What it means to ban books

While I was still teaching, I had a poster in my room listing banned books. So a story in Wednesday’s Tribune (“‘Book bans back in style’ in the US”) caught my attention. As did the recent removal of the graphic novel “Maus” from a school curriculum in Tennessee and similar attempts in school districts across the country.

Some of the books listed on that poster were the Bible, “Where’s Waldo?,” “Of Mice and Men,” “The Grapes of Wrath” and “The Merchant of Venice.” My students were drawn to that poster and had lots of questions. Especially since we were to read many of the selections.

I always felt it was my job as a teacher to choose material that would challenge my students intellectually. We live in a diverse world, and we need to find ways to incorporate that into our classrooms. That means choosing material that is age-appropriate and yet stretches limits.

During the Victorian era, many pieces of literature were “bowdlerized.” Dr. Thomas Bowdler felt that the works of Shakespeare were too explicit, that his use of double entendres were unfit for the more refined members of society. I fear that is where we are headed: a purge of any material that might offend the status quo.

I always thought the purpose of education was to challenge students with material that might require more than a cursory reading. Unless we challenge students, they will never learn. This is true across the spectrum: math, science, history, music, physical education.

That poster in my room sent my students to the library to find those books, determine why they were banned and ask questions. That’s education for you: stimulating inquisitive minds to search for answers.

Read on.

— Arlene R. Jarzab, Hinsdale