Censorship in schools is doing a lot more harm than good. Stephanie Sharlow on why this needs to change.
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I think we can all agree that educational administrations usually believe they know what’s best, that they are the experts in molding young minds and they know how to prepare students for the real world.
Sometimes, however, these administrations employ some pretty bad ideas, and censorship is one of them.
This is exactly what Jefferson County, Colorado schools are doing in an attempt to rewrite history by extracting civil disobedience from our country and classrooms and solely promoting sheep-like patriotism.
Don’t get me wrong; I love America, and patriotism is important, but filtering information and ideas, while teaching, is one of the most despicable things an educator could do.
Luckily, more than 50 teachers disagree with the administration’s curriculum change, and the students are onboard to fight for their education, as well.
However, the issue of censorship isn’t confined to Colorado; it happens in schools all over the country far too often, stifling the learning process of free-flowing ideas that are intrinsic to real learning.
Students Have Constitutional Rights
Just because the vast majority of high school students are under the age of 18, does not mean they lack the same basic freedoms on which our country was founded.
Going back to Tinker vs. Des Moines in 1969, students have been allocated — to a degree — First Amendment rights of speech and expression.
I understand enforcing rules regarding foul language, severe disturbance and general disorder, but it is vital not to infringe upon the critical thinking of young adults in their formative years. This is a time that will shape the kind of engaged and moral citizens they will be in the real world.
Controversy Leads To Growth
If life were all rosy and perfect, we’d be living in an episode of a 1950s syndicated sitcom, but it isn’t. Life is messy and complicated, and it only becomes more confusing the older we get.
So, why, if our public education system is built to not only educate us, but to prepare us for the real world, would that very same system take away the tools necessary to do so?
This isn’t “Mean Girls,” and we can’t bake a cake of rainbows to make things simple. Some of the best life lessons are learned when adversity strikes, when discussions are cultivated and when ideas are challenged.
Censorship Doesn’t Eliminate Reality
When I was a freshman in high school, “The Perks of Being a Wallflower” became a hot-button issue, thanks to one (yes, one) overprotective mother.
The loneliness, the partying, the self-discovery and the issue of depression, mental health and suicide that runs throughout the book concerned her, and she managed to achieve a district-wide ban. One year later, our classmate took his own life, and each and every student read a copy of the book during study hall.
Hiding the truth doesn’t take away the fact that tragic and taboo circumstances affect all of us each and every day. Because reading is knowledge and knowledge is power, allowing young students to discover the world on their own terms will lead to an even greater and more complex understanding than we could even hope to possess.
Sometimes, Administrations Really Are Harboring Secrets
Apparently, my high school had a penchant for censorship because, as the editor of my high school newspaper, myself and another reporter decided to do an undercover exposé on pregnancy in our high school.
We’d heard testimonies from girls who moved away, came back with a baby and were unable to re-enroll, or girls who were forbidden from walking across the stage at their commencement. I had even heard from a friend about her terminated pregnancy, and the administration’s involvement.
So we decided to send the other girl to the nurse with a faux pregnancy, and see how she was treated. Somehow, the district caught wind of our plan, and we were threatened with suspension or worse if we went through with the piece. Eventually, our advisor pulled it from the paper for our academic safety.
I think about this often when the topic of censorship arises because I know from experience that schools often limit students when they don’t want them to know the truth. After all, thou who doth protest too much usually has something to hide.
Students Are Not Ignorant
The real root of my issue with censorship is that parents, teachers and administrations attempt to use it on students who are not ignorant. They are the tail end of a generation that is independent, strong-willed, highly opinionated and slightly narcissistic.
Just like the Jefferson County students, people will not stand by and allow their education to be compromised; they know they deserve the best. We thrive off of challenging each other in our thoughts, knowledge, actions and ideas. We will fight for our right to know the truth and form our own opinions.
It is not a governmental system’s place to determine what students can and cannot learn, and if they keep employing censorship as often as they do, it will destroy our educational system from the inside out.
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About the author
Stephanie Sharlow is a Media Fellow graduate of DePauw University, holding a degree in music and a minor in media studies. She runs solely on caffeine and pizza, and has a deep and unwavering love for shoes, SoulCycle, and social media. Follow her salty soapbox on Twitter and Instagram @StephSharlow.
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This article originally appeared on Elite Daily.
Photo credit: IsaacMao/flickr