Censoring books is unconstitutional and sets a bad example of closed-minded thinking. It encourages young adults to reject new ideas. In effect, the censoring of books is a crime against youth. Book-acceptance committees have set reading standards and curriculums to benefit students. Banning books from the curriculums is banning pieces of knowledge from students.
Literature can be violent, depressing, magical or dark.
However, there is much a student can learn from a gothic British novel or a World War II portfolio. Teaching a teenager that it is wrong to read about depression and suicide, such as in Sylvia Plath's novel The Bell Jar , is denying him or her the opportunity to learn more about the truths of life. Holden Caulfield's interpretation of life and phony people in Catcher in the Rye focuses more on our weaknesses as humans in the journey through adolescence than it does on vulgar language. In truth, people intent on restricting reading material fail to see that they are also restricting intellectual and spiritual growth. The Bill of Rights clearly states in its first amendment that the citizens of the United States have freedom of expression.