For another class I am currently enrolled in I was asked to post my thoughts on censorship. Specifically, to answer the following question:
Imagine that you are a school employee
taking a stance in favor of right of children's access to information. You might be a librarian, educational
technology instructor or other employee. Citing the information in the text,
compose an argument for the intellectual access to a material that has been
challenged.
My response is written below. What is your opinion on censorship? Do think it is necessary and beneficial to our students? Or harmful and unnecessary?
I trained for this profession understanding that two
fundamental values of my career would be to “preserve intellectual freedom and
uphold a responsibility to resist censorship” (Rubin 375). bell hooks, American author and noted
feminist, very eloquently stated “We must continually remind students in the
classroom that expression of different opinions and dissenting ideas affirms
the intellectual process. We should forcefully explain that our role is not to
teach them to think as we do but rather to teach them, by example, the
importance of taking a stance that is rooted in rigorous engagement with the
full range of ideas about a topic”.
We no longer live in an age where students come home
directly after school to assist in family affairs. Today’s students are just
as, if not more, busy than we are as adults. They are increasingly involved in
afterschool activities. Most students hold part-time jobs. Many are preparing
for university applications by spending a great amount of time studying for
their current course load in addition to state exams. Students are busy enhancing
their resume with volunteer work and school clubs. All of this time outside of
the home means our sweet children are undoubtedly exposed to ideas,
experiences, and situations we would all find unsuitable for their age. It is
our job as guardians and educators to provide our students with a safe place to
explore new and unfamiliar terrain. I beg you to understand that as educators
our intention is never to undermine your role as a parent. If your child reads
a book within these school walls the intent is never to persuade them to
convert religions, explore heterosexual or homosexual relations, or initiate
vulgar or inappropriate activity. These books simply provide a safe way for
students to explore ideas and situations that they may find themselves faced
with today, tomorrow, or in the distant future. As many of you here today are
parents or guardians of high school students the distant future does not seem
so distant. Whether your student plans to leave for university or begin
training and developing their trade after graduation, I implore you to see how
much more vital these books are in their lives. As a parent myself, I understand
the urge to shelter and raise my child according to the ideas I most value. But
as an educator and person who understands the value of making my own choices, I
understand the importance of guiding my child and students safely and
confidently through their childhood and adolescence so when the time comes, and
it will come, that they have to face situations without my guidance they can
walk forward with confidence and faith that they have been preparing for this
moment their entire lives. I genuinely believe this is what reading can provide
our students. We cannot take away stories that we fear or do not align with our
moral codes. Our children need these stories most. They need to question their
own beliefs, understand the implications of doing what is unmoral, and explore
their emotions in the safety of a classroom or family home knowing when the
story ends they have an experienced adult who is willing to help them
understand the journey they just travelled in the pages of a book. I encourage
you to not dismiss these books as vulgar and non-educational, but to read them with your child and be open to having a
calm and rational discussion with your child on the emotions elicited by the
passages you’ve just read.
I urge you to invest in your child’s future and
understand the role literature can play. I encourage you to read and understand
The Freedom to Read Statement and The Intellectual Freedom Statement. Both
closely parallel each other, but I will quickly summarize the two for you. The
Freedom to Read Statement “concerns the importance of reading to a democratic
society and the inadvisability of suppressing of idea due to perceived
controversial or immoral content” (Rubin 390). The Intellectual Freedom
Statement asserts the “need for diverse collections and the obligation to
resist censorship attempts by individuals or groups” (Rubin 390). This school,
specifically our library, provides what so many children and nations worldwide
simply do not have. It is a distinctive environment where our students can come
and travel incredible journeys without leaving the safety of their school.
Along the way they will explore a broad range of ideas from differing points of
view and that is the magic of reading. I ask of you one last time to rethink
your proposal to have any book found within these walls banned or challenged. Let’s stand together and prepare our students
and children to live their adult lives with the comfort that we have taught
them how to think rather than what to think.
Rubin, Richard E. Foundations of Library and Information Science. 3rd Ed. . New York: Neal-Schuman Publishers, Inc., 2010. 375-90. Print.
Richard E. Rubin