By Reagan Binek
Updated: 1 hour ago Published: 1 hour ago
The Mat-Su Borough School District has become Alaska‘s leader in banning books. Book banning has become a big issue across the country, but the rate at which Mat-Su is banning books is alarming. Although many parents may not want their children to read certain books, limiting what students are exposed to in school has lasting consequences, such as decreased critical thinking and limited awareness of social issues.
The Mat-Su Valley School District Citizens Library Advisory Committee is reviewing fifty-six questioned books. The books questioned include classics such as “The Great Gatsby” by F. Scott Fitzgerald, “I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings” by Maya Angelou and “Catch-22” by Joseph Heller. The Committee’s reasons for these challenges range from anti-white messages and sexually explicit material to profane language and the use of racial slurs.
On April 22, 2020, the Committee voted to remove those books from the school curriculum, along with “Invisible Man” by Ralph Ellison and “The Things They Carried” by Tim O’Brien. And in 2023, they voted to remove four more books from their schools. These challenges completely ignore the period in which these books are set or written, as well as the authors describing their own experiences.
Some parents claim that particular topics such as sexual assault are not appropriate for students under certain ages to read, and parents believe that books that mention such topics promote negative behavior and fear the impact it will have on their children’s innocence. . Supporters of the book ban argue that parents should play a greater role in ensuring that the school curriculum is appropriate, believing that it is their responsibility to ensure that they agree with all the topics being discussed. They teach in schools.
These selective bans are a blatant attempt to create a one-sided view of the world and history. Many banned books include people of color or LGBTQ characters, and parents argue that these characters are not appropriate for children to read about. However, banning books often has the opposite effect than intended: a surge in popularity often occurs after a book is banned, especially for older books. In the information age, where media is digitally accessible, book bans are mostly ineffective. Ironically, most people who challenge the books have not even read them and therefore do not have the full context for a small, controversial portion of the book.
Removing books from schools also limits students’ access to information, reducing the range of perspectives to which they are exposed. In Board of Education v. Pico (1982), the United States Supreme Court concluded that removing books from school libraries simply because some people do not like the content violates the Constitution because it restricts the fundamental right to receive information. School districts must consider the fundamental right of parents to make decisions about their own children’s education without impeding the rights of others.
To stop the spread of book banning, whether at the state or federal level, legislation needs to be enacted. Furthermore, the Supreme Court ruling must be respected and applied. In 2023, Illinois became the first state to do so by signing anti-book ban legislation, protecting libraries from limits on the materials they can add to their collections. A few months later, California followed suit with protections for school libraries. Alaska needs to adopt these same protections for libraries to ensure equal access to all its students. If the cycle of book banning continues, society will become more ignorant and even more closed-minded. This ignorance has seeped into the country’s legislation, resulting in laws that are based on personal beliefs, not science.
Reagan Binek is a senior at South Anchorage High School.
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