Should We Chuck Huck?

“Censorship represents a tyranny over the mind, said Thomas Jefferson-a view shared by founder of our nation-and is harmful wherever it occurs. Censorship is particularly harmful in the schools because it prevents youngsters with inquiring minds from exploring the world, seeking truth and reason, stretching their intellectual capacities, and becoming critical thinkers” (Censorship). “Based on personal views, some parents wish to eliminate material depicting violence, others object to references to sexuality, others to racially-laden speech or images. Some parents oppose having their children exposed to fiction that doesn’t have a happy ending, teach a moral lesson, or provide noble role models. If these and other individual preferences were legitimate criteria for censoring materials used in school, the curriculum would narrow to including only the least controversial and probably least relevant material. It would hardly address students’ real concerns, satisfy their curiosity, or prepare them for life” (Censorship).

Censorship is also described in Ray Bradbury’s, Fahrenheit 451 . “In case you aren’t familiar with the story itself, it is about a future where all books are burned because the people have decided that knowledge brings pain. It is far better to be ignorant than knowledgeable” (Proactive). During my interview with Saum, I asked him what made him want to use Huckleberry Finn as part of his curriculum. He responded by saying, “It’s the best American book I know.” “According to Arthur Applebee the work is second only to Shakespeare in the frequency it appears in the classroom and is required in 70% of public high schools and 76% of parochial high schools” (Racism).

According to Saum, “Censorship comes from the minds; education brings minds into the light. This never-ending struggle continues. We know what happens with censorship; check out Heinrich Heine, America was founded so that, that sort of dictatorship by the ignorant may finally and eventually die”. Huckleberry Finn is a book, “an inanimate object,” but has influenced many people to speak their minds about it. Hate it, like it, Whatever, either “Since public schools and public libraries are public institutions, they are bound by obligations imposed by the First Amendment as well as may other provisions of the Constitution” (Censorship). I believe that censorship isn’t necessarily bad, but to keep people ignorant to a single word used in a book, that by the way has a non-racist message, isn’t supporting our right to freedom of speech.