A LIKELY STORY: BANNING BOOK PUTS BAN ON STUDENTS' LEARNING

Editor's note:

Scott Moyers wrote this column before the Egyptian Board of Education voted Monday night to stick by its policy that allows parents to decide individually if their children should read the play, "Death of A Salesman."

Memo to the citizens of Tamms, Ill.:

Dear Folks:

Banning "Death of A Salesman" in your schools would set a bad precedent. Book banning is an unsuccessful technique that, in my humble opinion, is as archaic as witch hunting. And about as horrific.

Not to mention that it's digression in an area where progress is vital -- education.

Did you guys see the paper yesterday? Missouri and Illinois schools aren't in the best of shape. The article said evaluations show that the schools here rate about a C, based on quality of teaching, school climate and student achievement, among other things.

While I was no genius when I was in school, I know a C isn't anything to write home about, despite my boasts that "C's get degrees."

And things are bad all over. The rest of the country is in pretty bad shape as far as education goes, too.

So now is not the time to remove well-written books that instigate meaningful thought from the shelves of students who are eager to read them.

You are not traveling on new ground. The attempt there to ban an intelligent book is not the first in our country. In fact, it is a far cry from it.

In 1996, there were 338 attempts to remove or restrict access to books in the U.S., one advocacy group reported recently. Of those, about 50 percent were successful. That's more than in 1995, which was more than in 1994.

What were these books? Surely they were books like "The Satanic Bible" or Penthouse magazine, right?

Wrong.

Among the list of the books that were challenged were such classics as John Steinbeck's "Of Mice and Men," Mark Twain's "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn," Harper Lee's "To Kill A Mockingbird" and Maya Angelou's "I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings."

If kids shouldn't read THESE books, maybe you, or someone up there, could tell me what they SHOULD read. Maybe a Spider-Man comic book or the joke on the inside of a bubble gum wrapper.

Would those be inoffensive enough?

The most frequent complaint against a book was that its treatment of sexuality was offensive. Profanity was the next most frequent complaint.

I've read Arthur Miller's wrenching tale of Willy Loman, the tortured man who never can piece together his family or his career. I'll admit that Mr. Loman is a rough man who sometimes uses rough language. But it's also a story of a man who is as real to me as anyone I've ever known. It has been called "a beautiful story that is very appropriate for our society."

The principal of Egyptian High School said there are 10 curse words in the entire book. Is that enough to wipe out everything else it stands for?

Proponents of book banning call it a democracy that allows parents to mandate not only what their children read but what all students read.

They call it concern. I call it censorship.

Scott Moyers is a staff writer for the Southeast Missourian.