Censorship has been a growing debate in our country as big headlines are questioning whether it benefits or harms students in various degrees of education from elementary to high school. These questions have been brought up as shown through Florida limiting content in the AP Psychology course and the court case of Evans vs. Selma Union High School District. To get to the core of these complex situations, we must address what censorship is. Censorship is the removal or suppression of literary, educational, and artistic materials deemed to be inappropriate, offensive, or on morally “shaky” grounds that can be found in many circumstances such as schools. For example, many books in the US are deemed to be inappropriate based on gender, and offensive based on cruel historical events that politicians believe wouldn’t be suitable for mentioning to youth.
Since 1637, banning books and limiting exposure to certain concepts has been present, in many different countries in multiple texts. Additionally, since 1990, the American Library Association has received reports from over 18,000 attempts to ban books from schools and libraries. This article will focus specifically on censorship in education. The books found in the US educational curriculum such as Fahrenheit 451, Anne Frank’s Diary, and even the Dictionary have been banned before!
One of the big headline cases about censorship is Florida placed a ban on the Advanced Placement Psychology course offered by College Board, a nonprofit that oversees AP courses and SAT testing. Back in August of this year, the College Board announced that all Florida school districts should no longer give students access to their AP Psychology course because of the battle on how to teach certain units about gender, race, and sexual identity. Florida’s governor Ron DeSantis argued that “gender identity has no place in our K-12 school system.” Previously, he had signed off on the new “Don’t Say Gay” bill, which prohibits all classroom discussion on topics of sexual orientation and gender identity. As a repercussion of this, Florida has carried out their plan of banning curriculum that encompasses anything sex and gender-related. The College Board has fought back against the Florida government by saying that the curriculum is not fit without the dive into gender and sex studies. College Board believed that to teach the course with its full integrity, gender, and sex studies would be necessary to teach and discuss in classrooms. Because of this, they have agreed to ban the course.
High school students in Florida in a classroom. Courtesy of “Scott Roberson.”
The precedent for this recent case in Florida is the famous Evans vs. Selma Union High School District in 1924. The argument in this case by Evans is that all publications or papers of a sectarian, partisan, or denominational character were not allowed in any Californian school libraries. This was debated upon keeping or ejecting the King James Library from all California school libraries. The California Supreme Court rejected the petitioner’s argument, stating that: “The mere act of purchasing a book to be added to the school library does not carry with it any implication of the adoption of the theory or dogma contained therein, or any approval of the book itself, except as a work of literature fit to be included in a reference library.” The result was the retention of the bible.
I think that there are both positive and negative effects of censorship. The positives are that censorship discourages racial stereotyping and eliminates certain aspects of the worry of parents when sending their children to school. Authors have the right to put whatever they want in their books, some of which might not be suitable for young children to read. Because of this, authors have the freedom to write about their personal experiences, perhaps with the presence of their own racial experiences. Children might not be mature enough to handle and understand the density of the author’s experience with this topic, and they could end up misunderstanding the meaning behind the author’s words without proper guidance from an educated adult. In addition, the individual beliefs of parents could influence their worries about what their child’s school will teach them when they attend; sending down the “groundwork” for what the school district allows and doesn’t allow, makes parents more comfortable with the curriculum being taught to their children.
However, censorship does come with some negatives. It can prevent the development of students’ opinions and ideas (especially on controversial topics), it can cause conflict between teachers and parents of opposing ideas, and it can create conflict between the school and students. When pieces of a curriculum or certain books are banned at schools, students are not provided with information that can help them form their own opinions on a certain topic. This can be harmful because it can stifle a student’s curiosity about a topic they may be very interested in. Another con is the conflict between teachers and parents. Generally, teachers usually side with the opinion of allowing their students to read or see paper or media that allows them to fully learn about a certain topic, as parents could worry that this harms their kids by exposing them to information that is too advanced. My last negative about this topic is that censorship can cause disagreement between students and their schools. Many students are curious, and when they become aware that their school district might be banning an aspect of their curriculum that the student feels passionate about, it provides natural breeding grounds for disagreement. Overall, I believe there is no clean-cut solution to whether censorship is effective or not; I think that it depends on how it is being used. In summary, censorship is a delicate yet important topic to talk about as it affects schools all over our nation, and the world.
Students who are protesting against a book ban put in place by their school district. Courtesy of “Dan Rainville.”
What do you think about this issue? Is censorship in education beneficial or harmful to students? Does it depend on the age and maturity of the student? Do the positive and negative aspects of censorship weigh out? Share this article with your friends and family and see what they think!
Works Cited
Classroom censorship hurts students. IDRA. (2022, November 22). https://www.idra.org/education_policy/classroom-censorship-hurts-students/
Mervosh, S. (2023, August 3). The College Board says A.P. Psychology is “effectively banned” in Florida. The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2023/08/03/us/florida-ap-psychology-courses.html
Censorship in schools pros and cons list. NYLN.org. (2017, January 14). https://nyln.org/censorship-in-schools-pros-and-cons-list
DeSantis kicks off feud over College Board’s AP psych class. POLITICO. (n.d.). https://www.politico.com/news/2023/06/15/college-board-psychology-course-stirs-new-fight-with-desantis-administration-00102240
The dangerous consequences of Florida’s “Don’t say gay” bill on LGBTQ+ Youth in Florida. The Dangerous Consequences of Florida’s “Don’t Say Gay” Bill on LGBTQ+ Youth in Florida | Georgetown Journal of Gender and the Law | Georgetown Law. (n.d.). https://www.law.georgetown.edu/gender-journal/online/volume-xxiii-online/the-dangerous-consequences-of-floridas-dont-say-gay-bill-on-lgbtq-youth-in-florida/