therefore this book should be banned,” they are not looking at this paragraph in the context of the story. Thus, many quotes can make a book sound like nothing more than a perverted “X rated” novel, while in essence ipt comes from the Bible, the “best of all books.” When you look at what the story that this verse comes from is saying, you get an entirely different message.
Based on the reasons given for the suggestion of banning Stranger in a Strange Land, 1962 winner of the Hugo Award, and Brave New World, a group of about five students, including myself, have come up with a list of books which should also be banned. These books are all books that we have read from cover to cover, which could be offensive to someone. Mind you, these are only books which we have read, as we have no way of knowing if a book is offensive without reading it. Notice how many of these books are listed as a book which every student should read.
Compilation of Books Which Should be Banned
Now I ask you, is it right to ban all of these great works of literature for the beliefs of one or two people? Is it right to censor our future generation? Is it right to not expose them to the details of life? Can we, as parents suggest that students not be accurately taught about the society that we have created for them? The censorship of anything is wrong; as literature reflects the society it was created in, people that censor effectively block society. Do we want South Texas Independent School District, home of the best school in the state of Texas, to be known as a district which prevents their students from learning about the world?
I would hope not.