Abrams, Joseph. "California School District Bans Dictionary Over 'Oral Sex' Definition." Fox News. FOX News Network, 26 Jan. 2010. Web. 22 Oct. 2014. <http://www.foxnews.com/story/2010/01/26/california-school-district-bans-dictionary-over-oral-sex-definition/>.
This article was about how the Menifee Union School District in California has banned the Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary because an elementary school student who was looking up a word came accross the definition of “oral sex” which reads “oral stimulation of the genitals.” The school district is home to around 9,000 students between the grades of kindergarten and eighth grade and, much like other schools in the country, have been using the Merriam-Webster’s for some time. The school is currently undergoing a process of forming a committee of parent, administrative, and teacher volunteers to go through the entire dictionary, which contains upwards of 470,000 entries, to see if the ban should be lifted or retained. Many parents and students were enraged over what free speech advocates are calling “needless and harmful censorship.” Some parents, however, think that the school is doing the right thing. One grandparent of a student believes that the school is doing the right thing by fielding all complaints about the dictionary from parents, but she doesn’t think going through every entry is necessary. Some of the options that the school is considering in favor of the Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary are the more tame Children’s Dictionary.
This article, I think, is a perfect example of how giving people the power to ban books is harmful to students. I understand that parents may not want their children finding definitions like that of “oral sex” at a young age, but I also think that this article is useful to help me show people the bigger picture. This is a school banning a reference tool, one of the most used reference tools of our time, a dictionary. There are few things more important for learning than knowing the meanings of words. I want to use this article as a touchstone for the argument that banning books is detrimental to students, not safe and helpful.
Image by Charles Krupa, AP
This article was about how the Menifee Union School District in California has banned the Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary because an elementary school student who was looking up a word came accross the definition of “oral sex” which reads “oral stimulation of the genitals.” The school district is home to around 9,000 students between the grades of kindergarten and eighth grade and, much like other schools in the country, have been using the Merriam-Webster’s for some time. The school is currently undergoing a process of forming a committee of parent, administrative, and teacher volunteers to go through the entire dictionary, which contains upwards of 470,000 entries, to see if the ban should be lifted or retained. Many parents and students were enraged over what free speech advocates are calling “needless and harmful censorship.” Some parents, however, think that the school is doing the right thing. One grandparent of a student believes that the school is doing the right thing by fielding all complaints about the dictionary from parents, but she doesn’t think going through every entry is necessary. Some of the options that the school is considering in favor of the Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary are the more tame Children’s Dictionary.
This article, I think, is a perfect example of how giving people the power to ban books is harmful to students. I understand that parents may not want their children finding definitions like that of “oral sex” at a young age, but I also think that this article is useful to help me show people the bigger picture. This is a school banning a reference tool, one of the most used reference tools of our time, a dictionary. There are few things more important for learning than knowing the meanings of words. I want to use this article as a touchstone for the argument that banning books is detrimental to students, not safe and helpful.
Image by Charles Krupa, AP