Censorship in School Libraries

The most debatable and controversial form of censorship today is the banning of books in school libraries. Banning books that educate students is wrong and selfish. Censorship of books in school libraries is neither uncommon nor an issue of the past. Books with artistic and cultural worth are still challenged constantly by those who want to control what others read. The roots of bigotry and illiteracy that fuel efforts to censor books and free expression …

…these banned books topple the walls of hate and fear and build bridges of cooperation and understanding far more effectively than weapons. George Orwell's classic 1984 painted a bleak picture of a mind-controlled, book burning society in which creative thinking was forbidden. If the censorship in school libraries continues to expand, the society portrayed in the book may even become reality. "Where they have burned books, they will end up burning human beings " (qtd. in Heine 44).