Banned Books

It's banned book week until October 1.

Personally I have never understood the want to ban books.  With movies like the Saw series, and video games with blood and gore where opponents are blowing off each other's head, how are written words more harmful?

But you constantly hear of parents who want to limit what they children read in school, because they don't agree with the opinions or feel they are too graphic. The too sexual complaint is what gets me the most considering you cant change the channel on TV without seeing women wearing a sexy outfit (have you seen what those gossip girls wear?) and sexual jokes and references.

 I think reading controversial books in school is a good idea. That way the children can be involved in an open conversation about why the ideas in the book might be wrong, and what their feelings are about them.  We can not shelter our children from racism and grown-up themes, they will come across them sometime in their life and I would prefer it be in an atmosphere where it can be explained. If a book has inappropriate language, then give a history of that time and why the word was used. We can not learn from our past if we ignore it.

Being exposed to controversial issues is not the same as condoning them. These things exist and we must all learn to deal with them rationally. If you don't agree with them, explain it to your children why you think it is wrong, and then let them make their own choices. 

It is not okay that some people feel they can force their ideals onto others. If you don't like it, fine, but that doesn't mean you can stop my children from reading them. Personally, I read a lot of these books in my high school English class.