Should Schools Be Banning Books In......Massachusetts?
929986
That`s the trouble with the education system, You are only taught what the so called mainstream academics think you ought to know, which is their accepted view of the world and no other alternate theories will be allowed to surface. Children and college students will be drowning in censorship sooner rather than later. The system is fundamentally flawed, and that`s exactly what American academia is looking for. I dread to think how the next generation will turn out, it`s an obscenity.
157631
Depends on who is doing the banning.  If this is a high school publication, the adult advisor or principal can ask that a student-written poem or any other work be removed.  I've seen it done.  The school has the right to prevent obscene or incendiary artwork from being distributed if the administration fears for the safety of the students as a whole.  It may sound like communism, but freedom of speech is not 100% universal-- it extends mostly to the press, not the individual contributors.\n\nA poem can always remain unpublished if the magazine or website decides it is not what they want to publish.  Publishers have the right not to publish.  When you're talking about banning, you're really saying it was legitimately published, but then forcibly removed through an unfair process.  That's something that only the courts can settle.  They must decide if the work violated any current laws and if the person who removed it had the legal authority to do so.
901502
I don't think any of it should be banned.  I think the advantage would lie in teaching everything, so that education isn't subject to some kind of cultural censorship.
936165
If you are interested in being banned from the library, try whatever you want, otherwise search out an internet cafe.  The blocks are on library computers for a reason.  AND THEY AREN'T YOUR COMPUTERS!
122648
I only know of 1 book that has been banned, but not really to the entire public. This book is the Da Vinci Code. The Pope banned it before he died, but it has already been made into a movie and sold in bookstores everywhere.
105887
No.  Education should be a local issue and should be decided by local school districts with guidance from a state department of education.
395457
You can go to the law library and look it up! why is Massachusetts having as much of a problem with vandalism and any part of the rest of the country?
428907
Yes, I think all religious books should be within reach, even those we don't necessarily agree with. If nothing else, it is a teaching tool and could offer some help in building tolerance between religions.\nNot to mention it is a great way to get rid of the stereotypes and rumors common within every religion.
91177
NO.  I don't believe in the banning of any books.  Hitler started with the banning of books.  Next came the banning of ideas.  Finally, came the banning of races.  If you don't like them, then don't read them.
767515
Don't think anyone but the mildly sadistic would welcome a return to the days of the cane. \n\nSchool measures all centre on detentions / suspensions / exclusions model - a pupil can only be excluded if they have been suspended for a certain number of days in total across the school year. \n\nMy family is full of teachers and they all agree in this principle, but say it is too hard to exclude pupils for consistantly poor discipline - maybe you could focus on that as a topic and research some examples locally.
1059396
Move to a country where censorship is permissable.\nIf you get to remove from the PUBLIC library what YOU find objectionable, then I get to remove what offends ME, and so does the next guy, before long, you have an empty library.
619072
Absolutely!  While we're at it, lets ban all forms of debate.  That free speech can be a dangerous thing so we better ban that too.  I know a few dangerous books that I would like to ban and I'm sure you'll agree that it would be for the good of us all.  Oh there's so much evil in the world I don't know where to start.
732857
The way they are reducing education standards they might as well scrap school.\n\nFFS they are even allowing TXT SPEAK to be used in essays for everything but English Language these days.
895902
It is acceptable to violate a law. Speeding to get someone to the hospital. Jaywalking to save someone. Countless others.\n\nI grew up in Boston. Strong Iriish Catholic but no prayer in public schools. My children are now in grade school in TN (Bible belt). They pray in public school. Could not draw Jack-O-Lanterns for halloween because it was satanic. Way over the top for me.
483044
I dont think that it should be banned, even fiction has it's own lessons we can live by. I also believe some of it was actually true. I believe dan brown says some of the book was actually none-fiction and fiction. I think what we can do is, take what we can and believe in and leave the rest behind. I believe that in everything there is a symbolic message for us to understand....
989450
I am so pissed.  Not at this, but at the idea.  I thought liberals weren't supposed to be afraid of ideas.\n\nHowever, in California they have purged the textbooks and educational exhibits to take out such UnAmerican things as Teddy Roosevelt (a hunter which is not PC).  He is in the lists of who the Presidents are, but if you try to find out about Yosemite, you will learn only of John Muir and Lincoln, as if John Muir had a seance with Lincoln's ghost and by some miracle Yosemite valley was added to the National Park system.\n\nThey are now requiring that when famous people who were gay are discussed in elementary school, the book needs to tell about their sexual orientation.  My kids are older now and can deal with it, but I frankly don't think it is the school's place to discuss sexuality with kindergartners.  I bet the books aren't going to say someone is straight every time they discuss a famous straight person.\n\nThere is nothing so scary as someone who uses thought control 'for your own good'.
433414
Try this link:\n\nhttp://www.louisbrailleschool.org/ban.pdf