Hello everybody!

This time I have a different story for you. A post with an different background and idea. For my English class we had to write something about banned books in America. A lot of books are banned in schools, the teenagers can't read them for their book reports. It's because a lot of reasons and we had to take a stand for this. We are making our own blog in class and post the assignment on here. Because I already have a blog, I was able to post it here! So that's why my post today is a little bit different. I'll hope you would still enjoy it to read, it was a fun thing to do. :)

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I would like to tell you a little bit about the differences between America and Holland because there are a lot big differences! I have lived in America for 4 months now and I already experienced a lot. I also learned a lot about the American culture, how people think about some things. In some points, the country is very strict, especially the schools are very strict. Every morning a standing moment of silence, the pledge of America, no headphones, phones or hats in the hallways. The bell rings, doors get locked and you need a ‘late’ pass, no bathroom without a pass either. Some rules are very good, and of course, kids need those rules. But what is the big idea behind those rules in America? Did they really think about them from all perspectives. Did they ask the kids, parents and teachers about their opinion? The things that I just mentioned are not the only rules in school. They are trying to bring more rules in schools for next year with a good intention, but are those rules as effective as they think? I’m not sure about that.

My high school in Holland is a place where we have a lot of ‘freedom’. Because I went to a ‘Daltonschool,’ I could plan what I wanted to do, when I wanted that, with who I did it, where I did it, and almost íf I did it, or if I chose to not do it. I was a person who really liked this, and knew how to handle with homework and tests, but there was 1 thing where I had a lot of struggles with: books. I don’t mean the textbooks in school; I mean the very big books, that smelled like old dust because of the yellowed papers; I am really allergic to that. Exactly... I know a lot of people know what I mean. The books where you read the first (mostly boring) 40 pages from, and when you see you still have 300 left, you quit. I always had problems with planning and reading books. Last year I had to read 8 books For English and 8 books for Dutch. Fortunately I was lucky that I had to choose every book I wanted. I did some research and chose books on some specific things. Books that I knew that I would be able to finish. I chose my books on connections that I could make, it made them more interesting to read. Characters from your age, and events that you recognize. That is what makes an book interesting for me. It actually made me read all the 8 books for both classes last year, which was a big obstacle for me in the beginning and a relief when I was done.

I graduated and was so happy that I was redeemed from the required reading assignments. And then I started my exchange year in the lovely US. I came to William Penn High School and of course I had to take English class. That was big obstacle for me, I was really worried. Even my Dutch class in Holland was hard, the reading, writing and speaking assignments that we had to do. How could I do that in English, a second language for me? And yes, we read actually a lot of books in English class here. We just finished Mexican Whiteboy from Matt de la Peña. I seemed a hard job, but I was the first one who finished from my group! It was hard in the beginning because I didn’t understand everything, but once I got into the story, I wanted to read more and finished it very fast. I liked it because I could relate to it. The book was about a boy in a country where he felt like he was a resident, the characters were kids from my age and some problems with foreign language. I also read Of Mice and Men written by John Steinbeck. It was fun and fast to read. An original story with a lot of events, it was not boring. We compared both books and wrote essays about it. The teachers helped us to start with reading and ‘led’ us through the books. They could do this because they read it before and chose the books with special reasons; those reasons made us keep reading the book. They did a really good job.

Unfortunately, America has a lot more rules than Holland. Back home I got to choose my own books; the idea behind that is that I would actually read it, and didn’t make a book report based on online summaries. But here, some people think that it is not good to let people choose their own books to read. And the worst is, they won’t even let the teachers do it. A lot of books in America are banned or challenged by school districts. The books that I just talked about, are actually on the list! The article Darkness is To Visible, an article in the Wall Street Journal, by Meghan Cox Gurdon made clear that a reason for the banned books is that some kids maybe can’t choose what is right for them. They read wrong books that includes things like abuse and violence. However, Sherman Alexie explains in his rebuttal against her titled Why the Best Kids Books are written in Blood that books are an escape mechanism for some who experiences hardships, teaching them to cope with their problems. They can learn a lot from books. When kids have the opportunity to choose the books they want, they can experience things in a different way and it can help them.

I think it is not a good thing to ban books in school. It is good for kids and teenagers to know what’s going on in life, because yes, people are getting bullied and talk with rude language, but a book is not the only thing where they are going to pass through this. The article about banned and challenged books in North Texas school district says “The books in question contained a variety of themes and content that parents found objectionable including sexuality, rape, abortion, vulgar language, alcoholism, mental illness, and incest, the Dallas Morning News also reported.” But, wait a minute; what about the movies, video games and Internet sites? We are living in a time where internet is important. Every teenager has a smartphone with Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. They probably already have seen a lot more here then they are going to read in a book.

Alexie continued to emphasize his point for reaching troubled teens in his article Why the Best Kids Books are Written in Blood: “In those days, the cultural conservatives thought that KISS and Black Sabbath were going to impede my moral development. They wanted to protect me from sex when I had already been raped. They wanted to protect me from evil though a future serial killer had already abused me.” What I think, is that in order to protect the kids, they may take away the very tools they need to protect themselves later on as adults. A book is not going to solve those problems, however, it might be able to help the kids. But not if books are getting banned in schools; if kids don’t get to choose want they want to read, they might not have the opportunity to find solutions to their problems on their own.

Homework is never fun. Nobody really likes homework, and especially when it’s not interesting, when kids have the feeling that they don’t learn anything from it. But that is exactly what is happening right now. Books are getting banned, forcing kids to read boring books without finishing them. Their grades will fail or it is only getting worse. That is not what the schools want in America. They are very strict and want to have good students with good grades, but their new rules are only working against their students. America needs to be careful. They need to think what they want to reach, and how they want to do this, and which rules are effective, and which just end up hurting students in the long run.

"Darkness Too Visible - Wall Street Journal." 2014. 18 Dec. 2014 <http://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052702303657404576357622592697038>

"Books Banned in North Texas School District during National." 2014. 21 Dec. 2014 <http://www.breitbart.com/texas/2014/09/29/books-banned-in-north-texas-school-district-during-national-banned-books-week/>

"Why the Best Kids Books Are Written in Blood - WSJ Blogs." 2011. 21 Dec. 2014 <http://blogs.wsj.com/speakeasy/2011/06/09/why-the-best-kids-books-are-written-in-blood/>