Reading list for the second quarter

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, and the Restaurant at the End of the Universe, by Douglas Adams, December
Anne Frank:the Diary of a Young Girl, by Anne Frank,December
Persepolis, by Marianne Satrapi, in January
Crank, by Ellen Hopkins, current

Censorship and Banned Books

Should Schools Limit Student Access To Certain Books?

Mathilde Jochum, 802

Completed January 7th

Dear Ms. Berner,

        Should people be stopped from reading wonderful and eye-opening books that prepare and lead the reader to think about issues in our world? What if this could traumatizes them? A school should make sure that students know what they’re reading, and once they know that, then they should be able to make their own decision about whether or not they would like to read it. If they really have no sense of self, their parents can give them their discretion to follow instead. All over the country, perfectly good and exceptionally deep books are being banned because of bias or parents wanting to shelter their children from the outside world. We, as a school, should allow students to read whatever they or their parents believe they can handle based on the thorough and individual knowledge of the child. As middle school students, we should have the trust of teachers in us and our parents that we can self-monitor what we should read individually. To make sure that we don’t mistake reading material that could have traumatic effects on os, however, there should be trigger warnings in the front of a book in which there is something that could trigger a reaction to something traumatic or harmful so that we are warned if we are victims of; or have had past experiences with; these things. I strongly support this way of approaching eye-opening novels and other wonderful genres.

        These wonderful genres can, however, only be explored with the trust of teachers in our self-discretion and consequential literary growth. Most of us have learned, in our eleven to fourteen years, enough to be taken seriously when we say we know what we, as individuals, can and cannot take. Solely because we are adolescents does not necessarily mean that we are only attracted to “homophobia, booze, and crystal meth” in our books. We should be allowed to be exposed to these things in an educational setting, just like analysts read “Anne Frank” or “Mein Kampf” for literary and historical purposes, not to express fascism.

        For the danger that people will not be able to deal with these same books and think they can, however, more drastic measures are needed. According to https://www.ideals.illinois.edu/bitstream/handle/2142/8062/librarytrendsv45i1c_opt.pdf?sequence=1, “Law allows self-censorship. We cannot assume that everything valuable will find a publisher. Indeed we have evidence that educated audiences as well as publishers shun offensive material.”

Now the question of what the meaning of “offensive” is comes up.Some people don’t know this on an individual level. Although most of us have the skills needed for self-censorship, for those of us who don’t, teachers should assume that the parents of the child know the child better than the teacher. Therefore, even if the child doesn’t understand what they can and should not read, the teacher should ask the parents of the individual and address the issue on a personal level. Not to do so and just to assume that none of us are capable of managing ourselves is condescending and generalizing.

        That being said, there are some unfortunate students who have been the victims of horribly traumatic scenes and experiences in their life, and to make sure they don’t have an attack in which they are reminded of that experience, which could cause a mental breakdown, there should be a trigger warning on certain books. People who have been raped, for instance, may be affected badly by rape scenes in books because of past trauma. According to http://www.npr.org/blogs/13.7/2014/08/21/342096499/grappling-with-trigger-warnings-and-trauma-on-campus, a teacher creating a new set of syllabi says  “ I'm in sympathy with those who fear overkill, an overexcited deluge of warnings slapped onto classic literature, for example — including plays by Shakespeare or novels by Virginia Woolf.” I agree with this, but if people take that as a one-size-fits-all rule and don’t acknowledge that the consequences could be harmful, that is when it becomes problematic. She then sets bar more reasonably by saying, “any survivors of rape, attempted rape or other acts of sexual violence don't need to be blindsided in my classroom by material that may cause them searing pain.” In cases such as that, there should be trigger warnings in a noticeable area of the front of said book.

        In conclusion, censorship is a job for parents and students. Frankly, it is not a teacher’s place to be telling a group of people what they are and are not ready for based on their own knowledge of themselves and of a generalization of that group. There should, however, be trigger warnings to make sure we know what we are choosing to read. All in all, banning or limiting books is not the place of any school or teacher.

With all due respect,

-Mathilde Jochum, 802