Would putting age restrictions on books in library cards be the best way to protect children ?

It’s an overreaction to the previous way, where any kid could check out any book (even adult level). Parents were freaking out that their precious little children might want books that had “bad words”.

One complaining overprotective parent screws things up for a lot of people.

@LeilaniLane – a citation to your original source on this issue would be useful.

@elbanditoroso Thanks. I wasn’t thinking about bad words, lol. I was thinking about sexually explicit content, very opinionated views on certain subjects, and/ or even books about magik. But, why don’t people try to fix the issue instead of complaining about it? I mean I’m not totally against censorship, but some people take things to a whole new level. Books like The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and The Wonderful Wizard of Oz are banned. Seriously?

Of course: http://www.ala.org/bbooks/frequentlychallengedbooks/top10, http://www.ala.org/bbooks/frequentlychallengedbooks/statistics

Also, there were a couple blogs on the subject.

And these two: http://lib.calpoly.edu/banned/infographic.php, https://www.aclu.org/free-speech/infographic-banned-books-week

We needn’t restrict a child’s access to any books. If a parent wants to (attempt to) shield their kids from the world a book, that’s their responsibility.

The only thing that is a threat to a child at a library is a closed door.

I think that one problem with your idea is how would you determine content level for the books? Would it be up to each state, school district, or would it just be a federal level decision per book?

Main reason I ask is because – unfortunately – some places find some content to be much more offensive than other places. I recently moved from California to Alabama and one thing I came across in my research of the area I live in was a list of books that were banned in local schools quite a few of which surprised me. The first example that pops into mind? How to Kill a Mockingbird. Why? Sexual content. The only thing I could think of that could possibly be construed as “sexual content” was the rape charges being brought up in Tom Robinson’s trial (and now that I have lived here for a bit, I suppose the scene – if I recall correctly – where Scout and Dill sleep in the same bed might be enough to set off several of the people around here).

I’m looking for the list and will share a link as soon as I find it.

Protect children from what?

At age 7 I was reading at a sixth grade level. You would not allow me to read books above my “age range”?

I am opposed to any censorship of books for any reason.

I don’t think people try to censor adult books. They try to censor kids books with what they feel have themes that are too adult. It’s not an age restriction. It’s an idea restriction.

Censorship in any form is just silly.

If anything, there should be warnings on crappy books.

Why bother? Timmy goes over to Billy’s house and while their parents are preoccupied, Billy’s older brother pops in a rated R DVD and they spent the next 2 hours seeing boobs, boinking, cussing and gratuitous violence. That is before they get online and we all know what stuff they can find there.

Uh, oh. Restricting knowledge is the first sign of being an idiot becoming a zealot. Maybe parents should pay attention to what their kids are doing.

The only thing that censorship would do would be to make the off limits books more enticing and more likely to be read. I was a fairly well behaved kid, but if I knew there was some book with forbidden content, it would have peaked my curiosity to know what was in it.

@hominid Exactly. But when a parent challenges a book, then its banned to all children. So, why not make it individual?

I’m not saying I think books should be banned or restricted. I’m considering my sister’s opinion on the topic. And I have to agree, from some things I’ve experienced, there are some topics that if I had a child, I’d talk to them about when they’re older.

@Winter_Pariah I agree that some people are… more sensitive about certain topics. I would think it would be better to let each school district decide. But, I doubt it’d stay that way for long.

@zenvelo Its not that I wouldn’t allow someone to read certain books. Don’t be mistaken, I’m not trying to fulfill some “responsibility” that I feel towards children. Its a topic for another school project. Also, the title(?) is actually pretty misleading. It was “Child Censorship” but it wasn’t ‘specific’ enough for the guidelines. :/

Its not if I would restrict it, but what if the parents of ‘Timmy’ wanted to? I don’t think Timmy would go marching up to his parents questioning their choice for restricting his access to certain content. Its not in his place. The parents are trying to make the decisions in ‘his’ best interest.

And honestly, I’m 14 and my parents still make sure what I’m reading is suitable. Sure I can talk to them about certain books that I feel I should be aloud to read but, ultimately its their decision. I don’t think that what they are doing is wrong, quite the opposite.

@fluthernutter Maybe so.

@Hypocrisy_Central Yeah. Something that if I could, I’d prevent.

@tinyfaery I would hope parents are actually paying attention to their children. Goodness sakes. I’m not saying that I would restrict the information. I’m saying let the parents decide for their own children individually. And if they don’t want the child to be restricted at all, just sign a permission form and voila! They can see whatever they want to.

@LostInParadise You know, I really wish it wasn’t that way. Because there are a lot of things that I sort of wish I wasn’t curious about when I was younger.

It’s only censorship if the government does it.
Having said it…
What exactly is in the public library that children need protection from?

So you want the government involved in policing parents? Sounds good to me.~

@josie Anything that the parents feel the child shouldn’t read. It differs depending on the family, obviously. My parents and sisters don’t like anything with strong magic themes, or with satanic and/or wiccan symbols. Magic has been a bit… debatable but, I still haven’t read the Harry Potter series. I was never really interested in it to begin with, so I don’t mind.

Taking an interest in what they read would be the best way.

Your latest reply shows exactly why I think this is a bad idea. If your family is skeeved out by “Satanic and Wiccan symbols”, that implies a degree of intolerance. I will bet you $20 that I know more about both of those than any of your family does, but many people consider it better to live in hateful ignorance than to learn.

A kid raised in that environment will likely be either less curious (and therefore less educated) and probably at least mildly bigoted, if not an outright brainwashed zealot or will swing back to the other extreme once free of repression. Many of the Wiccans I know had strict Catholic upbringings, as are some of the more promiscuous people I’ve known, so “protection” can backfire. Or it can work too well and you wind up with racists, homophobes, and sometimes full-on terrorists.

For some kids, libraries are the only way they can learn certain things; their schools won’t teach everything, and their parents may punish them for even expressing an interest in [insert subject here] instead of just accepting whatever dogma they decide to force-feed the child. My opinion is that if parents are going to shelter your kids that way, then the kids will never be fit to join society… and the parents probably shouldn’t be in public either.

While it seems that you are against that sort of restriction and just want to protect kids, the truth is that, throughout history, many bad things have been done with good intentions yet horrific consequences.

Look at the hate we have now even with relatively unrestricted access to the sort of information that would eliminate ignorance-based fear. Look at the teen pregnancy rates in places where they are generally too conservative to do sex ed beyond “Abstain until after marriage”. That is what happens when you try to protect people by restricting information!

Children are surrounded by television, magazines, billboards and a multitude of other media that are far more accessible and potentially more influential than them picking up a library book intended for an adult audience. Educating our children and providing them with the skills to make appropriate and ethical decisions is far more valuable than censoring library content.

I’m pretty sure children see far more ‘inappropriate’ content outside the library than they ever will inside the library. Plus, as @hominid argued, a closed library door is children’s greatest threat.

@LeilaniLane The one way to teach a child to have a discerning opinion and to have an inquisitive mind is to open the child to whole panoply of ideas. It’s kids reading things like Harry Potter that teaches them that fantasy is fantasy, not reality.

I don’t see any need for this.

@zenvelo The irony there is that many who seek to censor what others read have fantasies of their own. Then again, having a discerning and inquisitive mind is often seen as a huge threat by that type of person, so it kind of makes sense.

@Earthbound_Misfit Yes, but educating people is work whereas merely limiting their options through heavy-handed authoritarian means is easy.

@LeilaniLane How do you feel about magic like turning water into wine? Or walking on water? Or curing diseases with a touch? Or coming back from the dead? If magic is out surely books that talk about these things should be restricted as well, right?

Certainly, I’m all for anything that allows parents to be less involved with their children.

@gorillapaws If your deity or one of their chosen does it, it’s a miracle and therefore good beyond reproach, but if anyone else (even a fictitious character) does the exact same thing, it’s magic and therefore evil beyond redemption. Make sense?

@jerv First, I wouldn’t take $10,000 not because I think I’d loose, but just because I wouldn’t want it. Secondly, my parents do know about those topics, but it just doesn’t make sense to fully educate yourself in something that you don’t need to know. Especially something that your not interested in. Its like signing up for engineering classes when you’re planning to become a writer. Also, its not a requirement of life that everyone is educated in everything. If I choose not to learn about something its my choice. I also think that there are occasions where learning something, specifically by experience, is not the best idea. (Ex: trying a cigarette) But hey, thats just my opinion.

My parents gave me sex ed when I was nine. Trust me, we didn’t have a problem in that department lol. My mother and father are very smart people, who wanted to teach me about things before the rest of my class was even thinking about it. (Mother – Public Administrations Masters, Father – Engineering Masters)

@Earthbound_Misfit I agree 100%! Again, I was just exploring this view for a school project.

@zenvelo Perhaps. But, that doesn’t mean they should be exposed to certain things as 5, 7, 9 year old. Or else we might as well not put any age restriction on sex and working.

@gorillapaws Haha. Yes, you could call that magic. But, please, don’t let my religious stupidity get in the way of enlightened ideas.

Its strange how educating yourself in one particular belief, and actually believing it, seems to be thought of as idiocy.

@jerv Not beyond redemption, after all, I’m a Baptist. And Christians aren’t brainwashed. With the amount of information on the internet, they can learn about anything they’d like. No one’s stopping them. If they felt that certain things didn’t match up they could always join an apologetics class or talk to the pastor.

”[I]t just doesn’t make sense to fully educate yourself in something that you don’t need to know”

I’ve found it actually does. Knowing Theology helps quite a bit when understanding other cultures/demographics; very handy if, say, you wind up in a diverse metropolitan area (like Boston, San Diego, Seattle), or on a Navy ship pulling into foreign ports (like I was in my early-20s). Knowledge of hydraulics (something electricians “don’t need to know”) has helped me at work and saved me a few thousand dollars at home.
There’s what you think you need to know and what you actually need to know, and you’ll find a lot of differences between those two lists.

“If I choose not to learn about something its my choice.”

Quite true. Of course, ignorance isn’t always bliss; sometimes it’s quite dangerous… and sometimes a danger that affects more than just one person. Given that I am altruistic enough to not want to see innocent people hurt (or even discomforted), especially not for the acts of others, willful ignorance is a bit of a sore point for me.

” I also think that there are occasions where learning something, specifically by experience, is not the best idea.”

This is pretty much why I value education. The more you learn from the experiences of others, the less you have to learn the hard way. Learning is ALWAYS a good idea, even if that learning is what not to do by seeing someone else suffer.

“My parents gave me sex ed when I was nine… My mother and father are very smart people, who wanted to teach me about things before the rest of my class was even thinking about it.”

That is a degree of enlightenment I personally have yet to see in anyone pious enough to be anti-Harry Potter. As I can only answer based on what I have seen/experienced, I naturally assume far less progressive behavior. Maybe your upbringing really was/is less strict than any I’ve ever seen though.

”[T]hat doesn’t mean they should be exposed to certain things as 5, 7, 9 year old. ”

Guiding works better than barring and hoping they don’t run around behind your back. I don’t know about you, but I have always been rather curious, and also willful enough that I won’t turn off that curiosity just because someone doesn’t want to let me get the answers to my questions.
Personally, I first got the sex talk when I was 4. (A bit young, but I was also reading at a third-grade level by then too.) It wasn’t “out of the blue” though, or even my parent’s choice; I asked questions and got honest answers. It didn’t shatter my little mind, nor did it make me “play doctor” with one of my female classmates the way some people think sex ed leads to promiscuity. Had I been left to find answers on my own, it would’ve turned out quite differently, and probably worse.
In fact, by age 5, I had been exposed to sex, drugs, alcohol, smoking, death, and all sorts of things that most parents wouldn’t want their kids exposed to until they’re at least 18. That early exposure actually kept me in line for the most part; watching a relative in the hospital awaiting a liver transplant due to alcoholism tends to leave an impression, and good parenting will turn it into a lesson rather than a psychological scar.
My take is that it’s rarely too soon, but an easily be too late.

“Its strange how educating yourself in one particular belief, and actually believing it, seems to be thought of as idiocy.”

Some people feel that faith (belief without proof) is a bit silly, possibly even dumb, yes. But I think that where true idiocy comes in is when one revels in their ignorance, and consider remaining uneducated not just a right, but a badge of honor. There is a rising wave of anti-intellectualism in the US, and like many, I have very strong feelings about that.

“And Christians aren’t brainwashed. ”

True, most aren’t. Most are also pretty subtle about their faith; subtle enough that you’d at least have to ask if they follow any religion at all. Some are a bit more obvious though.

“With the amount of information on the internet, they can learn about anything they’d like. No one’s stopping them.”

Precisely the problem; they can but won’t. They’ve had the curiosity drained out of them. They’re practically programmed to not question things. The curiosity that led Man to build wings and fly, The curiosity that led to inventing the internet, and obtaining much of the knowledge on it.

” If they felt that certain things didn’t match up they could always join an apologetics class or talk to the pastor.”

Now you know why I’m an Agnostic; too many questions that couldn’t be answered.

@LeilaniLane You equate reading with sex and working? Reading is education, not abuse. What would they possibly read that would be something they need protection from? Sex as a child is such a different issue I won’t dignify your linking it. And child labor laws are to protect children from abuse and overwork.

But you still haven’t answered my question: what are you trying to protect the children from?

@LeilaniLane Well the point is that what is and isn’t “magic” really comes down to the faith of an individual making that call. How would you feel if the Bible was lumped in with Harry Potter with the same restrictions? How would you feel about the person who had the authority to make such a decision? Faith is belief without proof, so there’s no good way to hold that person accountable.

History has shown that censorship can be very dangerous, largely due to the fact that censors have a lot of power to shape the beliefs and ideas of the community.

Note: I’m not making a claim that the Bible is or isn’t true, merely that it’s open to interpretation, just like Harry Potter. Do you really want a stranger making those decisions for you?