Teenagers - censorship?

[stleger]

OK, give me a few opinions. I am a librarian but I work in a bookshop. Our local secondary school students come in to buy set texts for English. In Ireland we have a system of Transition Year between exam cycles - so 16 year olds are 'broadening their life experience'. (My ds is amongst them!) One teacher has set Roddy Doyle's Snapper. One parent is very upset - it does contain a lot of 'bad words' I admit, the teacher is going to defend it. I need to try and work out my views a bit. I am mostly on the side of the teacher - teenage reality, non reading kids etc. I am also willing to admit it might not have been my first choice of novel. But I don't like the idea of a parent telling a sixteen year old that a book isn't suitable. Any views?

I am against censorship, unless it is top-shelf type porn or worse. Any literary work, no matter what bad words or sensitive issues it covers, should be available to 16 year olds and indeed younger teenagers, imo.

My cousin in California told me that parents in her area were against using Anne Frank's diary as a class set text, because it involved a passage mentioning breasts!

ditto Elasticwoman

Censoring books for 16 year olds is a bit like King Canute trying to hold back the waves, isn't it?

The Snapper is a perfectly acceptable book for a 16 year old to read. My DD is 13 and I would be fine with her reading it. With regard to "bad words" I'm sure she hears quite a selection on the school bus.

Crikey at 16
I don't feel particularly easy about 'censoring' books for any age of teenagers, and only in extreme cases for 10-12s.

ditto, I think it is pretty pointless censoring anything once they are past the age of being under your control (13 IME). At 16 they can legally get married & have babies. No point in censorship IMO.

My dds yr9 English group are doing SugarRush as set modern text by Julie Burchill - English teacher asked my opinion so I read it, pretty strong stuff, gay relationship etc. I merely handed it back to him with a 'Good luck getting that across to 13-14yr old boys mate!'

I had a customer refused to buy Annd Frank for her daughter, and mouthed 'periods' at me. My dd was there, and kept saying 'What, why not...?' She doesn't do mouthing.

ROFLMAO at 'periods' said in proper Irish RC way as 'Devil's Blood' would be!

Is year 9 13-14? I think the parent who is pro-banning is from a fundamentalist Christian background, the school is mainly Catholic.

Was just thinking back to Magdalene Sisters and my RC upbringing!! Nothing against the faith - was just what sprang to mind!

Yes yr 9 is the year they become 14 - feel sorry for me won't you!?

There are always parents who want to shield their children from everything . Surely much of the point of literature is to offer children a safe way of experiencing some of life's less savoury sides? Otherwise they'll only have to go and experience it all first hand with absolutely no idea of what they might be getting into.

It would be interesting to know why the out of all the literature available the teacher had chosen that specific book.

I had a friend at school and she was not allowed to read any books that her parents had not read previously to check that they were "suitable".

I am surprised at the language thing - I have spent quite alot of time with Irish people and in Ireland and I have always found their language to be - well - colourful!

The teacher is a mother of 2 teenagers. I will try to find out why that is her choice!

Its a very good book and well written, funny and moving and honest. Reading encourages reading, censorship of novels is just wrong. We're not in Alabama.

I remember a parent-teacher meeting when I was 14 when my geography teacher (who was a nun) took it upon herself to inform my mother that I was reading very unsuitable books (I think it was The Brothers Karamazov that particularly didn't take her fancy).
My mum drew herself up to her full 5 foot 3 and and announced: I have never censored my daughter's reading and I never will!
(A slight porkie, because I remember a sharp intake of breath when I was 12 and she found me reading Gone with the Wind).
But I digress - censoring a 16-year-old's reading is OUTRAGEOUS!

When, in the dim and distant past, I wanted my Nanna to buy 'Wind in the Willows' for me(2nd hand copy on a market stall where I usually had a Caspar the Friendly ghost comic), the guy in charge was horrified and wanted to stop me from reading it!! Reason prevailed and I still have it.

What on earth did he think would happen to me?

Re 16 yr olds they should whatever they want except top shelf stuff as EW said earlier.

(PS. Without sounding pathetic, we had very few books at home, though I used the library, and now my home is GROANING under books and I find them irresistable, and I am so obsessive, i must collect all the books by some authors and MUST read them in order or writing if they are about set characters, for example, Rebus or Dalziel etc)

That was 'read' whatever they want, will now go to bed to sleep off the gin, sorry for rambling, goodnight!!

Excellent post Anna8888

Ta for opinions. I think I am now in total agreement with it, just wanted to sound some 'people' out! Ireland used to hve a bad tendency to ban books, hope that is now in the past.

Absolutely with Anna8888 on this, my parents always allowed me to read whatever books I wanted to. And I did read Orwells 1984 at the age of 10, censoring books just seems ridculous.

I don't think my parents actively let me - just didn't know the half of it! My ds is working through Ian Fleming novels with lurid covers, and cursing in German.

I don't believe in censoring children's reading. If anything, it gives the message that there are subjects a parent isn't comfortable discussing, or that certain subjects are "taboo" and one day that could prove crucial if your child really needs to have a conversation with you. Besides, who wants their kids educated by older kids in the playground about sex and banned substances etc? I'd rather my DD brought any issues she'd encountered in a book or TV show to my notice and then we'd discuss.

One day, when DD was 11, she came home from school and - knowing that I'm a broadminded, shockproof sort, she announced that she now knew "how to do a blowjob" thanks to one little girl bringing into school a copy of "The Cosmopolitan Guide to Good Sex" that her mother had left lying around! DD wanted to know why her own sex education hadn't included these practical tips LOL! I told her that there were certain things about sex that only adults needed to know and not little girls and because she was appalled at what she had read and thought it was "yucky". I told her that it was a shame she had seen that because she was a little too young, and that somebody's mummy needed to keep her personal books away from her daughter. I answered DD's other queries in an age appropriate way (there's a lot of misinformation in the playground!) as and when these issues arose and she was happy. I think openness and being willing to talk about even the more "interesting" aspects of sex and bodily functions somewhat demystifies the whole thing and could be a factor in delaying sexual activity until later.

BigWoo: Good for you. I like to think I handle things this way too but I admit I would probably be a little taken aback if DD wanted to discuss blowjobs!

Once when DD was about 11 she asked me what a diaphragm was. I explained about the muscle that assists respiration and she looked very puzzled and gave me a bit more context. Oh, that sort of diaphragm..

I do not agree with censoring books for children of that age. Censoring 16 yos reading is quite ridiculous IMO.

DD (14) has a friend whose Mum has been known to ban certain books if she thought the content unsuitable (she tries to skim read them herself first) DD confided in me that friend then borrows the book from her and reads it in her lunchbreak at school.