Book Banning in America

Introduction

Books on a shelf This country has shown a commitment to public education since before it was even a country. The public education system confers many advantages upon our citizens, but occasionally its potential power to shape the thinking of the masses is regarded with suspicion by various groups. The kinds of literature to which students are exposed in this setting is a particular issue, especially when such assignments may be required for successful completion of the class.

A teacher at a lectern Many people find it difficult to imagine a school or a teacher actively encouraging students to read literature that could harm them in some way, but the diversity of "clients" served by the public schools almost assures that some reading selections will cause concerns for some segment of the population. When this situation arises, choices have to be made, and parents often choose to band together to see that certain titles are removed from the school curriculum.

Some books obviously should not be part of a public school curriculum; others obviously need to be there. The judgment calls come in that grey area in between. This project asks you to arrive at some of those judgments and find the reasonable path to take between the various sides of the issue.
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The Task

The task involves coming to a group consensus on this sometimes sensitive issue. Pretend your group is actually a county school board that has been asked by its constituents to resolve the issue and define its position on the matter to the voters in their district.

Books on a table You will need to evaluate what kinds of factors should eliminate a book from consideration or lead to its unquestioned inclusion. Is it enough that a single person or group finds the book offensive? How can people's diverse belief systems be considered? Should books that appeal only to a narrow cross-section of the population be included? Should books be included only if they probably will be taught in college? Should entertainment value be considered? Should relevance to a particular age group be a deciding factor? As you see, the questions are numerous and sometimes difficult to answer.
NOTE: Some students think answering these few questions is sufficient to do the project. It isn't. Think more deeply.

This consensus (look it up here) won't necessarily be easy to develop, but the process will serve to alert you to the difficulty of getting a group of people to agree on any important matter. Be sure to speak up in your group for your own position. Don't just "go along to get along" on this. Express your thoughts persuasively, but be sure to listen as others express theirs.

Chalkboard and apple Your actual task at that point will be to write a newspaper editorial about the process your group went through and demonstrate that "the school board" has put some serious thought into the question of book banning. Include your group's consensus position and how you arrived at it. What ideas were accepted? What ideas were rejected? What ideas were considered pivotal? Persuade your audience that all due care was taken with the decision-making process and that you have considered all the questions and come up with the best answers.
NOTE: Each student writes his or her own paper. And remember, just describing a process for dispute resolution will not be sufficient.
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The Process

You must first become familiar with the issue. If you refer to the Resources section below, you will see a range of thought on this question. After you have spent some time doing some research and thinking about the issue, each group should hold a "round-robin" discussion session in which each person has a chance to express his or her thoughts and beliefs. Please understand the following:

A large library No particular position is acceptable or unacceptable. What matters is how you support your position.

Your group should then work toward a consensus statement, one that everyone agrees with, but one that actually says something substantial. Be aware of the process your group goes through since that will be an important part of your editorial.
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Resources

From other places on the Web
-- Banned Book and Censorship Resources: Introduction
--Banned Books and Censorship A Closer Look at Book Banning
--Banned Books: Banned and Controversial Books
--ACLU: Banned Books Week 1998

Some resources favoring book banning
-- A List of Pro-Censorship Organizations

And Plato seems to agree!
-- Plato: The Republic: Book III ILTweb: Digital Classics
--The Republic by Plato The Internet Classics Archive

Info from About.com's massive site
(Note that About.com is not available from inside school)
-- Book Banning and Censorship English Literature Net Links
-- Banned Books and American Culture: The Lie of Silent Assertion
-- Banned Books and American Culture
-- Civil Rights or Book Banning? A Hostile Work Environment
-- Civil Rights or Book Banning? Institutionalized Racism
-- Civil Rights or Book Banning? Three New Approaches to Huckleberry Finn
-- Mark Twain on Huck Finn
-- Mark Twain on the Banning of Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
-- Mark Twain on Book Banning
-- Tom Sawyer Production Banned
-- Banning Harry Potter
-- Banned Books Ancient/Classical History
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Evaluation

Good editorials are persuasive documents, and it usually takes a bit of writing to change people's minds on any given issue. The best papers will be clear and concise. They will explain the issue and the process whereby consensus was reached. They will support the consensus persuasively and demonstrate clearly that the writer has given the topic careful consideration before arriving at a conclusion. Such papers will receive the best grades.
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Conclusion

This assignment may seem a little tough, but sometimes it takes a tough process to make the best sense of important issues. I hope this was beneficial in clarifying your own thoughts on this matter and that it gave you some practice in the important skill of consensus building.
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Designed by Michael Byers
Orange High School
Hillsborough, NC
Last updated June, 2008.
Based on a template from The WebQuestPage

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