Preview

Old Books Are Dangerous? by Valgroth

Satisfactory Essays
Open Document
Open Document
580 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Old Books Are Dangerous? by Valgroth
OLD BOOKS ARE DANGEROUS? It was November 29, 2011, Tuesday, around quarter to nine, I was in the Department of Languages, looking out of the window, when I saw a youth pulling a wheelbarrow. I looked intently at its content and I saw they were books. I knew what’s going on! The library was once again throwing away old books which it labeled as “condemned”. CONDEMNED! What a description?! The books were condemned in such a way that they would be discarded and burned without the knowledge of many students and faculty of the school. Why is this? I really wondered what is the reason or reasons for this decision and action. According to one of my friends and classmates in college, the books are burned because they are old and the knowledge they contain are already obsolete. Therefore it is dangerous to give them to teachers and students because the knowledge they will acquire from reading the books are not anymore reliable and accurate in the present time. Is this indeed true? Or judicious? Do old books really contain obsolete information that offering them to anyone is perilous? There are fields of discipline in this world which knowledge seldom change or don’t change at all. Say for instance, literature and history. The stories found in literature books are never changed especially if they are already classical. So is it dangerous to offer old books in literature? Do Shakespeare’s sonnets change with time? Do Iliad and Odyssey get new as trends and technology do? They don’t! and that is very obvious. Now why don’t they (those who decide to discard and burn the books secretly) let those books in literature to be used by poor students who cannot afford to buy books due to severe poverty yet have the enthusiasm to be intelligent and competitive? Also do with history books. Does it mean that since we are already in the twenty-first century, history books that are written in the twentieth century not advisable to be used and be read by students? Why? Do the events in

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Satisfactory Essays

    Priscilla Coit Murphy begins her article Books Are Dead, Long Live Books by siting the work of a man named Octave Uzanne who predicted in 189e that “the book-as-we-know-it would soon disappear”. She then goes on to site other articles from 1919, then 1925, and so on and so forth. The many examples of misguided notions that other mediums would lead to the extinction of books all but make Murphy’s argument before she even begins to write. After displaying an array of evidence Murphy introduces three basic themes (rivalry, convergence, and complementarity) that have been highly discussed and speculated upon for generations regarding the shelf life of books as a product.…

    • 430 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Pat Mora’s unique stories connect children to different cultures and languages, thus having the power to inspire them. In Pat Mora’s book Tomás and the Library Lady or Tomás y la señora de la biblioteca (Spanish version) we see how reading opens new worlds and thus enrich a child’s life. The book is about the support a migrant worker family shows to the education of their child, Tomás. Tomás’s Papa Grande encourages him to go to the library to find new stories, since Tomás knows all of his grandfather’s stories. Booklist reveals that the book “is based on an actual migrant worker who became chancellor of a university.” Pat Mora presents topics that affect the Mexican-American population. As claimed by Barbara Freedman, “reading opens doors…

    • 330 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    In the article “What is Schizophrenia” by Lindsey Konkel (Web), discuss the main facts on what schizophrenia is, what causes this disorder and how it affect people throughout their daily lives. Schizophrenia is a brain disorder that causes difficulty for individuals to separate what is realistic or unrealistic, such as a person’s thoughts, feelings, and/or their actions. Schizophrenia is a disorder that can affect an individual’s day-to-day performance, however; this disorder can be controlled by using the proper treatments.…

    • 79 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Books give the world knowledge. They tell the truths that are behind the myths and legends. Paper knowledge that shows the reality of the world, whether people want to know said realities or not. So what is it called when those books are taken away? It is called censorship. Plain, simple, and no way around it. The book Fahrenheit 451 gives perfect insight as to what life would be like with the lack of books. Ray Bradbury’s story not only shows life without books, but also critics the society of today and how books are lacking. Books are being taken away in Fahrenheit 451 because their government does not want its people to have the knowledge that the books provide. This same situation occurs in modern day societies, causing ignorance among…

    • 379 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    With the fascist government in “Fahrenheit 451,” it can be easily inferred that books are not the only subject of limitation. It was said that cars were only allowed to drive at very high speeds and walking on the streets was forbidden, and that if people did otherwise, they would be given hefty fines and in some cases taken into custody. From this, it is almost obvious that the fascist government is trying to control all aspects of people’s lives. However, books have always been the way for these people to escape the harsh realities, and when the books, too, became forbidden, they were furious. To them, books are one of the last hopes they can hold on to. With fire, however, the government is quick in its mission to burn all copies of books. Fire is seen to be just as despicable and evil as the fascist government.…

    • 856 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    This unspoken life was an afraid-free and joyful life, but due to one man’s malicious acts the whole world was afraid of the “firemen” he founded. These firemen would go to random homes and burn the not only the books but the home and human as well. This fact makes the preservation of knowledge so much more important. It is so important because the survivors of the burnings will go and educate the younger generation about the firemen, what they do, why they burn books, and how they do it. The…

    • 536 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Books provide one with knowledge, creativity, imagination, and awareness. Burning books eliminates all of these factors. The destruction of books will lead to chaos and ignorance. In Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury book burning is accepted in society. Citizens who have books hidden in their homes are faced with consequence of having their home burned down, and of course the books. One reads this and can not believe that something like this happens and is accepted, but fail to realize that events such as these have happened in the past. One of many examples of such an event took place in Germany.…

    • 739 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Beatty explains that the reason why books are banned is to keep everyone happy. Books grew to be considered bad because of “technology, mass exploitation, and minority pressure.” People were too impatient to read, no one wanted to be offended by anything or offend anyone else, and the thought and knowledge brought on by books made people different, and no one wanted to think they weren’t intelligent The world began to move quicker. People were impatient, and didn’t want to “waste” time reading; they preferred to have “the gag, the snap ending.” As people began to move quicker, they had less time to think deeply. People began to be more lazy, and didn’t want any more knowledge than they thought they needed. The population of the world grew,…

    • 185 Words
    • 1 Page
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Fahrenheit 451

    • 1082 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Books give us knowledge and spark our imagination and if you destroy books it is like destroying knowledge. This helps the government to be unchanged (it is like a dictatorship)…

    • 1082 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Almost four hundred years later, books are still being banned based on the fear of information. People of religious backgrounds question books which preach atheism, and fear for their religion. Parents question books which detail graphic or adult themes, for fear of their children’s innocence. Fear has been the primary motivator of literary outlawing for centuries, and it encroaches on our right to information to this very day. As Claire Mullally points out in her article ‘Banned…

    • 1004 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Book Bannings

    • 387 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Books all over America are in danger. Books, objects that allow imagination and the expansion of the mind and the world around one, are often times subject to criticism and even bannings when any one person does not like the content. Books bannings should not be done whatsoever, let alone become a semi-common practice. Of course, bannings only occur after careful consideration. Or do they? Censorship is a growing problem in America, as parents and other authority figures ban various types of books in their community when content is too “edgy” or “age inappropriate”, and these are often gone through without the book so much as being opened. However, in all reality, what might be “wrong” for one child may be just right for another. Are book…

    • 387 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    At first glance, the debate over banning books appears unimportant. Nevertheless, this debate has divided our nation into those who favor censoring books to protect their impressionable adolescents, and those who argue that education should be open for everybody without interference from the government in restricting the publishing and accessing of these books.…

    • 1208 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Banning Books In Schools

    • 953 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Throughout the years, books from classics to young adult novels have been banned.. Books are an essential part of education. They have always been there to teach children, but all over the country, books are being prohibited. Certain books are not only banned in schools but they are also banned in libraries, and bookstores, limiting public access to specific pieces of literature. These books are banned for because they include profanity, or sometimes having different opinions than the majority of the population. However, Books should not be banned in schools because banning certain books prevents freedom of speech, keeps readers away from reality, and limits learning tools.…

    • 953 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    The second world war saw libraries everywhere, even in internment camps. The Americans tried to make the camps as similar to a small city as possible, and that included libraries. The war built libraries but destroyed many more; the Asian continent saw many a nation’s greatest collections burned by enemies. After the war was over, universities filled with veterans searching for higher education. The libraries at that institution not only processed the new information streaming in with the veterans but the requests that they had. The following Cold War sent parents into a panic. They feared that the Soviets were indoctrinating the children with communist propaganda through the books. This led to a complete stop in information from the USSR. That panic rolled into the desegregation of public libraries.…

    • 286 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    He compares the modern books to the older ones by saying, "In these books, history is clearly not a list of agreed-upon facts or a sermon on politics but a babble of voices and a welter of events which must be ordered by the hitorian." While the second part of that quote uses subjective language, it still paints a good contrast between the two pedagogical approaches. The textbooks in the fifties were solid and unquestioning, while the new books analyze and question history. The educational approach is significant because it influences the students view of America and its history. A lecture of facts creates a static vision of America and a sense of permanence, while the new learning techniques teach the student to consider multiple interpretations of the same facts. I think that this is a huge step forward in the learning process because it uses a familiar subject like history to teach students real world tools like critical thinking and objective analysis. This means that even though history keeps getting revised for every generation of school children, the process is moving in the right direction toward a better and more clear understanding of our…

    • 1083 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays