The article “Why did Biloxi pull ‘To Kill A Mockingbird’ from the 8th-grade lesson plan?” written by Karen Nelson, published on the website sunherald.com is about banning To Kill A Mockingbird from the school curriculum. To Kill A Mockingbird, an American classic taught in 8th grade English Language Arts classes got banned last week, because there were complains about the wording in the book which made some readers feel uncomfortable. The book is still in the school’s library but won’t be used in the 8th-grade curriculum anymore. In my opinion it was unnecessary to ban the novel just because of some words that offended a few people.
I think people get offended too quickly and are overprotective. If there is language that makes some readers feel uncomfortable, I think it gives a stronger message than if it wouldn’t be there. It would be more accurate with that language, because it’s not hiding reality. “Censorship is telling a man he can’t have a steak just because a baby can’t chew it” by Mark Twain is a quote I completely agree with. I agree with this quote because if a book is getting banned because of some profanity, which might be offensive for some people and smaller children, other people shouldn’t be prevented from reading it. For everyone getting “offended” is different, so why would a school change the curriculum because of a few people getting offended by the language in a book. I find it really strange that a few people can change a whole curriculum. An 8th grade teacher described the book like this ““Compassionate, dramatic, and deeply moving, To Kill A Mockingbird takes readers to the roots of human behavior.” I can identify with this teacher, because other books might not have the same moral or give the same message.
Banning books is not going along with freedom of speech and press, which are both part of the first amendment. Writers shouldn’t have their work getting banned, the same goes for any artist. Writing, making music, and other things like that are a way to express yourself, your opinions, and your emotions, and it’s not fair if that right gets taken away from you because people are banning your books. It’s extraordinary that a book that won awards and was turned into a Oscar-winning film got banned. “A Southern gothic novel, it was published in 1960, won the Pulitzer Prize in fiction the next year and was adapted into an Oscar-winning film in 1962.” is a quote from the article.
I think people have to be careful with hiding banned books from children, because allowing them to read banned books makes them more aware of the world’s issues and different perspectives. It’s dangerous to withhold information from them because it keeps them narrow-minded. “In 2017, we can read what we like but there is a different kind of censorship in operation, not coming from the state but from an outraged public. We really need to be aware and wary of it and we’re not, sufficiently.” is a quote from this article about banned books week, I agree with this because in the present more challenged books are coming from outraged individuals who get “offended” by the book. We should stop banning books at all and give artists freedom of speech and press.
In conclusion, the school shouldn’t have banned it from the curriculum or have changed the curriculum because of a few people. If someone that has to read a certain book for school get’s offended by it, I think they should just ask the teacher for a different book to read or not get offended that easily. They should practice self-censorship and get to know what they can handle.
Felipe Janssen 