The Many Benefits Of Banning Books

Whenever the mention of banning books comes up in literature or conversation, most people picture the ancient times when books were burned in piles of thousands. While this is an event that only occurred at the beginning of the ban on literature, it is nowhere near the end; In fact, different works of literature are still banned today, whether the novella is a year old or one hundred. Piles of literature may not be destroyed in today’s century, but the inability to read everything published still impacts society in a negative way. There have been numerous reasons for the banning of books that have remained constant, including racism, offensive language, drug/alcohol abuse, and more. The most prominent and unjust reasoning for this ban is that
of sexual content, including all mentions, acts, and homosexual tendencies; the practice of expelling this topic is extremely detrimental and should be discontinued for the rest of time. Throughout the history of the world up to the present, sexual content has been a topic that caused several pieces of literature to be banned within society. One of the earliest pieces to undergo this expulsion is by the Roman poet Ovid in 1 B.C. Called the Ars Amatoria, which is Latin for “The Art of Love” about a collection of 57 poems broken up into three books about how to find and seduce women; it was considered something that “... comprises three books of mock-didactic elegiacs on the art of seduction and intrigue” (Ars Amatoria). Approximately seven years after the publishing of Ars Amatoria, Ovid himself was banished from Rome due to the suggestive and immoral content found in the literature; after his departure, all copies of his works were burned for all of the public to see, (Bannings and Burnings in History). Even though bannings are still an act against certain works of literature that occur today, most novella is “challenged” by the public or certain cliques of people. According to the American Library Association, challenging is “an attempt to remove or restrict materials, based upon the objections of a person or group.” Out of the 10 most challenged books in 2016, seven of them were challenged for the sole reason of “explicit content” ranging from sexual descriptors to the use of LGBTQ characters throughout the piece, (Banned & Challenged Books). One piece of literature that was challenged for both of these reasons is David Levithan’s novel Two Boys Kissing. Two Boys Kissing is a true story that happened when two boys wanted to take part in a 32-hour kissing marathon to set a Guinness World Record, which was narrated by a Greek Chorus of gay men lost to AIDS. It addresses languishing long-term relationships, coming out, navigating gender identity, along with sexual themes regarding gay “hookup” sites. Many may come to the conclusion that Two Boys Kissing was challenged for fair and just reasonings; however, they are mistaken. The “sexually explicit” content along with the themes of LGBT characters are not the reason the book got challenged; rather, it was the fact that adults saw the novel’s material as unlawful, something uncomfortable to speak about with the adolescents of the United States. Although the act of banning books has been popular among cultures for thousands of years, it has an incredibly detrimental effect on the public; especially teachers.
The act of banning books conflicts with the curriculum teachers are given; The Common Core standards for English Language Arts include the idea that: “... students must grapple with works of exceptional craft and thought whose range extends across genres, cultures, and centuries” (Common Core State Standards Initiative, 35). The common core sets the standards for what students must learn within a span of a couple years (K-5 and 6-12); with the banning of books, however, this curriculum can be inhibited greatly, as many novellas that include “inappropriate sexual content” are ones that expand on topics/genres such as coming of age. These coming of age books often times include the expansion of societal problems teenagers and other adolescents face, which include topics about cultural differences, drug abuse, and sexual orientation/exploration. Works such as Judy Blume’s Forever, Stephen Chbosky's Perks of Being a Wallflower, and Sherman Alexie’s The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian are a small handful of important coming of age books challenged because of their so-called “explicit content.” The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, although a challenged book, spans across different cultures; it is an account on the life of a young Native American boy by the name of Junior who documents the struggles he faced due to his race and culture. Each example presented was challenged mainly for its graphic sexual content and withholding these important coming of age books from the curriculum would damage the selection of literature for the State Standards required to pass. Often times, certain pieces of literature are challenged multiple times within a couple of years; if the status of the pieces continuously changes, the curriculum itself must be redesigned. The possibility of ever-changing
curriculum inhibits the teacher's ability to provide quality lesson plans and provide a strong learning environment, (Agee, 61-69). To keep material constant, teachers often times have to whittle out specific passages in readings, along with, modifying real-aloud text, and completely getting rid of certain pieces of literature, (Noll, 59-64). Not only does the banning of books contradict the Common Core curriculum, but also compromises what teachers are allowed to work with/have students read.