Censorship in American Schools Essay - 1156 Words

Censorship in American Schools You may not realize this but our government plays a large role in governing what sort of information America’s children are exposed to. The average American child receives the majority of their knowledge and education from school, so the information that is allowed to be taught is a very delicate and controversial issue. Literature is often altered or banned from public schools and libraries because they contain of vulgar language, excessive violence, or connotations of drugs and sex. The reasoning behind this is that these are potentially dangerous ideas, and if children were to be exposed to them that they would be corrupted and manipulated by them. There is a contradictory school of thought on the†¦show more content†¦The parents of our communities tend to fall on either side of the issue, divided into pro and anti-censorship groups. The big question that everyone is asking is if a student were to open a book and read about drugs, sex, or violence will this ma ke a child more susceptible to this kind of behavior? Our United States board of education believes so, and has installed censorship safety precautions in the literature that is available in public schools and libraries. According to the American Library Association between 1990 and 2000 6,364 challenges against books were brought to Office of Intellectual Freedom by parents, teachers, and different pro-censorship organizations. The grounds for these challenges were that the books contained sexually explicit material, offensive language, satanic references, violence, homosexuality, or promotion of a religious belief. Some books that were on this list include The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (for incessant use of the n word), The Catcher and the Rye (Depicts teenage depression, prostitution and use of the f word) and Go Ask Alice (Instances of Drug Use, sex, and suicide. People that are pro censorship argue that no books are being banned. That, in fact, you can buy those same b ooks in many bookstores or other places. They argue that is their right, as taxpayers to decide what their children should haveShow MoreRelatedThe Importance Of Censorship1199 Words   |  5 Pagesin the United States of America, find censorship helpful when it protects their children from harmful things, but they are against censorship when it is used out of context. Parents seem to appreciate censorship more when it shelters children from learning indecent things in the world that could cause danger to themselves or the others around them (Pillai, Prabhakar ). But censorship is not always good like when it is used in school’s or in books; but censorship can be helpful when it is used on theRead MoreEssay on Censorship in Schools is not Justifiable959 Words   |  4 PagesCensorship in School is Not Justifiable Walt Whitman once said, â€Å"The dirtiest book of all is the expurgated book.† Between the years 2000 and 2009 a total of 3200 books were challenged in school libraries in an attempt to expurgate, or censor, the content in books provided to students. Today the trend of censorship continues as popular novels such as The Hunger Games, The Fault in Our Stars, and Captain Underpants are censored from schools across the nation (Challenges by Reason).Censorship in regardsRead MoreCensorship Essay1325 Words   |  6 PagesCensorship â€Å"Congress shall make no law†¦prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech or of the press, or the right to petition the government for a redress of government.†(Ravitch, 118) As stated in the First Amendment of the United States Constitution, the people of this nation have the right to exercise their beliefs out loud, or in writing. With this in mind, does the government have the right to undermine the foundation of our nation, and censor what we readRead MoreEssay about School Censorship is Detrimental to Education1519 Words   |  7 PagesSchool Censorship is Detrimental to Education       Mark Twain, John Steinbeck, Harper Lee, Maya Angelou. What do these writers have in common? Sure, they are all great American authors, but there is something else. They are all banned. Censored. Forbidden. Who has not read a book by at least one of these authors? All are great pieces of literature and should be crucial parts of the high school curriculum. School censorship of books is detrimental to the educational development of highRead MoreThe Debate of Censorship766 Words   |  4 Pagesexpression, but how far does that freedom extend? Does the right to express yourself include the right to observe the expressions of others? According to pro-censorship view holders, it does not. But to those who feel strongly against censorship, the freedom of information, or the â€Å"right to know,† should be an absolute right granted to the American public. Censoring material is the responsibility of the individual, not the institution itself, and certainly not the job o f a separate institution. AlsoRead MoreThe Importance Of Censorship On The Internet1558 Words   |  7 PagesGovernment and Politics October 30 2017 Censorship The internet is a vast database that allows for the entire world to be connected. However most people while surfing the internet have come across a censored page, or a website saying that this site has been â€Å"legally† blocked by the government. Censorship is defined as the suppression or prohibition of free speech by preventing a person from saying what they want to say. Typically in modern society, censorship takes place on the internet when certainRead MoreCensorship Is Not Freedom, Morality, And Safety Of The People1549 Words   |  7 PagesWhen you think of the word, â€Å"censorship†, what do you think of? Secrecy? Morality? Oppression? Liberals often see censorship as a limit set by the government. A limit to suppress the capabilities of the human race. A limit that keeps a country’s citizens intact. A limit that keeps the people ignorant so that the powerful can stay powerful. But what if I told you that censorship isn’t what the liberals say i t is? What if I told you that censorship is the thing that is keeping our country togetherRead MoreThe Invention Of The World Wide Web1674 Words   |  7 Pagescontroversial topic, censorship. Deciding who can see what, what can be accessed, and what can be published are all aspects of web censorship. Being that the web has been spread around to countries all across the world, there are many different associations that control the censorship of the web for certain countries. One of the most notable examples of web censorship that exist in the world is China’s great firewall of censorship. China’s government is an example of extreme web censorship, where users ofRead MoreModern Technology And Its Effect On Society Essay1457 Words   |  6 Pagesthe people, thus the cost of safety should not be on the shoulders of the people. People who object to internet censorship believe that in order to govern themselves well, Americans must be able to share ideas, even offensive and controversial ones, freely. They argue that censorship is very rarely the solution to any positive goal. However, to truly understand the internet censorship debate one must inspect the many smaller underlying questions involved. Such as are there any combinations of educationRead MoreLanguage in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain Essay719 Words   |  3 Pagespiece of American Literature ever written. However, the excessive use of the ‘n-word’ has caused a dispute on whether the book should be censored to fit the demands of modern day readers who hope to make an edited version without the slur. The release of an edited version will reduce the message Twain is relaying to his audience. Twain’s choice of language allows the reader to travel back in time to the 1800’s and discover how inhumane the racist society was towards the African American community

Dbq on the Usefulness of Torture - 1072 Words

The War on Terror has produced several different viewpoints on the utilization of torture and its effectiveness as a means to elicit information. A main argument has been supplied that torture is ineffective in its purpose to gather information from the victim. The usefulness of torture has been questioned because prisoners might use false information to elude their torturers, which has occurred in previous cases of torture. It has also been supposed that torture is necessary in order to use the information to save many lives. Torture has been compared to civil disobedience. In addition, the argument has been raised that torture is immoral and inhumane. Lastly, Some say that the acts are not even regarded as torture. Torture is†¦show more content†¦At the same time, he must subject himself to the consequences of an illegal act. The comparison between civil disobedience and torture is similar to the viewpoint that torture is necessary in order to save a country. There are some that do not constitute the United States treatment of the prisoners at Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo as torture because there were different definitions of the word. According to the Third Geneva Convention, torture is defined as acts of violence and any act by which severe pain or suffering, whether physical or mental is intentionally inflicted. After the September 11, 2001 attack, the United States changed its definition of torture to physical pain amounting to torture must be equivalent in intensity to the pain accompanying serious physical injury, such as organ failure, impairment of bodily function, or even death. To be regarded as torture, the act must cause some lasting, though not necessarily permanent damage. Some disregard these acts as simply cruel treatment and do

Metanarrative in Turn of the Screw free essay sample

In postmodernism, a metanarrative is an abstract idea that is thought to be a comprehensive explanation of historical experience or knowledge. The prefix meta means â€Å"beyond† or â€Å"about†, and a narrative is a story. So a metanarrative is a story about a story encompassing and explaining other â€Å"little stories† within the total scheme of things. The concept of metanarratives was criticized by Jean-Francois Lyotard in his work The Postmodern Condition: A Report of Knowledge (1979). Lyotard refers to what he describes as the postmodern condition, which he characterized as increasing skepticism toward the totalizing nature of â€Å"metanarratives† (or grand narratives) typically characterized by some form of ‘transcendent and universal truth’. In The Turn of the Screw the story within the story is about power. The novella is a pseudo ghost story that involves two children who are sent to live with their uncle when their parents die. The Uncle in turn leaves the children in the care of the governess, who is also the narrator. We will write a custom essay sample on Metanarrative in Turn of the Screw or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page The power plays come in three ways that are woven into the bigger picture. First, the Uncle is the ultimate power within the story. The governess meets him one time and is then and there smitten with him. He leaves the governess ‘in charge’ of the children while he is off doing whatever. He does not inquire about the well-being of the children and he does not care to be bothered by complaints of any sort. Although he is not present at Bly, he seems to know everything that goes on at Bly as if he has an all seeing eye. The governess is very careful not to even reply when he writes a letter letting her know that the boy child, Miles, cannot return to school – she doesn’t even question why. To say that the Uncle has been left as guardian of the children, he takes very little interest in them. Today that would be called neglect. Second, the governess exerts power over the children and Ms. Grose. She does this in a very subtle way. The governess adores the children almost to the point of worshipping them. But she is always aware of where they are and what they are doing. And when Quint and Miss Jessel show up she becomes even more ‘present’ than before. She believes that the children see Quint and Miss Jessel as well and that they are exerting some sort of evil power over them. They certainly have power over the governess in a sense because her mind is always on them and she expects to see them at every turn. The governess’ power over Ms. Grose is simply in her telling Ms. Grose about Quint and Miss Jessel and sharing with her the feelings that she has about their evilness. Ms. Grose of course cannot divulge this bit of information to any of the other servants and thus the governess holds this bit of power over her. Third, the children have a power over the governess that is also very subtle and well utilized by them. They know that the governess thinks them beautiful, adores them and believes they can do no wrong. And they use this to their advantage. On one occasion, Miles slips out of his room in the middle of the night and goes outside. To lure the governess, the girl child, Flora, gets out of her bed, which is in the governess’s room and hides. Upon searching for her the governess spots the figure outside and goes to investigate. When she finds that it is Miles she questions his motives. He responds that he did it because he could and he knew she would come. The children know that the governess is so overly in love with them that she will do anything to keep them safe. She also is expected to keep them safe by the Uncle and she doesn’t want to disappoint him. Power is one of the most prevalent and dangerous forces in our modern society. Those who have it wield it like a sword and those who want it will give their very souls to get it.