Letter: Book bans are harmful to students

Censorship of literature in school districts is becoming more and more popular across the United States and is growing to be a very common thing.

Many school districts ban books for many reasons such as inappropriate language, crude scenes, and controversial topics. Some of the titles that have been banned in school districts are classic titles that everyone grew up reading, loving and learning from. A lot of the banned titles have been deemed timeless classics and won many awards for their greatness, like Of Mice and Men and Lord of the Flies. These banned books won’t harm students, but help them to see, accept and act upon the problems of the world and be more open to new ideas and adventures.

Banning books doesn’t save students from bad content, but rather is a way to keep them from the real world, creating a greater shock and leaving them unprepared when such topics come up. Even though parents may not want their children exposed to some of the content in these various titles, by banning books we take away not only the students’ rights to learn from classic literature but their opportunity to grow through these timeless masterpieces.

This story was originally published November 29, 2017 at 3:06 PM with the headline "Letter: Book bans are harmful to students."