My post on Enders Game is a good segue into this topic.
Why are books treated different from other forms of entertainment?
A debate that is constantly going on amongst english teachers and politicians is banning books from being taught in school.
I love reading and I think everyone should read but why are books allowed to do and say whatever they want without any ratings?
Lets compare books and music. Both are for entertainment. One is rated for it's words, and one is not.
Why?
People always complain about the youth listening to "bad" rap music because of its foul language. Well we just read "The Things They Carried", which was a great book, but it had just as many F bombs as Lil Wayne does in one of his songs. Or as many as an R rated movie. Or an M rated video game. Why are we taught that this book is good, and that R movies and bad music lyrics are bad?
That isn't my only example from school.
We also read "A Lesson Before Dying" this year (which I only read half of it) and it had a sex scene in it. I read the first sentence of the scene and then skipped over the rest because even the first sentence put an X rated image in my mind. Why is that book okay in school? Why is it known as a classic like every other book we read?
People may argue that it has great literature in it and thats why it's a classic. I'm sure there are very "artistic and well made" pornographic movies out there too but we don't watch those in media literacy. (sarcasm)
What makes books so special and different?
I don't think they are. Maybe they don't have actual images in them (a picture is worth a thousand words) but I think they can be just as bad because the words leave your mind imagining anything it wants with the words planted. Books certainly aren't any better than music because music is also just words. Actually books are worse because music is usually interpretive and poetic, while books are usually strait forward and easy to understand. So why do you have to be 17 to buy some CDs but not certain books? Why do people think books are an exception?
I think it is because of the history of books. Books have been around for thousands of years. I made this post because I don't think most people even think about books being rated for being inappropriate. They don't because books are a part of human culture and most of society is numbed to some of the bad things in books. And they try and excuse the bad by saying it's a classic, or literary masterpiece.
Well that doesn't make it appropriate.
I guess I'm just getting tired of immoral teachers thinking students should read whatever teachers want them to read, even if there is a graphic sex scene in it.
Really books aren't different than other media besides being around longer, and they should be treated like other media.
I would like to see what you all have to say on this subject now that the thought is in your mind. and maybe I'm missing something as to why books should get off the hook unlike other entertainment.
Isaaclefries
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