Censorship in Three Metaphors

w He ^ re write this article in early October 2008, coincidentally the same time that the American Library Association (ALA) has, since 1982, designated a Banned Books Week. This is a time, says the ALA, to remind Americans "not to take [a] precious democratic freedom for granted"?the freedom of "unrestricted access to information and ideas regardless of the communication medium used, the content of the work, and the viewpoints of both the author and receiver of information" (ALA, 2008, 1, 3). The ALA's expressed intent for Banned Books Week is to draw attention to First Amendment rights but also to "the power of literature...and...to the danger that exists when restraints are imposed on the availability of information in a free society" (ALA, 2008, 5). Censorship occurs when published or shared works, like books, films, or art work, are kept from public access by restriction or removal from librar ies, museums, or other public venues. Though challenges or outright censor ship in our school libraries or classrooms often transpire out of the noblest of reasons?most often with the idea of protecting young people from some thing that someone finds offensive?the ALA sees attempts at censorship, nonetheless, as attempts to restrict someone's "right to read, view, listen to, and disseminate constitutionally protected ideas" (ALA, 2007, Who Attempts Censorship? section). We find such censorship of reading or viewing of mate rials in middle and high school classrooms disturbing and unjust to the rights of both students and teachers.