Introduction and Literature Review

As of 2022, book censorship has reached a devastating record high. Book challenges are most commonly initiated by the parents of students that do not think the content of a book is appropriate for their child to have access to. These challenges lead to parents not only making these books unavailable for their child,  but causing the removal of the content for all students. Book banning is when “private individuals, government officials, or organizations remove books from libraries, school reading lists, or bookstore shelves because they object to their content, ideas, or themes.” A book challenge is a formal appeal to a book made to raise questions about the appropriateness of the book for the classroom. Content that includes “graphic violence, expresses disrespect for parents and family, is sexually explicit, exalts evil, lacks literary merit, is unsuitable for a particular age group, or includes offensive language” is often the target of book challenges (Webb). A successful book challenge would end in a book banning. 

The most important aspect of book banning is the effect it has on students and teachers. The researcher explores the attitudes of public high school students in the Southeast United States toward book censorship. The parameters of this study exclude private schools, magnet schools, charter schools, and academies. High schoolers are students in grades 9 through 12. Teachers exclude administrators such as principals, vice principals, deans of students, and those considered staff (receptionists and clerks, janitorial staff, coaches that don’t teach a core subject, and any other employee that does not teach a group of students). This study’s purpose is to show the approval or disapproval of censorship in a county in the Southeast by those that are most affected by it in hopes of giving more insight to government officials and committees that regulate books in the community. The pre-existing data includes anecdotes from teachers combating book censorship and educating their students on the topic and lists of books that are heavily challenged or banned. The field of knowledge lacks statistical evidence to support the claims that students and teachers do not support book censorship. An assortment of books that are continuously debated by parents and conservative groups are included in the data found. There is also a large counter-movement directed by students to reverse or prevent the banning and removal of books to preserve the diversity of libraries.

Before the more mundane option was available, book burnings were held to rid the community of books that were deemed inappropriate. Assistant director of communications for Americans United for Separation of Church and State and board member of the American Humanist Association, Rob Boston, wrote “Fanning the Flames: The Golden Age of American Book Burning” which explains that during the early 2000s, numerous conservative groups were beginning to lose the political sway that they had amassed through the years. America has a “history of religiously based censorship [and] some books now considered classics were simply unavailable for decades due to pressure from religious communities” (Boston). Throughout news articles on book burning in the 2000s,  religious figures are noted as the catalysts for many of the movements. One example is Pastor Douglas Taylor, who gathered his church to express their disapproval of J.K. Rowling’s popular Harry Potter series through a book burning (Boston). Blaise Cronin, Dean & Rudy Professor of Information Science at Indiana University Bloomington, also noticed that the series has attracted a lot of negative attention from fundamentalist religious groups, like that of Pastor Jack Brock and his wife, who were also noted burning J.K. Rowling’s famous series (Cronin). Brock warned that the book is “ungodly” and could “teach children how they could get into witchcraft” (Cronin). Both of these instances describe the dominance of conservative religious groups’ role in decisions made about the appropriateness of books in the 2000s. These book burnings mark the early present attempts at book censorship.

Not only has J.K. Rowling’s famous Harry Potter series been the target of book bannings, but many other books that discuss personal identity, social justice, and seemingly scandalous actions have been banned by groups and community members. Esther Keller, a middle school librarian in New York City and author of “Maus and Middle School”, noted that the American Library Association (ALA) has identified that the graphic novel Maus has been the subject of scrutiny for its depiction of the Holocaust and invasion of Nazi Germany causing it to be taken out of the curriculum in McMinn County, TN (Keller). Among the fear of witchcraft and safeguarding students from violence, the children’s picture book And Tango Makes Three, about a romantic relationship between two male penguins, has been banned in many counties and is debated in schools often, shared the book’s authors Justin Richardson and Peter Parnel in their interview with Elizabeth Bird, collection development manager of the Evanston (IL) Public Library system (Bird). The American Library Association keeps a record of the most consistently challenged books to make up their top 100 list every year. Other than the aforementioned,  “the lists contain names like Maya Angelou, Mark Twain, Harper Lee, and Richard Wright,” which highlights the attack on literary classics (D. Thomas).

In light of the recent spike in book bans and challenges, there have been movements led by students to combat them. An East Syracuse Minoa Central High School student in Syracuse, New York,  Josh Spilka, stated that despite “parents [trying] to speak for their children, students have banded together to speak up and combat book banning due to how it affects them” (Spilka). Students have gone as far as to sue their district or county education board for removing books from community libraries. To illustrate, student Steven Pico sued the Island Trees Union Free School District Board of Education for removing books from their library, considering it a breach of their First Amendment Right, in 1976. The court ruled in favor of Pico. In another instance in Kansas City, Missouri, conservative parent groups successfully banned “a selection of books, claiming that the books, such as The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison, were sexually explicit and didn’t belong in a public school” (Spilka). After students circulated a petition to reverse the ban, the books were reinstalled in the libraries. This also resulted in a new process that allows parents to personally tailor their child’s library experience by filtering the books that their student has access to (Spilka). These rebuttals to arguments made by challengers depict the effect book bans have had on students along with statements like, “I didn't see anything wrong with that book” and "I'll read any book or magazine I want to read!" captured by Helen Flowers (Flowers).  Together they portray the attitudes and opinions of students in an anecdotal sense.

Furthermore, librarians and teachers have had to adjust due to the frequency of book bans by putting procedures into place that need to be followed to challenge a book. Martha Hickson, high-school librarian and recipient of the 2020 Intellectual Freedom Award from the American Association of School Librarians, in her article “Trade Secrets: Surviving Censorship in the School Library” explains that reconsideration forms have been introduced to make the process of challenging a book more difficult and thorough (Hickson). Teachers have also been encouraged to educate their students on book censorship, how it affects them as a student, and what the process as a whole looks like.

The method of this study seeks to address the question: What are the attitudes of teachers and students toward book banning? It is hypothesized that the attitudes of both teachers and students will be negative. This hypothesis was crafted based on the involvement of The American Civil Liberties Union filing “a lawsuit against a Missouri school district on behalf of two unnamed students” (Taylor 6). It is anticipated that the attitudes of teachers will also be negative based on English teacher Jennifer Marmo of North High School in East Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania explaining that her school district was attempting to censor book choices for everyone. She responds to this with her opinion stating that “I don’t believe that’s their right” (Connolly 16).

Quantitative Research

The field of study is filled with anecdotal evidence and testimonies of teachers explaining why they are personally against book banning but there is a deficit of quantitative data in the field. The researcher will be collecting quantitative data to alleviate this deficit. According to the University of Texas Arlington quantitative data is a way to process data that yields numeric results. Using “scientific inquiry” through questionnaires, measurable data was collected from the sample population (University of Texas Arlington). This data consists of the sample population’s answers demonstrated through percentages. 

Materials and Procedures

There were four schools that were emailed and asked to be a part of the study. These schools were picked to include a wide range of races, ethnicities, religons, and socioeconomic backgrounds. Then there were 2 schools that were also in the area that were chosen as back-ups incase one of the first four didn’t respond. However, after contacting of the inital four schools and exhausting the other two options only School A and School B responded. Schools A and B are opposites in socioeconomiclly, raciatlly, and ethnically. Their principals signed the consent forms electronically using Kami (See Appendecies A) In the email a QR code flyer was attached that could be printed and hung around the school, as well as, a direct link to the Google Form questionnaire (See Appendecies D and E). The student participants were asked to complete a questionnaire with a series of twenty-eight questions, the first five being demographic questions. 

In the second section of the questionnaire, students and teachers were asked about their opinions on book regulation. This section was a series of seven questions that were answered using a Likert Scale of 1 to 5. To analyze the results the average of those scores were taken and ranked. Given that the scale is from 1 to 5, the median is 3. Above the median is considerd the “confident” and “important” side of the scale. The side of the scale that is under the median is the “unconfident”and “unimportant” side of the scale. 

For students, this was followed by a multiple-choice question asking: “Have you ever thought a book you had to read for school was inappropriate?”. They had the option to answer yes or no and in an open-ended question they could specify the book. For teachers, the Likert Scale was followed by a multiple choice question asking: “Have you ever thought a book in your school’s curriculum was inappropriate for your students?” Like the students, they were given the choice of answering yes and no, then asked to specify in the following short answer section.

Lastly, section three is a set of thirteen questions about specific book examples that include a synopsis of the book allowing the students to determine if the book is appropriate in a school setting or not. Students decide between the book being “appropriate”, “inappropriate”, feeling “indifferent” to the book, or deciding that they “don’t know enough about the book to make an informed decision”. The teachers had a questionnaire with the same format with minor adjustments made to address the demographic. For example, the questionnaire for teachers would ask what grade they taught as opposed to the students being asked what grade they are in. The teacher’s questionnaire is similarly structured with seven demographic questions: Nine questions on their general attitude toward book regulation and censorship, and thirteen questions asking about specific books (See Appendicies D and E). At the end of the teacher questionnaire, there were seven open-ended questions. The researcher believed that open-ended questions would be more effective than asking for interviews. Given the scrutiny around the topic that is book censorship, many teachers may be wary of revealing their identity to any extent. Including short answer questions instead of an interview will encourage teachers to share the same information that could be obtained in an interview but anonymously and allows them to skip questions that they do not want to answer. 

Analysis and Results

Participants Analysis

There were a total of seventeen responses to the questionnaire from teachers. The researcher did decide to omit one of the responses from a college advisor at School A. As an advisor, there is not reading material that they provide to students, therefore they are considered staff. Eleven of the teacher responses are from School A and five are from School B. Four English teachers answered the questionnaire, including an Advanced Placement Seminar instructor, and three history/social studies teachers. These groups are most heavily examined given the importance of literature in their classes.Four of the teachers that participated in the previous sections didn’t answer any of the short answer questions.

Additionally, there were a total of fifty students that answered the questionnaire. Forty-seven of the students were from School A and three were from School B. From both schools, thirty-one of the students are White, nine are Asian, seven are Black, and three are Hispanic. Thirty-two girls, thirteen boys, three non-binary students, and two students that specified that they are transgender girls answered the questionnaire. Out of the fifty students, sixteen identify with the LGBTQIA+ community.

Likert Scale Questions Analysis

Figure 2: The Average Confidence Level of Students

The Average Confidence Level of Students

Most Confidence

14.660 students 
3.300 teachers
2.200 government
Least Confidence
(See Appendix G)

To analyze the responses from the study, the averages of the Likert Scale questions were taken in order to rank the averages by most to least confident and most to least important. To begin, the answers to the first three questions in the “General Questions About Book Regulation” section were to determine the confidence students had in themselves, their teachers, and the government. Once the average of the scores were determined they were ranked one through three. The students ranked themselves the highest followed by their teachers on the confident side of the scale. The government was ranked the lowest landing on the not confident side of scale. 

Figure 3. The Average Importance of Book Themes and Ideals for Students

The Average Importance of Book Themes and Ideals for Students

Most Important

4.280 different walks of life
4.102 faults in society
3.980 oppression, racism, and activism
3.200 Queer and LGBTQIA+
Least Important
(See Appendicies G)

Then the average of the responses from the last four questions in the section were taken to rank the importance of access to different themes to the students. The students were asked about the importance of books including LGBTQIA+ themes; books that explore societal racism, activism, and oppression; faults in society like censorship, groupthink, and the treatment of marginalized communities; and books that exhibit different walks of life. These books were also ranked from highest to lowest. The highest being the themes and ideas that students found the most important to have access to and the lowest being the books that students feel are the least important to have access to. Although there are differences between the importance levels of the themes all of them landed on the confident side.

Figure 4. The Average Confidence Level of Teachers

The Average Confidence Level of Teachers

Most Confidence

4.375 teachers
3.647 students
1.941 government
Least Confidence
(See Appendicies F)

Like the student responses, the averages were taken from the likert scale answers and there ranked 1 through 3. The higher the average the more confidence the teachers had in the group. The teacher ranked themselves the highest followed by their students on the confident side of the scale. Comparatively, the teachers ranked their confidence in the government .259 below their student’s confidence in the government. This once again places the government on the not confident side of the scale. 

Figure 5. The Average Importance of Book Themes and Ideals for Teachers

The Average Importance of Book Themes and Ideals for Teachers

Most Important

4.588 different walks of life
4.529 faults in society
4.471 oppression, racisim, and activism
3.529 Queer and LGBTQIA+
Least Important
(See Appendicies F)

Additionally, the Likert Scale respones of the teachers toward different book themes were averaged and ranked. The higher the score the more important the theme is considered. Like their students, teachers found that books exploring different walks of life were the most important and books that explore Queer and LGBTQIA+ themes are the least important. Despite being considered the least important, none of the books were placed on the not important side of the scale.

As a final part of the section, students were asked if they ever had to read a book that they felt was inappropriate for school. Out of the 49 responses, 87.8% of students feel as though they hadn’t read anything inappropriate at school. Though 12.2% of the students feel like they have. These students were asked to specify the book. There were five substantial responses out of the eight that were submitted. Of Mice and Men and To Kill a Mockingbird were included in the list. The novel Salvage the Bones by Jesmyn Ward was mentioned twice and the book Girl Wonder was also mentioned (See Appendecies G).

Book Analysis

Chart 1. Student’s Opinions on Of Mice and Men

(See Appendicies G)

Each book was chosen to display different book genres and books that cover different topics. Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck critiques society on the treatment of the intellectually disabled and women during the Great Depression era of America. The book contains vulgar and harsh language that makes it the subject of scrutiny. The sample population  where the schools were surveyed, Of Mice and Men was chosen as the mandatory summer reading book for juniors. Sixteen 11th graders answered the questionnaire. Three of the 11th graders that answered were indifferent to the book andone did not believe that they had enough information to judge if the book was appropriate or not. Ten of the juniors believed that the book was appropriate, and two believed that the book was inappropriate. 

Chart 2. Teacher’s Opinions on Of Mice and Men

(See Appendicies F)

Comparatively, eleven of the seventeen teachers believe that Of Mice and Men is appropriate. Between the four English and three Social Studies teachers, one teacher was indifferent to the book and another didn’t know enough to make a definite decision, and the other five agreed that the book is appropriate. Before the book analysis section, there was an open-ended question that asked students to specify if there was a book that they had read in school that they believed was inappropriate. In contrast to the majority of students that believed that the book was appropriate, a student did specifically mention Of Mice and Men as a book they believe is inappropriate.

Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird is a coming-of-age story based on a true event. The book explores the deep roots of racism in the South and the devastating consequences it has had on the black community. The novel includes vulgar language including slurs and the inspection of the harsh reality of the South during the early 1930s making it the subject of many book challenges. The majority of students, 72%, believed that the book is appropriate for a school setting and 6% disagreed saying that the book is inappropriate. Like Of Mice and Men, To Kill a Mockingbird was also mentioned in the short answer as a book that a student had read that they deemed inappropriate. From the teaching perspective, 16 (94.1%) of the teachers concluded that the book is appropriate for a school setting and 1 (5.9%) was indifferent. Out of strictly the Social Studies and English teachers 6 of them think that To Kill a Mockingbird is appropriate and 1 is indifferent.

Through The Hate You Give, Angie Thomas exposes the issue of police brutality through the experience of her sixteen-year-old character, Starr Carter. Despite the book being the newest on the list, it has been met with a series of challenges because of its profanity and violence. Between the English and History teachers, 6 of them deemed the book appropriate and one is indifferent. As a whole 82.4% (14) of teachers think the book is appropriate, 14.8% (2) of teachers don’t know enough about the book to make an informed decision, and 5.9% (1) of teachers are indifferent. As for the students, 66% of them deemed the book appropriate, and 2% deemed the book inappropriate. The rest of the students split between 22% not knowing enough about the book and 10% being indifferent. 

Chart 1. Student’s Opinions on Fahrenheit 451

(See Appendicies G)

Chart 1. Teacher’s Opinions on Fahrenheit 451

(See Appendicies F) 

The dystopian novel Fahrenheit 451 depicts a society that regulates freedom of speech through book burnings. The book’s main character experiences immense suffering and change as a result. The book sheds light on censorship in society and what it would be like if there were stricter censorship policies in place. There was one student, equating to 2% of students, that believed the book was inappropriate. There were two students that were indifferent to the matter, which is 4.1% of the students that responded. Six English and Social Studies teachers agreed that the book is appropriate while the 7th doesn’t know enough about the book to make a decision. Overall the book was approved of by students and teachers.

Chart 1. Student’s Opinions on And Tango Makes Three

(See Appendicies G)

Chart 1. Teacher’s Opinions on And Tango Makes Three

(See Appendicies F)

Justin Richardson and Peter Parnell wrote And Tango Makes Three which is about two male penguins that created a family by fostering an abandoned egg of their own. The picture book explores sexuality and the concept of family. This book is in a three way tie for the most inappropriate book out of all of the books in the questionnaire. Despite it’s higher rate of being deemed inappropriate 58% of students thought that the book was appropriate for a school setting. The children’s book also changed the consistency of the teacher’s responses. Although 76.5% of teachers think the book is appropriate, 11.8% think the book is inappropriate. When focusing on the English and History teachers there are 6 that think the book is appropriate and 1 that didn’t know enough information to make a decision. 

J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, like the rest of the series, is about the adventures of Hermione Granger, Ron Weasly and Harry Potter as wizards at Hogwarts, (wizard school). There was 1 teacher that believed the book was inappropriate 13 teachers opposed and think the book is appropriate for a school setting. There are 39 students that also think that the book is appropriate for school. There were 78% of students that found that the book was appropriate and none voted that the book was inappropriate. There was 1 teacher that believed that the book is inappropriate. There were 13 teachers that found the book appropriate.

Mark Twain’s infamous Adventures of Huckleberry Finn was also included in the book analysis section. The book follows Huckleberry Finn on his escape from his abusive father in the 1840s. Along the way he meets Jim, a runaway slave. Themes like racism, child abuse, and different walks of life and backgrounds are seen throughout the book. The book also includes racial slurs. Out of the teachers 1 deemed the book inappropriate, and 10 believed they are appropriate. None of the students though that the book was inappropriate and 58% of the students deemed it appropriate.

Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale is a dystopian novel about the women that live in the totalitarian society of Gilead. In Gilead, all woman are treated as property of the society. The society is facing a rapidly decreasing birth rate and an environmental crisis. About half of the teachers considered the book to be appropriate, and 2 considered The Handmaid’s Tale to be inappropriate. Likewise, there were 2 students that deemed the book inappropriate and 29 that disagreed considering the book appropriate.

Lord of the Flies by William Golding is the story of a group of young boys that get stranded on an island. The story entails how they govern, divide, and devise rules to organize themselves. Without adult regulation the children turn violent and irrational depicting the ideal that human nature is to act savagely. Lord of the Flies was also one out of the three way tie for the most inappropriate votes among students. There were 4 student that voted the book as inappropriate, contrasting the 24 that deemed it appropriate. Between the teachers there were 76.5% found that the book is appropriate and 5.9% (which is one teacher) deemed the book inappropriate.

The novel The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton is a coming of age story about Ponyboy, the main character. The book illustrates the issues that teens and young adults were facing during 1960 America. Grief, violence, poverty, and classism are all topics that are confronted in the book. Out of the teachers 88.2% decided that the book was appropriate for use in the classroom. There were 80% of students that deemed the book as appropriate. Neither students or teachers considered the book inappropriate.

The satirical piece, Animal Farm by George Orwell is about the rebellion of farm animals against their farmer for hopes of a equal, free, and happy society. Eventually, a pig named Napoleon takes control of the farm under his dictatorship, recreating the way they were living before. Neither the students or the teachers deemed the book inappropriate. Out of the students, 54% deemed the book as appropriate, and 94.1% of teachers decided that the book is appropriate.

Madeleine L’engle’s A Wrinkle In Time is a dystopian book about Meg Murry who goes on an adventure through time with her brother Charles Wallace and best friend Calvin O’Keefe. They venture out to save Meg’s father, a gifted scientist, that’s been kidnapped and taken to another planet. The book’s theme is indivdulaization and love. Out of the teachers 94.1% considered the book appropriate, and 74% of students deemed the book appropriate.

Chart 1. Student’s Opinions on Maus

(See Appendicies G)

Chart 1. Teacher’s Opinions on Maus

(See Appendicies F)

The graphic novel Maus by Art Spiegelman is an interview of the author’s father who survived the Holocaust. The book includes some depiction of violence and brutal forms of torture. This book was the last in the three way tie for the bok with the highest amount of disapproval. However over half or both teachers and students 

approved of the book.

Limitations

There being an equal number of students and teachers participating could make it easier to compare the results. With more results, the general consensus would more accurately represent the whole. Overall, there wasn’t a lot of diversity among the teachers who responded to the questionnaire. About 71% of teachers who were white answered the questionnaire. In the future, aiming for more diverse populations of teachers could yield different perspectives on books, especially those that cover sensitive topics like racism, dystopian novels, and books that explore different walks of life. 

It could have been more beneficial to only questionnaire the attitudes of Social Studies and English teachers since they are effected by book bannings and challenges at higher rates than their counter parts. Only asking students about the books that they have read could have also been beneficial. Both of these decisions could have eliminated the “indifferent” and “I don’t know enough about the book to make an informed decision” responses. Conducting the research in this manner could also eliminate bias that could appear in the synopsis and allow for the students or teachers to make a holistic decision about the book. Considering the books in their entirety lets participants factor in details that aren’t included in the synopsis.

Disscusion 

Implications

By looking at just the data that is yielded from this Likert Scale questions it is evident that there both teachers and students find themselves more qualified than the government to pick grade appropriate reading material. Moreover, teachers and students have come to the conclusion that there are some themes that they consider more important than others but all of them are important given the averages that were created by their individual responses. This information could be used to justify lawmakers allowing for parents, students, and teachers to continue to make individual decisions on books based on each child.

Many students feel comfortable picking books themselves and many teachers are confident that students can do so. Both students’ and teachers’ attitude towards book censorship is negative and should result in less action being taken by government officials, given their independence and lack of faith in the government to properly regulate content. This study coincides with the qualitative data that has been collected through various interviews that had been conducted in the field. 

Future Studies 

Next steps in expanding the field of knowledge could be exploring the different effects of book censorship on marginaized communities globally starting with women. This study would look into the way that countries censor books and how the lack of reading education effects different aspects of woman’s lives. This approach could open the floor for conversation surrounding lack of literacy amongst woman across the world. 

Analyzing how the lack of access to books amongst parents affects the literacy rates of the following generation. Testing the literacy rates of the parents and asking if the parents have a learning disability. Then looking at the literacy of their biological child and if they have any learning disabilities. This study would validate or invalidate the idea that there is a correlation between the literacy of the parent and the literacy of the child.