Con 1
Parents may control what their own children read, but don't have a right to restrict what books are available to other people.
Parents who don’t like specific books can have their kids “opt out” of an assignment without infringing on the rights of others. The National Coalition against Censorship explained that “Even books or materials that many find ‘objectionable’ may have educational value, and the decision about what to use in the classroom should be based on professional judgments and standards, not individual preferences.” [6] In the 1982 Supreme Court ruling on Board of Education v. Pico, Justice Brennan wrote that taking books off of library shelves could violate students’ First Amendment rights, adding that “Local school boards may not remove books from school libraries simply because they dislike the ideas contained in those books.” [21]
Con 2
Many frequently challenged books help people get a better idea of the world and their place in it.
Robie H. Harris, author of frequently challenged children’s books including It’s Perfectly Normal: Changing Bodies, Growing up, Sex, and Sexual Health, stated, “I think these books look at the topics, the concerns, the worry, the fascination that kids have today… It’s the world in which they’re living.” [8] Many books that have long been considered to be required reading to become educated about literature and American history are frequently challenged, such as: The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger, The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck, To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, The Color Purple by Alice Walker, Beloved by Toni Morrison, and Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston. [9] 46 of the Radcliffe Publishing Group’s “Top 100 Novels of the 20th Century” are frequently challenged; banning them would deprive students of essential cultural and historical knowledge, as well as differing points of view. [9]
Con 3
Books are a portal to different life experiences and reading encourages empathy and social-emotional development.
One study found that reading J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter series, which is frequently challenged for religious concerns about witchcraft, “improved attitudes” about immigrants, homosexuals, and refugees. [11] Another study found that reading narrative fiction helped readers understand their peers and raised social abilities. [12][13] A study in Basic and Applied Social Psychology found that people who read a story about a Muslim woman were less likely to make broad judgments based on race. [14] Neil Gaiman, author of the frequently challenged novel Neverwhere, among other books, stated that fiction “build[s] empathy… You get to feel things, visit places and worlds you would never otherwise know. You learn that everyone else out there is a me, as well. You’re being someone else, and when you return to your own world, you’re going to be slightly changed. Empathy is a tool for building people into groups, for allowing us to function as more than self-obsessed individuals.” [15]
Explanation:
