Danielle Beliveau Response to Freedom to Read

“Every silencing of a heresy, every enforcement of an orthodoxy, diminishes the toughness and resilience of our society and leaves it the less able to deal with controversy and difference.” I like this quote, because it embodies my opinions about the harmful nature of censorship. When we, as educators, avoid situations, publications, and subject matter that may be controversial or challenged, we are weakening our students, and ourselves. This reminds me of the “watering down” of curriculum, and the assumptions that some people make that students are not intellectually or emotionally ready to take on more complex texts, that may contain points of view that are unlike our own, or may be considered unacceptable to some. If we, as teachers, are not willing to teach students to think critically, and to decide for themselves what to accept and reject as unacceptable, true, or untrue, how do we expect them to learn these skills? This document serves not only as justification of why we might provide materials in an unbiased fashion, but of the responsibility that we have to provide this service to our students.