Censorship is present all around us. Whether it be news you see on the television or announcements you hear on the radio – nearly everything you see or hear is put through measures to attempt to uphold a general nation-wide or world-wide standard that has been established to protect people around the world.
In some ways, censorship can arguably be a very helpful thing. For instance, because of censorship, child pornography is illegal in the United States, which protects young children. That being said, censorship can also be used in ways that, in my opinion, are damaging to groups of people.
Take, for instance, censorship at high schools across the country. Books such as The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald, and 1984, by George Orwell, are some of the dozens of books that have been banned or challenged on high school campuses nationwide. Besides works produced by other authors and artists, in some cases a students’ own work has gotten them suspended or even expelled.
So is censorship in schools right? In my opinion, though it seems unrealistic to eliminate all censorship, I believe that many schools and their administrations overstep the boundaries between maintaining a safe campus, and censoring students to the point that things that could be informative and helpful are watered down to the point that they are suitable for a 3rd grade classroom newsletter.
High school is meant to prepare us for the real world, yet we’re learning how to use sub-par technology that is rarely used in the workforce, and reading watered-down renditions of events that we somehow still call ‘informative’.
The theory of censorship in schools is to prepare students for life in the real-world, but as my favorite young wizard Harry Potter (Year 5) once said, “How is theory supposed to prepare us for what’s out there?”, to which he was answered by oppressive Professor Umbridge, “There’s nothing out there dear.” Unfortunately, the way that some high schools censor their students and the media around them can sometimes lead to a bit of shock when students leave the protective clutches of their school and their parent’s home.
When we leave high school, administrators aren’t going to be sitting around censoring all of the things that we read and write. Websense doesn’t exist at college, and university newspapers certainly are free to report the news that affects their student audience. Is underage drinking becoming more prevalent on campus? A college newspaper isn’t going to publish a two-page article explaining all of the reasons that drinking can be bad for your health and why you shouldn’t do it – journalists know that if you want that information, you can find it easily in pamphlets around town and webpages online.
Because of that, the college paper will be able to provide their readers with a viewpoint that the student wouldn’t be able to find with a simple Google search. Perhaps the college reporters will interview students to share their real unedited opinions on the issue, or talk to teachers about how it may have affected their classes.
Truth be told, I think that censorship on school campuses handicaps kids because it doesn’t give them the opportunity to deal with somewhat shocking and sometimes disturbing news and media in a safe environment