Friday, January 29, 2010

What is an Appropriate Book?

What is an appropriate book for children and young adults to read? Some organizations around the United States are creating groups that censor books, and require some books to not be able to be read in schools. Yet there are still many against this and many more still that aren't informed.

So what does a parent do if they do not want their child to read a book that is in the school library or that is on an English reading list? My opinion is that they should have the right to request a new book for their child to read, but first they should be informed about the facts.

The facts are simple, what censorship organizations is their opinion. It isn't a steadfast rule that what they believe is inappropriate may be wrong. These organizations say that some books are wrong because it promotes "devil worship" and non-bible worship, but according to the Constitution there should be no prohibiting of someone's religion. It seems to me that if the schools agree with these organizations then they may be in fact agreeing with the church, which is unconstitutional because the schools are government run.

But parents should have a right to decide for their children what they can and can't read. So why should organizations and school districts stop them? It is in their rights to be able to make that kind of decision. So I believe that parents should have the power to limit or expand what their children read. Yet if they are in organizations, they should not have the ability to limit what other parents can have their children reading.