By contributing writers Maria Fisher (‘27) and Sophia Falasco (‘29)
October is filled with cozy autumn vibes and spooky Halloween themes but there is one week in October that gets bypassed much too often. Banned Books week was Oct. 5-11. With all of the buzz about fall sports and holidays, people often forget about this important week where we are reminded why reading books is important.
Reading banned books is different from reading another book. Although all books may seem interchangeable, there is a stigma around banned books. While books may receive bans for various reasons, the general notion around it is government control over opinion. As Science teacher John Lembeck says, “If books are important enough to get banned, there is obviously something in them people don’t want us to see.” Sophomore Olivia Azria added on to this statement by asking “What don’t they want us to know?” referring to governments who ban certain books. Junior Ayman El-Zammar questions, “If we don’t read different books how will we get different opinions.”
J-DHS’ Librarian Jessie Moore claims that reading banned books is especially important in order to educate readers about different lifestyles and opinions, even if readers don’t agree with the author’s views. If people are always censoring books, we won’t be able to learn from different experiences. “It makes our society less open,” Moore said.
There are also discussions about whether or not banning books takes away from the First Amendment. “Yes. It takes away someone’s voice as an author and limits the knowledge the reader is allowed,” junior Kavya Arasu says. Senior Kol Henderson adds, “It takes away freedom of press and speech for the author, but not the readers.” Freshman Amelia Ochse expresses that banning books limits what we are educated about and therefore is dangerous because if only one voice is speaking to us, telling us what to think.
“I think it should be up to parents to decide what they want their kids to read about,” English teacher Constance Myers shares.
