In today's society, with technology taking up much of teenagers life, it has become a common thought among adults that teens are only thinking about the shallow, stereotypical, high school life media has created. What many fail to remember is that teenagers are still capable of all understanding the same emotions and ideas, they too experienced when they were the same age. One example of this issue is the banning of books in middle and high schools. Some popular books that have been banned from schools are John Green's The Fault in Our Stars and Jay Asher's Thirteen Reasons Why, both because they deal with things that "the targeted age group should not read." The Fault in Our Stars deals with terminal illness in teenagers, which is something many people attending the schools it is banned from have dealt with, and therefor can understand. Thirteen Reasons Why, on the other hand, deals with teenage suicide among other things, which is something, again, many teenagers can very well understand. What people are achieving by banning these books, along with hundreds more, is exactly the opposite of what should be happening. Keeping kids and teenagers from these important topics is only keeping them from understanding the literature and preparing them to have to deal with it. The more adults say that "teenagers won't understand" or "aren't ready" the more they really won't understand, and won't be ready for the crazy world we are expected to live in straight out of high school.
AuthorAlissa is a dancer and likes listening to music, hanging out with friends, and sleeping. Archives
May 2015
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