Too Much Caffine...

"A school has the responsibility to help students learn and to make information available to them. Schools should educate and expose children to different topics in order to prepare them for life and to help them make informed decisions. Here lies the primary purpose of education, but censorship acts as more of an obstacle than an aid in achieving this goal".

This quote was taken from an article I found entitled "Opposing Censorship in the High School Curriculum". That quote gets to the heart of what I believe about censorship. The job of a school is to prepare students for life in the adult world. By ignoring or eliminating classroom discussion on 'sensitive' subjects such as sex, drugs, racism, and violence we are in no way protecting our students, we are harming them. I garauntee that even if your child doesn't read a book in my highschool class with the words shit, nigger, or joint in them they have used the word, or heard it in a movie or song, or seen it depicted on tv. Would you rather have your child experience those issues through the one-way medium of music, tv, or movies? Or experience them in an educational setting, with an adult present who can answer questions, explain dangers and consequences, and lead disucssions about the hurtful nature of those 'sensitive' issues?

"Any drug use content will initially require at least a PG-13 rating. In effect, the PG-13 cautions parents with more stringency than usual to give special attention to this film before they allow their 12-year-olds and younger to attend. If nudity is sexually oriented, the film will generally not be found in the PG-13 category. If violence is too rough or persistent, the film goes into the R (restricted) rating. A film’s single use of one of the harsher sexually derived words, though only as an expletive, shall initially require the Rating Board to issue that film at least a PG-13 rating. More than one such expletive must lead the Rating Board to issue a film an R rating, as must even one of these words used in a sexual context. These films can be rated less severely, however, if by a special vote, the Rating Board feels that a lesser rating would more responsibly reflect the opinion of American parents."

That is the Motion Picture Association of America's view on what constitutes a PG13 movie. Basically, the way I read that is that one "fuck", some drug use, and a light beating are all ok in a PG13 movie. That's what your kids have seen by the time they are 13...And people want to ban Harry Potter from schools? The idea that our kids are so innocent and naive to not have already encountered these issues in their lives is absolutely ridiculous.

Reading about these subjects in the classroom will give students the facts. To ban books that deal with these issues is to do our students a great disservice. Like it or not, whether they learn about it in the classroom or on the street, no person will get through their lives without the knowledge of sex, drugs, violence, racism, or hatred.