April 13th, 2008 - Book Censorship…
A Little Background…
Board of Education Island Trees Union Free School Dist. Vs. Pico (1982) involved a case in which Island Trees junior and senior high school removed 10 specific titles from its shelves. The board members however removed these books without consideration to their content, only stating that they were offensive, “objectable, anti-American, anti-Christian, anti-sematic and just plain filthy”.
Steven Pico, one of several students, objected to the removal of the books and brought a suit against the Board on behalf of his fellow students at the Island Tree High School. The lawsuit was tried in District Court first and the School Board won. After this decision, the Court of Appeals reversed their win saying that the removal of the books violated the First Amendment.
The U.S Supreme Court affirmed the judgement coming to the conclusion that “local school boards have broad discretion in the management of school affairs…[however] such access [to certain reading materials] prepares students for active and effective participation in the pluralistic society which they will soon be adult members.”
Here’s the Deal…
Which made me think, book censorship can and does censor the learning processes of a child. Sheltering them from a world that won’t take the same courtesy and discouraging different views — the essential point of public institutions.
The School Board violated no law in restricting the content — courts made that clear. However, the books that were pulled because of their offensive nature were pulled on biases, not academia. A few titles included: “Black Boy” by Richard Wright, “Best Short Stories of Negro Writers” by Langston Hughes, “The Naked Ape” by Desmond Morris and “Down these Mean Streets” by Piri Thomas ( a book about a boy growing up in Spanish Harlem with bad anger management).
Application…
According the National Council of Teachers of English (NTCE), “The right of any individual to read is basic to democratic society.” Profanity, violence and suggestive sexual situations are great reasons to ban a book in schools, but by the highschool age — especially in 2008 — teens have already experienced these things and much more.
School boards and teachers need to examine the literariness of the text and its educational impact on students. If we censor, when will it stop and how far will it go? — that’s like removing fairytales because they incite magic and evil.
May 10th, 2008 at 3:35 pm
[…] ? A Little Background????? ? ???? Board of Education Island Trees Union Free School Dist.http://www.betweendreamsmag.com/princesswrites/archives/23GW Expat: Defining ‘czechxican’ The GW HatchetI’m sitting in a Prague bar talking to three American […]