Books can serve as a window, providing a view into others’ lives and experiences. Banning them shuts that window, however, and hides stories behind a curtain of censorship; according to the American Library Association, more than 273 books were challenged in 2020 alone.

Reading books in school is one of the most important aspects of education. It gives students a wide view of the world just by sitting in a classroom seat. All books can offer a new insight into today’s society and society back then.

In my first year of high school, I read “To Kill a Mockingbird,” “Of Mice and Men,” “Speak,” “Make Lemonade” and “The Odyssey” in my English class.

Out of these six books, “To Kill a Mockingbird,” “Of Mice and Men” and “Speak” are considered part of the American Library Association’s banned books list. That’s half of the required books I read in my first year.

“To Kill a Mockingbird” and “Of Mice and Men” are both Pulitzer Prize winners, marking them with literary excellence. So why wouldn’t we want students reading literary excellence?

To understand more about book banning, we need to understand the “why.” As Megan Palmer puts it in her research about the negative effects of banning books, “books are banned not necessarily for their ideologies or content, but for the ideologies of those who have the power to ban.”

Adults, especially parents, are viewing the world their children grow up in and make the decision about what is to be educationally and intellectually consumed. It’s understandable that parents want to protect their children from harsh aspects of the world. But when the content of a book objectifies their personal beliefs, they are quick to mark it as inappropriate for their child to consume.

However, there is a difference between banning books that contain too mature of content for a child to comprehend at that age; for example, drug overdose, suicide, addiction, sexually explicit material and more. And then there is banning books to benefit the ideologies of certain political, religious or generational views.

Ninth-grade English teacher from Florida, Henry Cody Miller, shares his thoughts on political ideologies interfering with learning in an article for Learning for Justice.

“If we do not teach students how to understand and address ideology as part of their meaning-making capacities, then we risk allowing them to be socialized into the dominant, hegemonic belief systems that marginalize segments of our population.”

Values come and go as each new generation enters the schooling age when minds are molded into the next set of adults functioning in the reality of society. Banning books is halting this process of children trying to understand their generation’s values.

There is an elitist position to withhold certain reading materials from students who come to school to become well-educated students, as well as upholding individuals with a well-rounded world view.

Denying children books is denying the chance to learn about their peers, family heritage, world’s history and most importantly themselves. Even though same-sex relationships are becoming a more “normal” part of society, a child might find better comfort in reading about a book character who is in the same situation they are.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis endorsed a bill named “Don’t Say Gay” that would ban all discussion of gender and sexuality in schools across the board. This bill would also allow teachers to be sued if they violate that law.

Books such as “I am Jazz,” which focuses on a transgender person, “Drama,” which has elements of homosexuality and “A Day in the Life of Marlon Bundo,” which explores same-sex marriage, would all be banned from Florida’s schools because of their discussion of gender and sexuality.

This bill would lock up all discussions surrounding important topics in today’s world that children need to understand. Among other important subjects, the rising acceptance and education of the LGBTQ+ community for both children and adults help us all create a more understanding society.

A lot of what we read today is mimicking the reality of life. In order to help students through the hard realities of today’s life, the topics these books touch on cannot be ignored. Schools advocated for suicide awareness, but then go ban a book with the topic of suicide.

Some reading material is hard to consume and can be upsetting, especially to younger readers. “Speak” by Laurie Halse Anderson follows a high school student who was raped. Reading this novel is upsetting because of its narration of the aftermath of the rape of a young girl through the thoughts in her head. This book, however, was challenged for its unfair bias against male students.

What is that supposed to teach female students? It’s teaching females they are not reading “Speak” in class because it would make the male students feel upset. That would, in turn, teach male students that rape and sexual assualt is not a big deal? The ethics of not reading this book in schools because of its “unfair bias against male students” is more upsetting than the reading material itself.

Another unfortunate book ban was in 1983 when the Alabama State Textbook Committee rejected the book “Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl” because it was “a real downer.”

“Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl” is a story of courage from a little girl at one of the horrific points of human history. We can’t ignore history just because it’s “a real downer” and sweep the entire history of the Holocaust under the rug. The Holocaust is taught in schools anyway, so there is no valid reason to ban this book.

There are so many more books constantly being challenged. In the New York Times’ article regarding book ban in 2022, it is mentioned that “parents, activists, school board officials and lawmakers around the country are challenging books at a pace not seen in decades.”

Groups and individuals are fueled by the ever-growing rise of social media and feel the need to take matters into their own hands by putting time toward banning books, instead of educating students about our world today.

Banning books is unproductive and a waste of time. Students who want to read the books will read them no matter what. It is much more beneficial to merge the bond and communication between students and teachers and students and parents, instead of creating a separation and divide that leaves students questioning what they thought they knew.

Reading is one of the most intimate forms of connections with the people around us, the climate of our society and ourselves as individuals. A book can teach us a million different lessons just from sitting in a chair. Removing these books from student’s lives is removing the millions of lessons that could be learned.

Books are meant to challenge us, inspire us, surprise us, and make us think differently. Everyone is entitled to having reading experiences that make us feel and challenge our current view. Banning books will erase that progress.

Macy Berendsen can be reached at macy.berendsen@stthomas.edu.