Limiting the Right to Choose: Censorship of Children's Reading

Abstract

Limiting the Right to Choose:Censorship of Children's Reading Amy A. McClure (bio) (First in a series*) It's 11:00 a.m. Teacher J. Breninski is lecturing her history class in a Warsaw secondary school. Suddenly, the class is interrupted by the principal who informs her that community authorities are collecting books. He instructs her to bring all the texts she uses to her office. Later, the class and teacher learn that the confiscated books have been burned in the city park.1 Warsaw, Poland? 1939? No. Unbelievable as it seems, this incident happend in 1977 in Warsaw, "Middle America," Indiana. That day, in place of swastika-banded gestapo agents, the agents of censorship were the community-minded local senior citizens. And the books which provoked this incident included The Bell Jar, Values Clarification and Growning Up Female in America—all used in a course on historical perspectives of women.2 On November 7, 1975, two Board of Education members for the Island Trees Union Free School District in New York State left a school sports festival and talked the night janitor into admitting them into the high school library, Using a list of "objectionable and mentally dangerous" books which they had received at a conservative political conference, they searched the shelves, The titles removed that night included Black Boy, The Fixer, Soul on Ice, Down These Mean Streets, A Hero Ain't Nothin' But A Sandwich and Go Ask Alice, the anonymous diary of a teenager who died from a drug overdose.3 In defense of [End Page 39] their actions the officials claimed that all the books were "anti-American, anti-Christian, anti-Semitic and just plain filthy"4—although neither board member had read any of them. In Kanawha County, West Virginia, (1974) a school board member started questioning the moral quality of certain textbooks used in the schools. She convinced other parents to boycott for change. Eventually, violence took over and several schools were bombed, factories closed and dozens of coal miners sent on strike in support of the anti-textbook crusade. Additionally, the windows of the Board of Education were shattered and the superintendent received repeated threats on his life.5 Frightening as these incidents are to those who cherish intellectual freedom, these book burnings and bannings are not isolated occurrences. According to the American Library Association, more than 1,000 titles a year are either removed or threatened with removal from both school and public libraries.6 Incidents are occurring everywhere from California to New York to Ohio. Further, they are not confined to "backwoods communities" in these areas. Rather, censorship is a phenomenon which encompasses all demographic strata—with the largest number of incidents actually occurring in urban areas. The censors seek to impose, to restrict, to make us conform. They come from a wide variety of religious viewpoints and political perspectives, both liberal and conservative. Yet they are united in the belief that access to diverse ideas must be limited for not only their own children but for all children. The reasons for this recent surge in censorship activity have their basis in our rapidly changing, often frustrating society. Many people perceive a "collapse of values" in society and schools—and feel powerless to control or reverse these changes. Citizens who believe it's futile to fight Washington view local schools and libraries as accessible targets. Thus, they vent their frustrations on these institutions, using censorship as a major weapon.7 A second problem arises from the conflict between new approaches to teaching literature and what adults experienced in school. They don't understand why students are studying contemporary fiction rather than diagramming sentences. They become disturbed when they read passages out of context which contain four-letter words or depict parent-child conflicts. Combine these anxieties with the "Back to Basics" movement and one can see how parents become concerned—with censorship an outcome of this concern. Society has historically tended to view schools as preserving and transmitting our cultural heritage. It does not perceive their duty to be that of promoting student questioning of fundamental beliefs. Thus, when teachers choose books to stimulate critical thought, they should be...