To ban or not to ban?
To effectively explore the topic of censorship I read and analysed a peer-reviewed journal article by David Hastie called ‘Should We Ban Books in Schools? Arguments from the Public History of Australian School Text Censorship’. The article seeks to understand whether censorship is ever justified in both schools and beyond.
What did I learn?
From reading this article, I learnt that censorship in Australia can be broken down into sub-categories to help to better understand it. The sub-categories are purity and danger, the pedagogy of the oppressed, and liberal consensus. These categories should all centre around the benefits of the child in most cases, and aim to ascertain whether the act of censorship is ethical and valid.
I also learnt that, as Hastie mentions, there are gaps in studies and evidence of censorship in the classroom and school libraries, as well as minimal surveys regarding the topic. Hastie’s article, while still only touching on approximately seven instances of censorship in Australian schools, is therefore extremely valuable in attempting to understand whether censorship is ever justified.
Personally, while I am aware of what censorship is, my mind automatically associated it with things like World War I & II and the Vietnam War and communism, as that is the topics under which I have learnt about censorship. As mentioned, I was surprised to learn all the different instances Hastie talks about, and admittedly growing up I had not thought about it very often as my parents, teachers and librarians had never denied me information that I had asked for (to the best of my knowledge!). To minimise this gap in my knowledge, I will continue to read peer-review articles, like Hastie’s, as well as familiarise myself with ALIA’s guidelines and policies.
Also, from reading Hasties seven examples of Australian censorship in schools, I was able to notice a pattern on the types of topics that were being censored. Despite there being over thirty years difference in the censorship cases, sex, including sexual orientation, identity and the act itself, as well as racism, violence, and offensive language are often the main reasons books or materials can be censored from schools (Niccolini, p. 25). Hastie argues in favour of employing a liberal consensus in Australian school libraries and believes that a case for censorship exists when two or more of the four key education stakeholders – parents, school institution, the student and society at large take issue with a certain material. Others disagree, stating that while many information professionals have a tendency to protect the ‘innocence’ of youth, the reality is that due to todays society these young people live in a world where these topics are happening and real, and therefore texts regarding these issues should be valued (Niccolini, p.27)
ALIA supports the access to free information stating that library and information services are expected to encourage the free flow of information and ideas and cater for interest in contemporary issues without promoting or suppressing particular beliefs and ideas (ALIA, 2018). While parents can take the leading role in deciding what is or is not appropriate for their child, information professionals often perform differing levels of ‘covert’ censorship. This may include not replacing ‘lost’ or ‘stolen’ controversial titles, amending the cover of books with self-created warnings and labels, or librarians deciding to buy or not to buy from certain publishers (Asheim, n.d.).
Overall, it is arguably a personal topic that is and will continue to be open to many valid arguments and points!
References
Australian Library and Information Association. (2018). Free access to information statement. https://www.alia.org.au/about-alia/policies-standards-and-guidelines/statement-free-access-information
Hastie, David. (2018). Should we ban books in schools?: Arguments from the public history of Australian school text censorship. English in Australia. Vol. 53, No. 3, 23-36.
Niccolini, A. D. (2015). Precocious Knowledge: Using Banned Books to Engage in a Youth Lens. The English Journal, 104(3), 22-28. https://www.jstor.org/stable/24484452