Censorship vs. Education: What does it mean to us as a nation?

Today's post is about something that has been in the news quite a bit lately, but has always been a big political and cultural issue: censorship.  First, let me go on record as being against most forms of censorship as we experience it now.  I think that for our nation to continue to grow and be strong, we need to embrace all thoughts, all expressions, and all types of people.

What is Censorship?

Wikipedia defines censorship as the following: "Censorship is the suppression of speech, public communication, or other information. This may be done on the basis that such material is considered objectionable, harmful, sensitive, or "inconvenient".^[2][3][4] Censorship can be conducted by governments,^[5] private institutions and other controlling bodies." And censorship has a very long and tortuous history.

What is the History Around Censorship in Schools?

Censorship in schools has been around for quite a long time.  During the Civil War, there were many efforts to curtail how the South was portrayed in print. In this article, "A Brief History of Curriculum Censorship", there is a portion that says:"Throughout US history, schools across every region of the country have banned both fiction and non-fiction books that school leaders, parents, or politicians perceived as threatening to their values. One of the most successful campaigns to restrict the teaching of history occurred in the South following the Civil War. Between 1870 and 1910, more public schools were built across the South, and as access to public education became more widespread, white activists sought to censor the history students learned."

However, the censorship continues to this day: "Most recently, between January 2021 and January 2023, 18 states enacted legislation that restricts the teaching of “critical race theory,” a framework that holds that laws, policies, and institutions in the United States have been used to create and maintain social, economic, and political inequality based on race.

 The term is often evoked in legislation and media coverage without being defined. New legislation also limits how teachers can discuss racism, sexism, gender identity, or topics that are deemed “controversial,” which can make it difficult for educators to fully represent periods of United States history such as slavery or the Civil Rights Movement.

 Campaigns to restrict the teaching of certain topics have also targeted the literature available to students in their classes and school libraries. During the 2021-2022 school year, 138 school districts across 32 states banned a total of over 2,500 books from their schools.

 Many of these books address topics related to gender identity, sexuality, or race."

What is the Current Focus for Censorship?

The main focus of censorship currently seems to be focused on our schools and education of our young.  This is a dangerous slope to traverse.  I understand trying to keep our children safe from explicit sexual expression when they are very young, but who gets to define what is and what isn't explicit sexual expression? 

Do you agree that the statue of David by Michelangelo is pornography as many people seem to.  I can tell you that I was able to see the statue in Rome when I was 8 years old and I was simply amazed and not put off at all by the anatomical structure of the statue.  I knew that boys and girls were different and expected the statue to show a male figure. I simply enjoyed the pure beauty of the piece and was in awe by the talent of its maker.

I also was able to experience foreign culture up close and personal when we lived in Turkey.  I played with Turkish children.  I had Turkish girlfriends.  I roamed the Turkish landscape freely and without fear.  Yes, they were a Muslim country, but as a child I was unfettered by their customs.  I was awakened every morning by the Imam calling the devout to prayers, as the Mosque was across the street from our apartment.  I understood that their culture was quite different from mine, but I wasn't afraid of them or their culture.  I just experienced it as different.

Creating Cultural Isolation:

This push but the religious right in our country to prevent our children from having the same experiences via books and movies is dangerous.  How will we ever learn to live together in peace if we prevent our children from seeing first or second hand how others live, worship, work, and experience life? Do we really want our children to be so narrow-minded that they are constantly afraid of everything that is different? In the article, "Censorship in Schools and the Effects on our Children" there is a paragraph that states: "Censorship in schools is certainly present and the addition of even small changes can lead to battles over the future integrity of our children and community. Censorship is something that needs to be held closely in check if our children are to grow up with the proper awareness of the world as it really exists. "

First Amendment Rights:

First of all, let's explore the idea of censorship a bit closer.  We are all supposed to have the right to freedom of expression as it is guaranteed by our First Amendment to our Constitution.  Everyone seems to be so enamored of protecting Second Amendment rights, but no one is up in arms about the loss of First Amendment rights?  Our forefathers understood that we needed to embrace ideas and thoughts that might not go along with our own in order to grow and stay strong.  Why do we now think differently? In the article,  "The First Amendment in Schools: Censorship" there is a paragraph that states: "Censorship represents a tyranny over the mind, said Thomas Jefferson–a view shared by founders of our nation–and is harmful wherever it occurs. Censorship is particularly harmful in the schools because it prevents youngsters with inquiring minds from exploring the world, seeking truth and reason, stretching their intellectual capacities, and becoming critical thinkers. When the classroom environment is chilled, honest exchange of views is replaced by guarded discourse and teachers lose the ability to reach and guide their students effectively."

What is Currently Happening in Our Schools:

In the article, "Ron DeSantis’ academic restrictions show he hopes to change history by censoring it", there is a passage that states: "In the past, authoritarianism – and the indoctrination that sustains it – has used educational systems to further its agenda. We can recall images of first-graders wearing little red kerchiefs and saluting the eastern bloc dictators, of students let out of class to welcome the Führer to town. We know that democracy depends on the free and open exchange of ideas, on conversations that begin early in the life of its citizens – and that fascism thrives when only one point of view is permitted. DeSantis’s rulings, and the campaigns that have engendered them, are inherently anti-democratic.

We cannot change history by censoring it. We cannot pretend that we were never a slave-holding society, that racism ceased to exist when Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation. We cannot erase the past, or influence a young person’s gender and sexuality by removing a book from the library. Students are not political pawns or ideologues-in-training. They are our future and it’s frightening to imagine a future populated by citizens who were forbidden to argue and debate, to hear about a historical event from multiple perspectives and to learn to make the critical judgments and necessary distinctions that will help them navigate our increasingly complex and challenging world.

In the past, authoritarianism – and the indoctrination that sustains it – has used educational systems to further its agenda. We can recall images of first-graders wearing little red kerchiefs and saluting the eastern bloc dictators, of students let out of class to welcome the Führer to town. We know that democracy depends on the free and open exchange of ideas, on conversations that begin early in the life of its citizens – and that fascism thrives when only one point of view is permitted. DeSantis’s rulings, and the campaigns that have engendered them, are inherently anti-democratic."

When you censor education, there are some real issues that develop such as the loss of critical thinking, the loss of creativity, the loss of intellectual development, the creation of isolating thought and cultural expansiveness, and we leave our children totally unprepared to deal with the REAL world because they only see their little skewed part of it.  Censorship is a threat to education and academic freedom.

Censorship in our schools seems like a cheat.  It cheats children of their rights, it cheats children of knowledge, it cheats parents of their responsibility to teach their children the truth, it cheats us all of free and independent thought.

This school censorship is simply a way for the political factions to endure the control over the next generations.  However, what they are not looking at is that their actions can and probably will create in our children a distrust for authority and rebellion from those principals being taught them. It really is a slippery slope and we are all about to go for that ride.

There are many articles available online about this subject that present both sides to the argument.  I hope, if this post has interested you, that you will check out some of them.