By Cortez Cruz Serrato
The banning of books goes against the ideals and values that our country stands for.
Adult readers should have the right to choose what kind of literature they want to read.
Parents and guardians should be the only decision makers in what literature their child has access to and if the reading material they are being assigned in their school is appropriate.
The banning and challenging of books goes against the First Amendment of the Constitution which allows all citizens the right to both freedom of press and freedom of speech.
Whether in print or digital form, the freedom for all individuals to pick what books they want to be informed, educated and entertained by should lie solely with the reader.
The right to have access to all types of written or digital information is a crucial aspect in our type of democratic government.
By having access to all types of printed and digital information, citizens of the United States become better informed. This allows them to make an educated decision when federal, state and municipal elections take place.
Censorship of any form should be viewed as extremely problematic and citizens of the United States should fight their hardest to stop the banning and challenging of printed and digital media.
It is un-American to stop people from exercising their own personal rights to choose what they want to publish or read.
Those who advocate the challenging and banning of books because of moral, religious or political reasons are failing to realize that just because a book is contrary to popular belief, it should not be stopped from being published and read.
Censorship affects students because it does not allow them to hear all perspectives from different groups, but more importantly, it denies students the chance to grow and develop intellectually.
Reading a variety of books allows students to hear and analyze problems that are culturally and socially different from their own.
Censoring books also affect how teachers in schools teach their classes. They are restricted to teach a certain type of curriculum year after year, not allowing students more than one perspective.
This ultimately leads to students only understanding one view of the world, thus hindering their critical and analytical thinking skills.
We as students must push to have access to every text that we can put our hands on because it has the ability to inspire us as well as inform and entertain us.
Not one group or viewpoint should be disallowed when it comes to publishing printed or digital text.
It not only goes against the values that our nation stands for, but it also mutes different ideas and views that can influence our nation for the better.
Cortez,
Your article talks about the banning of books in very general terms and you don’t explain who is banning the books, why are they are doing it, and under what circumstances.
Without any background information as to the basis for your comments, or the events or actions that triggered your comments, it is difficult for us the readers to determine if your arguments are valid, because you simply don’t provide any specific information.