Censorship In Plato's The Republic

In Book III of The Republic, Plato addresses the basic principles of education and the role of censorship in a just nation. He begins by compiling that education should consist of music, and poetry for the rational part of the soul, and physical education for the spirited part of the soul. Both together generate a harmony in the soul which is, the ultimate goal of education. Plato then states that education in music and poetry begins before the physical training. He then describes that beginning of any process is the most important. Which is true, the beginning of the process lays out the foundation. Let’s say a woman does drugs during her pregnancy; her baby might come out with deformities, because negligence during the beginning process of the infant’s life.
Plato goes on further in expressing that we nurture the youth by telling
them two types of stories; some true, and others false. By telling children stories we begin to mold, and feed the youth inner morals. It is important to do this while children are still very young because it is at this time that they are most malleable and take on any pattern one wishes to impress on it. Which is true, because a child doesn’t know right from wrong until he is shown the distinction. A person could be raised with bad morals,and yet believe that he is doing good, due to his bad upbringing. Plato states that in order to make sure education goes well, the philosopher-kings must control storytellers. Socrates believes that people want to mold their children to be good citizens. He also believes that young people need to be told as they grow up noble fictions, and useful lies. Plato believes that this type of education is beneficial to society as a whole.
Plato assumes that children learn from what they are told. Which is true. For example, in the movie Matilda, (1996) when Harry Wormwood punishes his daughter Matilda for being, in his eyes, a smart aleck. He tells her, “When a person is bad, that person has to be taught a lesson.” He unintentionally introduced Matilda to the idea that children could punish their parents when they deserve it. Since children are, by nature, naive and immature, if a majority were told what Matilda was told, children would go around punishing their parents for giving them chores or not letting them overindulge in junk food. This is because children haven’t yet realized what is good for them and what isn’t.
Children not only learn from what they are told, but also from what they see in the environment around them. When a child is first born he is unable to speak, or walk, however, the child begins observing others and mimicking their actions. I, myself, certainly don’t remember being taught how to walk or talk, and that is because no one is taught. Though through observational learning and trial and error, we teach ourselves these important skills.
While observational learning benefits us, it can also be harmful to the soul. If a child is raised in a family that adores guns, the chances that the child would be intrigued to play with guns rises. This is harmful because children are ignorant, that child might accidentally shot his foot off. Plato believes in censorship because it gives the power to eliminate all the bad portrayed in the world. This would eventually result in less bad people in the world. Like the old saying “Hear no evil, see no evil, speak no evil.” With that notion eventually there would be no evil. All it takes is one bad seed to ruin the whole crop.
On the most part I agree with Plato on the concept that the storytellers must be supervised. If death was never portrayed as painful and mournful, it wouldn’t impact us as much. If we are told stories when we are young about heroes dying and the death is described as relieving because they no longer have to suffer, and as an accomplishment because the heroes purpose on earth was fulfilled. The children would grow up not fearing death, but looking at it as an accomplishment.
I also agree with Socrates argument that gods should not be portrayed as anything bad or evil.
I believe the whole concept of God is to provide a omnipresent figure for the goodness in the world. I also agree that the unjust should not be characters that succeed in stories, because it appeals the idea that it is okay to do bad as long as you’re good at being bad. For example a quote that has been said in my generation is “A good girl is a bad girl who doesn’t get caught.” Just because you didn’t get caught doesn’t make you any less bad, what would make someone good is resisting the desire to do bad and strengthening their will power. This isn’t a good thing to teach children because then they will focus on being deceitful instead of just good. Plato also argues that gods shouldn’t be represented as shapeshifters or liars because children will grow up without a proper approbation of truth and honesty. I agree because once someone finds out they have been lied to they begin questioning everything that relates to the lie. This also tells children that it is okay to lie and deceive, I mean if it’s okay for gods to do it, why not
humans?
Storytellers must be controlled to pass on only what will benefit the souls of the people and society as a whole. Since children learn from not only their mistakes but the mistakes of others as well. Not only that, children also learn from others triumphs. Children pick up on almost anything they hear, this is why rulers must censor out the bad and evil in the world. Censorship is vital in order to harvest a population of just individuals.